Has Enduro Mountain Biking Died？ ｜ The Global Mountain Bike Show ep.5

This feels a bit to me like a pub chat. It's got out of hand. Crucially, the end point is, it's an 84% downtake at the top level of professional teams. That's mind-blowing. I don't think it's quite as easy as people think to cover a mountain with cameras and get it back and all that stuff. Do you have any lines for Donald Trump Jr.? You could get him in on downhill. I'd probably rather not. Welcome to episode five of the Global Mountain Bike Show. This week, we're talking about the Dream Bike Garage and what bikes we'd have in them. We're talking about the decline of enduro racing plus the enhanced games and could doping come to mountain bike racing. I'm Neil Donoghue, Fergus over there, and we have Adam joining me this week. Actually, we've got a few good topics starting with Dream Bike Garage, which is something that probably everybody's pondered. What that would look like and actually what style of bike or bikes, should we say, because Dream Bike Garage has got to be racked full of bikes, surely. We might have to slim this down a little bit, but what would you pick if you had the choice of any bikes? I think mine would definitely include some mountain bikes, e-bikes, and motorbikes as well, because that's a proper Dream Garage for me. Luckily, we're all very lucky to be supported by companies that lend us bikes to use, so our garages probably do look pretty dreamy. I know for 15-year-old me, I'm living the Dream Bike Garage at the moment, but how would you slim it down? Actually, let's start off with what you would pick. Ferg, if you had a quiver, you didn't have to choose one bike that would be a bit compromised everywhere, and you could rack them up, what would you have? Okay. Kicking things straight away, I've got to have a downhill bike. Just for me, having a downhill bike is, I don't ride them loads, but when you do ride a downhill bike, there is nothing like it. I'm sure you'll agree, Neil. It's the most insane feeling, so that would definitely be it. I agree. I guess you boys watch the race of the weekend. I love looking at some of the tech that's there nowadays as well. These bikes not only look amazing, but the way they can track the suspension on laptops, the technology's moved on along since I've done it, but it's pretty cool high-tech stuff as well, isn't it? Yes, amazing bikes. I just love getting back on them. It's been probably one of the best bits about coming onto GMBN is just getting back into that downhill world, having spent a long old time on the enduro side of it, getting back in a shuttle. Was it a while that you didn't ride a downhill bike for? Seven years, I think it was. A big old gap. I think in 2017 was my last downhill bike, and then that's only nine years, but yes, a long old time to not have had one. That would definitely go first in my garage. I would then have to have my trusty tie. I've got a propane tie. It's 160, 170, an enduro bike. I think just where I live and what I ride, I love going out for big days. Obviously, that bike just allows you to go as fast as you possibly can downhill. Pretty efficient to paddle around, don't feel too bad? Super efficient, yes. Again, enduro bikes have come on such a long way since I first raced enduro. I think my first enduro bike was a 131-40 YT Jeffsy. Was it? That's quite short, isn't it? I didn't know it was that short of travel. Well, it was full 29. It was one of the first full 29, so I went for the wagon wheels in the idea that it would roll faster. I got to Madeira and very quickly realized that it was a lot rougher and a lot harder than I thought. Bikes have come on so much since then. It probably weighs, I think my enduro bike now probably weighs the same as that bike did back then. Yes, definitely would have one of those. An e-bike, I have recently, literally last week, I got back from riding my first ever Avanox e-bike and it blew my mind. You were at, where was that, Boise, Idaho? Boise, Idaho in America. Hard MTB. That was all over Instagram, seeing crashes, people getting hurt a bit as well, but it looked like a pretty cool event. Yes, incredible event. I was definitely part of the crash reel on that. I think I had more crashes than I've had in the last five years in one event. After the event, with what was left of my battered body, I got to get on the Propain Ecano 3 AL and it was insane. With US speed limit on there, it's quite nice as well, isn't it? It goes up to 20 miles an hour, I believe, isn't it? Cannot be complaining about that. It was insane how quickly it went up a hill. Also, the power was super smooth. I've not ridden loads of e-bikes, so I wouldn't say I'm used to the power delivery. Sometimes it can catch me by surprise, but that one was really, really smooth in terms of the way it just gave you that little bit of extra power. That being said, I did do my first ever climb sections of trail. Did you do the hard MTB league ones, which is like sort of steppy? I didn't do those on an e-bike. I did that on my Thai trail. Must have been pretty difficult. Yes, I mean, I'm terrible at it. Well, I mean, it's supposed to be hard. Yes, it turns out I needed another five years of riding up hills on technical climbs. I just don't have that trials ability. I need to get on a trial bike. Have you seen, obviously, this event is organized by Braden Brinkhurst. Obviously, this is sort of his concept. He did that video a few years back of riding, what was the trail in Melbourne? The whole enchilada backwards. Going upwards, which there's one section you have to repeat over and over and over, which looks super hard. I know, Adam, you're, Ferg's down the gravity end of things. You're the more peddly end of things. Have you ever sort of jumped into technical climbing like that, sort of gnarly stuff? Not out and out tech. Obviously, you go on a ride, you get met with something that is a bit loose, a bit rocky, you just sort of power up it. I've not really thought about it too much. You might stop and sort of scout it and then go up. I've never really gone out with the intention of- Same, actually. I'm down Ferg's line with the downhill stuff. It's a bit of a new challenge for me. It has been since I've started riding e-bikes, but I still don't find I go out looking for it. If it's there, I'll have a go. After the ride Jones and I did in South Wales a couple of weeks ago, again, that was my first experience on the Avanox bike. I think if I were to spend more time on the e-bike, I would go chasing climbs like that because I think that's where I would find the challenge with that bike. Yes, definitely. I think Steve does a lot of that. Ferg, how many have we got so far? We've got three. We've got downhill bike, enduro bike, e-bike. I'm sure that's enough. I think so, but I can't not have a dirt jump bike in there as well because that's where I began. That's where I started out. Hardtail, very simple, no gears, one brake, set of dirt jumps. Yes, amazing bikes. I think they're cheap, then they're easy to repair and replace and things like that. You learn all of your base skills. I'm still convinced of that. No one has convinced me yet that you can learn that same level of skill on any other bike. For me, I'd have to have a dirt jumper in there. That's crazy. Four bikes in your dream garage. Then like you, I've recently got the bug of the motocross bike, so I have got one of those in the garage as well, but we can leave that one out. I think four bikes is more than enough. Adam, what are you thinking? You ride a gravel bike a lot? Yes. I enjoy such a vast style of riding. Yes, you've got to have a gravel bike. It's great for commuting, great for if you just want to get out in the woods and not terrify yourself down some gnarly trail or thing, just go and enjoy it that way. Something short travel. I guess we call it downcountry now, 120, 130. I can see back in my day when I just had my first bike, which I did everything on, you really couldn't do everything very well on it. Whereas now, you look at those downcountry bikes and think you could have one of those and ride anything really, and you still feel fast. It's, I don't know, it's not marketing gump. I don't want to use that phrase, but they do descend like they are bigger bikes, but then they climb as efficiently say like an XC bike would. On your big all-day adventures, short of actually riding down the side of a mountain, you're pretty well covered. Do we see, I don't think we see anyone really at World Cup cross-country riding hardtails anymore? No, I think those days have shifted now. It seems to be getting a bit longer to travel if anything. I suppose, how big would you go? What's the max travel? Max for me is probably 170, 160. Like Fergo, I've got a Tyee, but the aluminum one. I've gone as far as I've got an extra 500 grams strapped to the bottom of the aluminum. For a bike that big, it feels really playful. With a coil shock, I can't get my head around it, but it is just generally the nicest big bike I've ever ridden. That's cool. I think I've got a lot of bikes in my garage at the moment. Most of them, I don't have the time to use, so I've got a pub bike, which is my old retro mountain bike, which I do love having. I've got a pump track bike, which I use a couple of times a year. I take the kids to the BMX track, but nice to have. I guess if I was talking dream garage, I would have a downhill bike, but I would probably pick something retro because I wouldn't use it very much. Get a Honda in there or a Renault 1, something like that. Sit there in the corner. It should be very difficult because I think there's only a couple of those knocking around nowadays. I think what we were talking about earlier, Greg Minnaar's got one in his shop, I think, in Pietermaritzburg. For me, I think an e-bike then and a trail bike, probably a 150 mil trail bike would probably be the one. We're talking about dreams here, but actually, for the bikes that I would probably use, really, an e-bike and a 150 mil travel bike is plenty. Actually, Ferg, I've borrowed your Hugene, which is slightly shorter travel than that, but I've been really enjoying it. It's for a video coming up, actually, where I've gone back and I've given up the e-bike for a little bit of time to see how it feels to get back pedaling a mountain bike. I've got to say, it felt what I felt terrible first time. It wasn't the bike. It just felt so slow, sluggish. It's taken me two or three rides to get feeling good on it, and now it's great. I think, yes, I'd love to keep holding that bike. Simon Riley Absolutely not. I will be putting in a request for having that one back very soon. On that note, though, obviously, we are in such a luxurious position. Obviously, dream bikes aside, do you think that you could just have one bike in your garage, or do you think it is a case of having to have two? Greg Minnaar I think, for me, I would probably just pick a 150 mil. I don't really know what. I haven't really picked out a brand because I've ridden quite a few of those style bikes. They've all been really good. How light they are nowadays, even the aluminum ones, they pedal well, they go downhill well. The geometry suspension is also good. I'd happily ride one of those. Simon Riley I think, yes, something around that for me as well. I think Owen and James explored it recently. They had two essentially identical bikes, so the Hugene, one built slightly lighter, so like an XC build and then a slightly burlier trail build. I think that just highlights the versatility of that shorter stroke mid-travel bike. For me, yes, I'd stick with that downcountry-esque build and then just maybe have two different builds for it. Greg Minnaar I think it's definitely one of those things that we were saying. When you were a kid, when I was 15, my XC bike, just the capabilities of that were very, very niche to one genre, whereas I think nowadays, it's very difficult to find a bad bike. I do think that one bike can go across three genres very easily. As proven when I did the Harder Than To Be League, it was four different disciplines and I had one bike to do it. I had the Tyee Trail, which was 145-160. It was super good uphill, super good downhill, really, really capable bike. I just think that, yes, it is possible now to get the best of both worlds. Obviously, dream garage aside, yes, one bike I think probably you'd go for a downcountry, maybe the Hugene if I could ever get that back, but potentially a little bit more travel. Mark Threlfall It's so tricky because when I started, yes, it was going back a long time, but there really was only hardtails. If you had the money, you could start upgrading it. There were early full suspension bikes, but you didn't have the choice. You either bought a cheap one or an expensive hardtail. Whereas now, if you're getting into mountain biking, I think still people should try and start on a hardtail, but what's the next bike? You've got to decide a bit what you want. There'll always be a bit of a compromise somewhere, but there's so much more choice than there ever has been, including e-bikes. That's what I talked about in this video I've just done. It's like, what happens if you just ride e-bikes solely? I found that I was missing a mountain bike a little bit, but there is particularly quite a good secondhand market at the moment, so you don't have to spend a fortune. It's like me, we're talking about motorbikes. I've just sold my old one. I bought another really old bike because I don't want to be spending loads of money on, well, I don't have the money to be spending on new motocross bikes, so I've bought a 1998 model that is a lot cheaper than new, obviously. Obviously, that is like another bike I've got a garage for, but I think people could get a second bike for a reasonable deal nowadays, I suppose. We'll look into that, I think, talking some more about video ideas about what we're going to do coming up and maybe picking one of our dream bikes from a few years ago and see if we can track one down for a reasonable price. I think they're out there. If you look on Facebook Marketplace, there's a load of bikes in the UK at the moment that are really, really good value. Definitely. Well, saying that, what was the dream bike when you were 16 then? 16 was probably Mountain Cycle San Andreas, which I bet you, do you know it? No idea. Or a GT LTS DH, that's probably a little bit early for that still, but you boys? What about you? I must admit, I got into riding a little bit later than that, but DMR Sled. Nice. Oh, yes. Is that the little full suspension thing? That was the, what was it, 160, 160? Jono and Deeks piloted that one in many slices of pie, I think it was. That road gap in, sorry, that one. For me, 2016 was the first year I committed to downhill. I'd been riding downhill on a cross-country bike for a while, and it had not been going so well. I'd been breaking a bike left, right, and center, but I actually did get my dream bike, I will confess. My mom and dad surprised me. I got a Monster Energy Sam Hill demo, and it was the most insane bike. That's seared into my memory. Is that the double swing arm? Yes, double swing arm. It had the Monster Energy green and black. It was way more bikes than I was ever capable of riding, and I didn't do it justice. I don't think the entire time I owned it, but it was amazing. It was so cool. Every day, it was the best day ever whenever I got it. Have you still got it? I haven't, but a friend has. I know where it is. It was number 146 out of 250, and it was the best bike. To dig it out, we could try and ride that, see how it compares nowadays. So cool. I looked at the reach numbers on it. Crazy. It was 425 millimeters in a medium. I can't even imagine trying to ride that now. What, 485, 480? But that linkage system worked amazing, and it was so cool. Well, it worked for Sam Hill. All right, so quickly then, Neil, your three bikes? Definitely have the Honda downhill bike. I'd have a 150 mil trail bike and a hardtail as well. Nice. For me, it would definitely be, I'd have to have a downhill bike in there, I think, an e-bike now, and probably a short travel trail bike. I'd have to steal back the huge enough of Neil. I think that would be definitely in my garage. Nice. Cool. Then for me, I'd be going gravel bike, it's a given at this point, a downcountry bike, and then, yes, my enduro bike, so biggest bike you're willing to pedal. Actually, on that note, let us know down in the comments what your dream three-bike garage would be, or if you've just got that one bike to rule them all, what is it? Moving on to a bit of racing, actually. Well, there's a lot of racing from some carnage in downhill. I want to talk about the trajectory of enduro, really, because particularly me and Ferb got a bit of experience with it. This year, there's been, I think, a bit of negative news. Dan Booker announced in his retirement, the guy who got second last year, really talented all-around rider. Also, if you look into the numbers of this, this year, 2026 World Cup Enduro Championship, there's six rounds, all of them in Europe, which I guess tells a bit of a story. It's not very world, is it? Exactly. I don't remember a time when that's always, even downhill has always been biased towards Europe, for sure, but there's always been North American rounds. Even this year, obviously, it's going back into Asia. When I started, I raced in Japan, Brazil, America, Canada, all over Europe, and enduro is going the other way. As well, the participation numbers, I think, Ferb, you've crunched the numbers on this. I think there are only five official teams this year. Is that right? Yes, five registered teams, which blows my mind. I think when I first started enduro in, I think it was 2016, there were 29 registered teams and 630 competitors. I remember trying to get an entry for that first, when I did my first enduro race. It was like, you had to be so quick. It was sell-out immediately. It started in 2013 with 220 competitors. Yes, sold out almost immediately. 19 registered teams. Actually, they used to do the EWS 100 and the 75, was it as well? Amateur ride-along races as well. The numbers were massive. It'd be a massive circus of pros and amateurs racing at the same time. It's definitely not looking like that at the moment. There is still coverage coming out of it. There've been a few, who else has walked? Eddie Masters has recently retired. I know he's probably getting slightly older as well. Jesse Melamed? Yes. Big names. Three-time World Cup overall, Jack Moyer. Yes, of course. Crazy. We've lost Richie Rude, who's four or five-time overall champion, has moved across the downhill. We saw that with Martin Maize as well. I don't want to say pressure from manufacturers, but definitely there was a feeling that the big sponsors want to go where the eyeballs are. I think Martin felt that and went to downhill. He's transitioned really well to downhill. We've got to think about what could be causing this downward trajectory of enduro. Adam, do you have any ideas of why we might be seeing less participation? I think, obviously, there's the budget and the drive towards, I don't want to say e-bikes, is the thing. You've got to think probably the reality on the ground for a lot of these places. Look at UK and people that would have bought enduro bikes in the past. People like me who would have ridden them in the past aren't really riding them that much now, or they're buying e-bikes that are longer travel e-bikes and not buying the Santa Cruz Nomad style bike anymore, I guess. I think that that's what's changing the interest. We've had this discussion a few times, but if the bikes you're riding are electric and then the bikes that are being raced are non-electric, then that just doesn't make sense. No one's going to be bought into that. I do think that that's partially why we're seeing that shift across from or a downshift in enduro. Unfortunately, we haven't had the EDR kick off the way it did, which is a real shame because in my mind, I don't think that ever really got given a chance. It had maybe one season or two seasons of the e-bike enduro. Yes, probably a couple. I can't remember. It's a funny one, isn't it? I find I really like riding e-bikes, but I have no interest in e-bike racing, or at least the e-bike racing that I've seen so far. It just doesn't bite me. I don't want to watch it. I don't want to follow it. I wonder if that's because it's not been done quite right just yet, but I don't know. I want to see multi-stage. For me, and I'm sure you'll correct me honestly, like I said, I haven't ridden loads of e-bikes, but for me, the usage of an e-bike is maxing out as many runs of descent as I can. The endurance side of it comes from how many runs can you physically hold on down to. An e-bike gives you that ability to do so many laps. I mean, imagine having a, I don't know, you can have a 13-stage enduro where riders are just physically shattered trying to descend down the gnarliest stuff, and then they're able to e-bike back up. I mean, how cool would that be? It is a perfect bike for the discipline that is enduro, getting right racing down and getting to another one somewhere else on the mountain. Then with that, sorry, would you need to cap your battery size, cap your motor output? There are all sorts of problems with it when it comes to equal level playing field, I suppose, which is also a bit why, I mean, I find that a bit with enduro where people will go in there a week before and practicing, and that is a much different vibe to someone showing up and essentially racing blind. You lift up one run, but that's it, and then you race down. I did the first round in 2013, and I thought that wasn't cool, which is why I never really got into it. I think, obviously, that the level playing field for e-bike racing is more difficult to enforce as well. I don't know about it. I think watch this space with enduro racing and also if anyone picks up the baton for e-bike racing. I've also felt like in the past they've tried to make it really hard when I think they should have been concentrating on trying to make it really good. I don't know what that is. I've heard rumblings of new series, new styles, revamping enduro. I think going back to its roots a little bit of fresher trails, changing locations, because I think that's one of the big reasons. I know Eddie on some podcasts has said that he finds enduro, he got bored of going to the exact same location, which I think was one of the reasons that downhill had a downturn as well was because people got bored of racing the same tracks over and over again. I think downhill have recognized that. They started having new locations, and even if they're on the same locations, they've got new tracks. I do think that enduro, when I first started, I'm sure the same for you, Neil, we rode the most raw tracks. It felt like old school downhill in that you had really raw tracks just riding between the tapes, and it was who could be most creative, whereas I'd say now you're riding down goat tracks that are very well established, very one line. I just don't think that that necessarily, even from a rider's perspective, is necessarily that enjoyable. I think at the core, if it's not enjoyable for the riders, it's definitely not going to be enjoyable for the viewers. I think, again, that leads to less viewership, less money in the sport. That's a real shame because I love the sport, as does Rich, as do yourself. I think it's a really, really cool sport, but it definitely needs a revamp. It's always been really, really difficult to cover properly, which then I don't think was ever really solved. Also, I have sympathy because I don't think it's quite as easy as people think to cover a mountain with cameras and get it back and all that stuff. Maybe it is easier than I think with the technology we've got nowadays, but it's pretty full on. I know there's some controversy with Warner Brothers Discovery, and even now, people have to pay to watch the World Cup downhill and cross country. Obviously, I love it. I love watching it. I do feel like they're riding quite a good wave at the moment of big teams are really pushing it, pushing the budgets on the cross country and downhill side of things. It's just not happening in enduro for whatever reason. I feel like that's a shame, and it's only going one way at the moment. The thing that I'm struggling to grasp with all of it, obviously, at the top level of the sport, it's declining. If you look at grassroots level and the middle ground within that, so you've got things like Enduro 2, Trans Madeira, what was it, the Squamish Enduro a couple of weeks ago. They look mega, and there's loads of people doing it, and they're still doing the EDR Open because I've signed on to a round of it in August. Where's that one? What's the bar? Oh, yeah. Yeah. There's still a want for this discipline, I guess. I don't want to call it consumer level, but not pro level. I think that's where, I think, if you look at the sport, if we were to be critical of it, at the EWS level, it had that participant level in that your average Joe or your weekend warrior could go, I want to go and ride the same tracks that I watch the World Cup pros do, and they'd almost make a holiday out of it, but they'd go with their mates, ride some amazing tracks, have a good time, and that brought that participation level in. Whereas now, it's very hard to access that and do that exact same thing in the EDR, and I think that was maybe one of the big shifts that we saw when Warner took it over. I do think that that was a big shift. The other thing, I mean, crucially, the end point is, it's an 84% downtake at the top level of professional teams. That's mind-blowing. Yeah. I guess, like I say, it's just not getting the eyeballs that other parts of mountain biking are getting. Probably part of the industry as well, selling e-bikes, not enduro bikes. But, yeah, I don't know if there'll be a turnaround on enduro racing, but I guess we'll find out. There was a race of the weekend, and the usual suspects were up there winning it. It was still quite tight in those podium spots, which is interesting. Sorry, there is a spectacle there. There is a story to watch unfold and follow along with. It's just, yeah, I think- For you guys back at home, let us know down in the comments, what do you think the future of enduro is? Should enduro become the e-enduro? Should we see more of e-bike enduro? Or do you think that it will eventually come back? Or, dare I say, is enduro dead? Let us know down in the comments below for sure. Well, getting on, the next subject is the enhanced games. Maybe this is the future. You got me thinking. I mean, it has been slightly enhanced in a few cases in the past, and people have been busted. Not that many, actually, but the enhanced game. I don't know much about it, but it's basically, like the Olympics, there's swimming, there's track and field stuff, but the participants are allowed to use FDA-approved, what do we call them? What's the word for it? Performance. Supplements. Yeah, supplements, yeah. So, we're not talking about full-on doping here, are we? Yeah, we are talking about full-on doping, but they are being managed. So, it is being managed, it's one singular source of product. So, instead of- They sell all sorts of things. Yeah, but they are selling. So, HGH, I don't know, I need to know more about my doping drugs, but insert here, drug performance enhancement, EPO, any of these things, you can take them, but they are monitored by professionals throughout the course of them taking the drugs in the run-up to the event to ensure that it's being taken properly. There are the relevant safety protocols, and obviously, because I think that is one of the key concerns with people is that people are just going to juice with no concern to their personal health. So, it is monitored, with the idea being that it is the ultimate spectacle of human performance. Now- It doesn't seem like it actually was, though, because there's only one record broken, I believe, in swimming. This feels a bit to me like a pub chat. It's just got out of hand. But actually, there was $25 million worth of prize money, which is obviously quite an incentive. For people that don't mind, I mean, it doesn't feel right to me, ethically, really, because who knows what the long-term side effects of this might be. It's not something that I would do, but people are doing it out of their own choice. Having said that, if there's $25 million, half a million for one race. All I'm saying is, if you win half a million, one of the swimmers said that it was 13 years worth of world titles in one race they earned. And you look at Enduro and Downhill, 500k prize purse. That's how many seasons would Bruni have to win in prize purse. What I was interested in is, where's the money coming from? Which companies are sponsoring this that want to be associated with it? Actually, money's coming from a few places. Peter Thiel, who's quite a controversial character, he was involved in the PayPal. He was co-founder of that, sorry. Donald Trump Jr., other notable venture capitalists, and also the sponsorship from streaming companies and things like that. So obviously, it's made quite a lot of noise. Having said that, on the financial side, I'm just saying that the money's financials don't really add up, and the share value of the company has dropped quite a lot since its launch. But obviously quite controversial, and also the companies involved with it, I think, take some of that controversy as well. Adam, are you interested in this? I am. I think they were maybe expecting more spectacle from it. I don't know, superhero level performance, and like you're saying, there's just one record that got broken in the swimming pool. A bit of an anticlimax for sure. Yeah, that. One of the things that I have found interesting though is obviously we're a cycling channel, and the reason for bringing this up is they have mentioned that one of the biggest sports that they want to bring in for 2027 is cycling. Now, I mean, that's a pretty crazy one. And their argument for the reason for bringing in cycling is that it would bring transparency where there is hidden enhancements. So they're essentially claiming that there are enhancements, which will gloss over enhancements in sport, and this would create a transparency and also potentially bring to light those who have been doping because if they're equal to these dopers. Now, the argument being is that doping would immediately make you better. I don't necessarily agree with that because I think in every sport of cycling, skill has such an impact. Obviously, there's never been much doping or public doping that's been caught in mountain biking ever. There's a handful of cases I can think of over the years. Obviously, our colleagues on the roadside channel, there's been a lot more on that side. So I don't know if mountain biking would ever be involved in this, but I like it. I don't think there's any point, but I could probably see why on the road or on the track that they might think this is. I wouldn't even know what supplement to take to improve. I mean, enduro maybe a bit of EPO might help you. No, I don't know. It just seems like such a dangerous thing to get into when skill is, like I said, it's still a determining factor even for enduro. I think that's it, isn't it? I mean, the thing you see in downhill and enduro and cross country is that there is no one size fits all. You don't see some absolute muscle hamster winning all the races. There's so many different body types and body sizes and they all make it work on a world level. So I think that just highlights how much of a skill-based sport we take part in. I think in all my years of downhill pro racing, two people that I know I've got popped for drugs and it was both marijuana. It was not necessarily for force enhancing. So I don't think, from my perspective, I know of none in world cup downhill at least. In enduro, I had a few, we had a few cases. What have you had? A few cases of- Come on, you definitely didn't have any performance. But yeah, I think that there were definitely a few rumors going around the pits and stuff of some teams and- Rumors? Yeah. But yeah, again, not that any of those people had ever done anything and won the race. So it was always like, well, even if you are enhancing, what's the point? So it would be interesting to see, I think what would be more interesting to see is mountain biking as an Olympic sport. And I do think that that's where this money side of it, I'd love to see, that would be the only main benefit I would see of the enhanced games is it would put mountain biking in front of the media, give it more media focus. And I think that that would potentially elevate it, obviously cross countries in the Olympics, but it'd be so cool to see more genres of the sport in the Olympics in the future. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we've talked about sort of outside of the sport funding, sponsorship in the past and how that might bring more money to the pros, but it's not really there at the moment. Do you have any lines for Donald Trump Jr? You could like- Get him in on downhill? I'd probably rather not have him in on downhill. Someone with deep pockets, anyone with deep pockets want to throw a bit of money. I guess, you know, like we've talked about it in the past, but people like Volvo and Diesel and Grundig isn't really a household name anymore, don't think. But it was. Showing your age then, yeah. Toyota were involved, they were in British downhills, but yeah, I'd love to see a bit more of that if it's going to help the teams get bigger, pay their prize money a bit better so these pros can get the rewards. Although I think Loperini is driving around in a Porsche 911. Yeah, I think a few of them are doing all right on there, I think. But yeah, definitely would love to see the sport grow. And I think that that's maybe where this as well, the enhanced games is bringing the prize money is that's where it's got all the media attention. And obviously, I think that's making a statement. And that was actually interesting about the hard-earned to be league as well. They had 120 grand prize purse. Did they? And they're really trying to make a statement. Where was that coming from? So that is from a few different, again, outside investors, one of the co-founders, he floated his company, but he very much believes in the idea that mountain biking could learn a lot from other sports. So he's put a big prize purse on there because he says that the risk should be worth the reward or the reward should be worth the risk. So yeah, it's interesting to see that there are sports or there are competitions out there, US Open as well, big prize purses. So it would be cool to see, again, like you say, outside sponsors coming in. I'd love to see that a bit more. I won 2000 euros for coming third in a snow race. It's called Teen Airwaves, like a four cross race on a border cross track. And the winner was probably eight grand euros. And that was, I don't know if Airwaves, was that like a chewing gum sponsor? I might be making that up, but yeah, it's crazy how that one-off event found the money to do it. Whereas the World Series seemingly can't. They think they pay 3000 euros for a win. So yeah, I think we will agree that I'd like to see the athletes winning more money. But potentially not Enhance Games for mountain biking. Let's see. On the subject of Enhance Games, let us know down in the comments below, what do you guys think? Are the Enhance Games here to stay? Would you love to see mountain biking in it? Or should it be banned and should we just forget all of this and go back to the pub? I think it was too late for me. I think I need to go. You know that guy who's doing all the anti-aging stuff. I think that's what I need to get on rather than the program. Well, I'm not sure what it does take for all that stuff. I heard you have a good contact for Just For Men, mate. So if you've got it, I could definitely use some of that. I'm more worried about it than that. Right, that's it for this week's show. EP5, we're knocking them down. Come back next week for the Global Mountain Bike Show.