'We'Re In Paradise' | Trek-Unbroken Dh Team Camp 2026

Oh, a magic spot. Where are we? We're in paradise. Team camp in Queenstown. Sunny weather, testing with RockShox, new products, jet boating, more riding, tough clips, good team bonding. Bang. Hello Ollie. Hi. Hank. Hi. Give us a smile, hey. How do you stop recording? The button gets a bit sticky. Yo, it's not working. It just says pause. I've been asking Trick for a couple years now to come to Queenstown and I'm glad it's finally happened and the sun's out for us as well so I think it's pretty perfect. Well, I think it's ideal really. Three of the riders are from the Southern Hemisphere. Big travel for the rest of the crew. Some of the best riding, I think, in my opinion. You have Conair, you have Skyline, you have multiple tracks at Skyline. It's always a good time, especially coming from the UK. The weather at the moment is grim, to say the least. So it's nice to escape the rain for a few weeks. It's just good knowing that you're going to have quality downhill bike time. There's nowhere better in the world currently, I would say. It's big O's! Yeah, second year already. That rolled around quick. Got new sponsors, got Fox on board, which is sick. And then, yeah, got O'Sheen joining too, which is cool, and his mechanic. And, yeah, I think we just all get along well. He's a good fit and, yeah, I'm pretty stoked for the year with him. First impressions would be, I would say it's a really good family. It feels like everyone is together and everyone's looking out for each other and trying to help each other, even on a day testing. Team morale last year was good. And O'Sheen just fit right in, perfectly. Fits in with the boys. And he's crack up. Yeah, he's funny, bro. He's like Conor McGregor. So funny. Yeah! Trap it, trap it, trap it! But please be careful. No, be dangerous. Oh, God. Go faster, go faster! Go, boy! Imagine just a huge explosion. I would have popped through the corner. You would have probably felt pretty bad. I probably would have laughed first. Oh, God. There isn't going to be many teams with a better kind of group. We all get along real well, I think. It's probably one of the most energetic teams. Riders-wise, we're probably the youngest one in the paddock. We're all pretty young, but... Everyone's fresh and excited and just keen to go racing. I think that really... It just bleeds into everyone in the team. It's just generally a positive atmosphere. Yeah, this team is definitely... It looks at all the finer little details a lot more. Coming from a previous team, where you think it's professional, this is just another step up. It feels like a more complete outfit this year, I would say. And a really threatening team, too. If you look across the riders and the talent we have, I think we're going to shake things up a bit this year. How are we? We're good, how are you? What's going on today? Jet boats, I think. Intoxicated, Daniel? Eh? Intoxicated and impaired? Potentially. Bill? I've just had an Unbroken and I'm brand new. Unbroken. Hangover cure, it's the best thing ever. Yeah, Unbroken. New partner again for Big Two Six. We worked with Unbroken last year, but having them as a title sponsor this year is pretty cool and will give us lots of new opportunities, I'd say. Yeah, I guess as an athlete and downhill racer, any athlete that's so important, recovery is super important. So yeah, with Unbroken, we can focus on having a good recovery. It helps us with that, so we can show up to the next races on point. Safety first. There is a sign that says helmets are not allowed. You can use your own GoPros, but it has to be mounted to the head. If we don't have head straps, we can rent head straps from them. Let's do this. My hairline is gone. That was sick. I'm feeling it. Another trip down that canyon and a few more spins and I'll be done. Really? Oh, ****. I was about to do a move. I'm going to go with RG. RG. I'd like to say we all work hard. I feel like Josh gets worked pretty hard. Locky's mechanic gets orders barked at him and he just takes it. Rolls with the punches. Josh. Not Josh. I'd probably say my mechanic, George. He's pretty calm. Not me. No way. I'd say RG. RG is the calmest guy ever, the nicest guy ever. Just a legend all around. He's got the best **** talk in the pits. I'd say Locky or Daniel. Pretty easy. Those two. One of them. Dan. Locky. ****. Probably me. Oli. 100%. Every time. Are we late? Are we? Well, we said we were going to be on the chair at 10. Oh, we will be. We've got two minutes. About to get a coffee on route. It's important. It's got a long day ahead. What? Matt just rolled out of bed. I wouldn't actually know. I feel like last year, probably me. Oli. I have to say Oli. I love him, but I remember halfway through the season this year, he was wondering if he should switch which foot forward he is. I'm sorry, Oli. Please don't hate me. Locky, I would say. Locky. Oh my God. Bruv. So is this why everyone said your mechanic works the hardest? Yeah. Last interview, we discovered you're a bit of a set and forget kind of guy. Has that changed at all? Yeah, it's changed, hasn't it? We're a bit of a puzzler these days. Last year, I puzzled a lot, and I think it kind of didn't help me. The last few days, it's been like, yeah, Josh is good. Josh is so good. But he's always pushing to try and find them a little bit more, a little bit more. And then I was pretty happy with how I was feeling, so I was like, f**k it. We're good. I'm chasing cleanliness of my f**k ups. That's what I'm chasing. I think last year, my speed was good in so many races, and I made heaps of mistakes myself. And so, yeah, I just need to be more consistently not making the mistakes, and the results will be what they will be. That's the thing, is I need to be better on my worst days, just being like, there was plenty of races last year where if I had just done a good run that I could have done and not pushed too hard, I would have got like a seventh or something like that. Whereas I ended up crashing in 20, 30th or whatever. So a seventh is a lot better than a 30th. But then also at the same time, it's like, you always want to go for it. Like Andorra was one for me where I kind of was in the start gate and I just, I was on. But then, yeah, then like the ones like Lenzerheide, I didn't feel the best and didn't have the best run. And it was like 0.8 off a win again. So it's kind of so inconsistent, but I think you do know when you're not on. And it's those days that I think if you risk it and push too hard, it happens and it's only, you're only ever one crash away from getting hurt, you know. I think like I've definitely got the self-belief that I think I can do it, or I think I can win. Pressure is part of it. No matter what, the job requires pressure. So I'm happy with it. And I think pressure is good. I think if you're feeling pressure, you're doing something right, I think. Yeah, I like the pressure. Dude, what a turn. Oh, nice. Ollie's like a brother. Like our first year junior, if we had said that we were going to be on track together, we would have been mind blown. So it was pretty cool. Trying to not put too much pressure on myself, but yeah, I think it is an important year after having last year. I would say for me it was a roller coaster. So many ups and downs. Start of the year amazing. Bike was amazing, was feeling on cloud nine. Riding really good and yeah, good start to the year. Was at Hardline Tasmania, broke my collarbone and shoulder blade. So that was pretty ****. And then all good recovery. It just, I really struggled mentally. When you struggle mentally, nothing's fun to be honest. Got on the bike a few weeks before Poland. Poland came around, had my best quali ever, which like I think I had no pressure on like from myself on me. And yeah, it was riding honestly amazing. That first day of practice, quali came around, qualified second. Like all good run, nothing crazy. I just felt amazing, was confident. And then yeah, crashed in race unfortunately, but that was a really good weekend. Like best quali ever today. Had a few races, struggled with my just immune system. I was struggling with iron levels and vitamin levels, stuff like that. And to be honest, that makes it really hard, especially when the race week's already stressful. And then you're battling with energy on top of that and can hardly hold on for half a run even. So that was, it's quite scary too when you're trying to go fast and you're not there in your head and physically. And then Valdasol broke my scaphoid. Sucks a lot, but hopefully come back all good to Luget. And that was kind of just like cherry on top. That was just like, God damn it, but at least I can go home, get my body sorted, get everything right. So that's the way I was looking at it. Went home to winter, got fixed, scaphoid was taking a fair bit longer than we'd hoped. And then yeah, once that was healed up, my body was good, had my iron sorted and my vitamin levels. Came back to the World Cup, so it was kind of a slow progress because I was only just riding with my wrist. Got the ball rolling, got a few okay results and then finished the season with a, I don't know, pretty solid result considering the year. So yeah, that was my goal after my injury. Just finish the year on a high note and that's what we did. And then, yeah, now we're here. Yeah, so working on not overdoing the training. I've been riding flat out, having fun and yeah, having fun's probably the most important one for this off-season. Staying healthy mindset for me. I know what I can do, I believe in myself. And most importantly, sort of tick off some of my goals I've dreamed of as a kid. So yeah, I'd say it's a pretty important season for me this year. Looking back on last season, how would you sum up your season personally? I don't want to swear, but it was sh**. It didn't start as great as I expected or I wanted it to. But then I had quite high expectations of myself, always. As the season progressed, I got closer and closer to where I wanted to be. And then Les Gets, I had a crash and suffered a concussion. Yeah, I just hit my head. I'm alright. Just feel a bit funny. I knew I'd rung it. You know that feeling, it's like... Like it buzzing. And that basically wrote off the rest of the year for me. Although, the actual Les Gets weekend, it was an absolute mudder and a really tough weekend for everyone, but actually for myself, I felt like I'd progressed really nicely. Actually, the qualifying run where I had the crash, you know, I had good speed. I was in the top three in the split, obviously unbeknown to me. It was like all really coming together. And yeah, it's just a shame it kind of ended like that. And the injury really sucked, to be honest. Probably didn't give anyone enough credit for going through that because for myself, I have no experience. I just assumed it wasn't as bad as they say it is. But after suffering it myself, probably the worst injury I've actually had. Tough moments in those first couple of months, I'd say, after the injury. Was really bitter towards bikes and everything. Just how it affected my emotions was just so... I was just not myself at all for quite a long time. It did take a long, long time to get back from that. I actually want to start riding and enjoy riding again. You know, I was nearly four months off the bike. And I don't think I've ever had four months off the bike in my career. Trying to see it as a good thing, really, and like a good reset. And it also put a lot of things into perspective as well because you're not here for a long time. We're doing an amazing job. So it was kind of like, you know, taught me a few lessons to just enjoy it no matter what. To almost go back to basics and try some different stuff with my riding as well. I've always trained hard and always trained, I guess, in a specific way. That's worked for me in the past. And it felt like it was a good opportunity to try some other stuff that I've not done for years. You know, like I rode in a skate park and I've not ridden in a skate park for years and years. And just like, it was sketchy and scary, but I think it was good for my riding, you know, to put myself out of my comfort zone a little bit. Riding flat pedals. Yes, it'll probably make me better as a rider, but also it's just fun and different. And I think, yeah, I just needed a bit of that. Honestly, like the last few days with RockShox have been really positive. So I think, yeah, off the back of it, I do feel a lot stronger from it. I think I've learnt a lot during that process, but it's definitely not something I want to do again. The biggest thing, I still believe I can do it. You know, I wouldn't be here. I've been racing my bike a long time. I've made a few, you know, sacrifices over the years. And I wouldn't still be doing it if I didn't think I'd... And it's not a question whether I want it or not. So, yeah, I'm just excited to kind of prove a few people wrong. You always get... You kind of get this sense that people don't believe anymore or, you know, it's hard to ignore that. But, yeah, I'd like to shut a few people up, sure. I think there's always going to be a bit of proving yourself to people. Like, being an athlete in general, you have to prove something and as much as you want it to be for yourself, there's always people you have to impress, either within a team or to personal sponsors and stuff. But a lot of it became more about me during the mid-season break when I went home and decided I do want this for me and I've obviously done this my whole life. I need to do it for myself, really, rather than do it for other people. I really enjoyed the whole year, to be honest. It was amazing. There were so many highs and so many lows. Yeah, we started the season off a bit rough and under my standards and below what I could actually perform. But in the second half, yeah, I really enjoyed myself pretty much every single day I was overseas. So that really helped the mood and having my parents over a little bit for some moral support was helpful. But, yeah, the team was amazing and do it again this year, but hopefully for the whole year. Ready? Yo! Mainly it was the mindset. It was hard to wrap my head around the whole race weekend in elite. In junior, I could kind of not cruise, but know I'd be through into the finals all the time with a solid run and really having to change my mindset to be like, wow, my qualifying is my race run, basically. Once I found my footing and actually enjoyed my riding and enjoyed people to ride with at the World Cup, it really boosted it and allowed me to go in a bit more naturally. It's hard when you're still young as well. It's a lot for a 19-year-old, I'd say, to go overseas and be with a team, or if you're not with a team, push yourself to the limit and really try to find yourself within the sport, but also succeed and do well and prove to yourself and to your team or to other sponsors that you're worthy and you can get a result at the end of the day. Linside, yeah, that was kind of the start, both P5 qualifying and the race. I was really, really stoked with that. It wasn't the most perfect run and there's always stuff to improve on, no matter how happy you are with the result, but yeah, that was a really good turning point. I really got my mental side switched on. I realised how much this meant to me and how much I had been working towards it and how long really I spent my life doing this, but yeah, getting talked to by other people as well, being congratulated was really, really nice. Oh, I loved Lake Placid. It was such a beautiful place. Yeah, I don't know, I kind of went into it. It's a new location and it's kind of cool. It evens out the field a little bit and I thought it was easier for the younger athletes to do well at new locations as they haven't ridden the tracks for as long as the top elites have. Training was a bit hard, to be honest. I wasn't really finding the flow or the speed in the top section and following a couple of girls, especially Rosa Jensen. She was absolutely hooking and even following her, I'd kind of get dropped so I wasn't too stoked on that. Three in time training and Millie got second and we were pretty stoked on that. But I did crash right before qualifying and I hit my head a little. I had to go to the doctors on site just to check if I was alright and I was in the end, which was good, but it was still pretty boggling on the mind to see if I could still push to the limit. And then in qualifying, P2 was my best ever and kind of out of the blue I thought it was an average run. I obviously tried very hard but coming into the finish corral and being second, I was a bit shocked really, but it really helped me be happy for the next day and really put my mind into a good space. Into finals day, I think it was the most nervous I've ever been in my life. I woke up nervous. I rode in the morning really nervously and I was battling a little bit with the track in the morning for sure. The light was horrible. The holes were horrible. You kind of have to just do your best with the conditions you get. I was absolutely ****ing myself before finals. And yeah, I just had to distract myself in any way possible. Just chilled at the top. Did my little warm up and then yeah, I was in the gate and had to just believe in myself. Coming in second behind Pom Pom was honestly incredible. I knew I was on the podium. I was third, no matter what. Second or third, no matter what. I couldn't hold an eye to cry to everyone so that was pretty cool. Being up there with Valli, one of the most decorated at the moment riders and Pom Pom, a lifelong hero for me. It was crazy and yeah, I was on the last step of the podium but hey, I was on the podium. Especially in my first year I don't know how many people have done that so that's pretty cool. To be at the top of an elite women's, not the top three of the elite women's field is pretty cool. Oh, the win! I really, really need it. I feel like it's right there but I really can't get it too much into my head because that's how you lose it a lot of the time. No, I'm feeling good and I'm racing for me as everyone should be. It's all about your own personal growth and success and whatever makes you happy really. Being happy at the races with my friends and the team really helps me succeed so I think that's kind of my main goal this year. Enjoy what I do and do well at it. Have a good one.