Well, I have just returned from the Austrian world cup. It was fantastic to see the amount of British riders there with so much talent. It was disappointing however to see how many of them are wasting their talent by not working hard enough to achieve what they are really capable of.

So many riders will ride their down hill bikes all day/everyday and convince themselves this is training. Sorry boys this is fun and is no preparation for racing at world cup level. In order to move from two and a half minute U.K. tracks to four minute plus tracks like the European tracks, riders have to work for your rewards and this necessitates hard training to build stamina.

Training has never been fun for any athlete and never will be. The old saying “No gain without pain” has been forgotten and the lack of training was embarrassingly obvious at the most recent race.

This is my tenth and probably final year involved in the sport and during this time Steve Peat has dominated the sport. This proves that he trains much harder than the younger boys who are trying to emulate his achievements. I can only remember seeing one rider of equal age beat him fairly and that was Tom Edwards at a Nambs race some years ago. Despite Steve portraying an image of a life style of beer and partying, the man works exceptionally hard for his achievements and at 32 there are still only very few boys who can say with pride (like Tom Edwards) that they have beaten him.

This proves that the majority of our super talented youngsters are idle when the question of training arises and things must change. They certainly will within my team.

Finally, after a few days of reflection I still feel as despondent as I did on Sunday. Looking on the bright side however I still had another opportunity to watch the fastest man in the world ride a bike downhill.

THE BOSS.