A WORD WITH LAURIE GREENLAND

Mtb prodigy Laurie Greenland tells us about his life in lockdown, riding World Cups and the thrill of surviving Red Bull Hardline

- Laurie Greenland

How did you get into mountain biking?

I started off on a BMX and I grew up just over the road from a skatepark. Then my dad ended up getting a mountain bike and it just fell into place from there.

My dad used to ride and race and he would always go to the Dragon Downhill Series. I wasn’t actually old enough to race but I’d practise; I’d sneak in and do a couple of the races. I grew up in that South Wales scene.

Did you always know you’d make it?

I’ve got a one-track mind in this respect. I remember seeing Steve Peat one time in Cwmcarn at a UK National. He won that race. And I just knew instantly I really wanted to aspire to be like that. It’s never really been a question of whether I can or can’t make it; in my head it just seemed to be what I was going to do. So I had one goal.

Are we going to get any World Cups this year?

I wish I had some sort of insider knowledge on when the World Cups might take place this year, but I get the information pretty much when you guys do. That’s pretty frustrating because I need to know how hard to train, and when and where. You can’t train for four months at your peak like you would before the first World Cup, you would just drain yourself. So we’ve just resorted to quite a baseline set-up and hopefully we’ll have a few weeks or longer to ramp things up.

It’s also a shame as some countries might come out of lockdown and be able to do recreational sport before others. I’d hate to be in a situation where, for example,the UK got four weeks’ downhill time and another country only got two – that’s just not fair. In a situation like this though I’m more than happy to take a back seat. Friends, family and loved ones are way more important than riding a bit of metal or carbon down a hill against the clock over some rocks and roots.