In this episode, we caught up with Natasha Bradley, an English rider making waves in Queenstown, New Zealand.
Natasha is a standout multi-disciplined rider who is known for her infectious enthusiasm and versatility across BMX, Enduro, Freeride, and DH racing.
A true force to be reckoned with, she secured the 'true blue' award at the Dark Horse Women’s freeride event last year, and more recently won the annual McGazza Fest crainless race - as well as putting on an impressive show at the Dream Line freeride jam.
In this episode, we delve into:
Harnessing nervous energy for peak performance.
Natasha's distinct mental approach across various riding disciplines.
Coping techniques for those inevitable off-feeling days.
Valuable insights from running her coaching business in the UK at just 22 years old.
The power of visualization in her riding progression.
Strategies for keeping the joy alive and focusing on your strengths.
Tune in for a conversation packed with wisdom, shared experiences, and the lively spirit that Natasha brings to the mountain biking community.
You can find Natasha on Instagram @natasha_bradleyy.
Listen here or by searching for ‘Grit with Wisdom’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, and you can follow me on Instagram @the_mind_mountain
Happy trails - Jake Johnstone
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Jake Johnstone: [00:00:00] Welcome to Grit With Wisdom. This is the podcast that delves deep into the inner psyche of mountain bikers from all aspects of our sport in order to discover the tools and the tactics that can help us have more fun out on the trails more often. Our aim here is to help you understand what it takes to push our own personal boundaries in the sport we love, from a mental and emotional perspective.
Today on the show I'm sitting down with Natasha Bradley. Natasha is an English rider who calls Queenstown, New Zealand home. Earlier this year, she took home the True Blue Award at the Dark Horsewoman's Freeride event, and is well known for bringing the hype, getting everyone stoked, and just genuinely having a good time out on the bike.
From BMX to enduro, downhill [00:01:00] racing to freeride, Natasha is one hell of a multi disciplined rider, and is known for being one of the fastest four cross mountain bikers in the world, having taken out four British Championships. And winning a silver medal at the world championships if you're not familiar with four cross racing fear not we'll get into that in just a second Natasha, welcome to the
Natasha Bradley: show.
Oh, thanks for having me. It's good to
Jake Johnstone: be here. Stoked to have you here. How was that intro? Did I miss anything
Natasha Bradley: there? No, that was very kind words. Thank you. Nah, you pretty much shunned it up, I reckon.
Jake Johnstone: Fantastic. Well, always good when I get it right. I'm dead after fact checking. Yeah, yeah. Sweet. Well, I think it would be cool just to start off here by winding the clock right back.
Maybe you can tell our listeners a little bit about who you are and where you grew up.
Natasha Bradley: Okay. Well, my name is Natasha. I'm born and bred in Torquay in the west country of England. Best land in the world. Um, started BMX racing when I was about 10 years old. Used to just go to like my local track with my brother and my friends, just like riding about having a laugh, like nothing too [00:02:00] serious.
Then started racing at like 11, 12 and was getting real into it and did the national series for like six years, did some world championships, did a couple of Euro rounds. Come everywhere from like first to last in the national series, you know, I've done it all. Um, and then, yeah, like when I was 16, started getting a bit tired of BMX.
You know, it was kind of like same old thing. And then someone mentioned four cross to my dad and he was like, we should go give it a go. So when I was like 17, we went to Hart Hill. I think my first race was pretty sick track actually. And, um, it was kind of hooked from there. Like it's similar to BMX in a sense where the gate drops.
You're racing other people, racing on a track with corners and basically the first person across the line wins. So, I feel like that's my favourite type of racing to be honest. And then I was hooked from there really. Yeah,
Jake Johnstone: absolutely. Yeah. It's BMX but with a rougher
Natasha Bradley: surface. Pretty much, yeah, just like, if you've ever seen ski cross in the Olympics, similar kind of vibe, but basically four people on the [00:03:00] gate, the gate drops and you just ride down a steep, rough track with grass, rocks and jumps.
Jake Johnstone: Fantastic, sounds like a good time. It is a good time, that's for sure. So cool to hear you got into it so young and kind of went full throttle. Yeah. Into BMX racing. What were your parents like? Were they pretty supportive and into bikes themselves?
Natasha Bradley: Yeah, I mean they weren't like, A lot of BMX parents are like really pushy, and you know, like, they weren't like that at all.
The hockey dad kind of thing. Yeah, they weren't like that at all, but they were just like really encouraging for like whatever I wanted to pursue. And they'd, you know, take me along, and it was never about winning, it was just about having fun. Awesome. And it's still the same now, really. Yeah,
Jake Johnstone: yeah, that's so cool.
And what about riding there with your brothers, was there any kind of sibling rivalry? Oh, for
Natasha Bradley: sure, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he's, out of everyone I know, the only person I want to beat is my brother. I, I do. That's fantastic. But
yeah,
Jake Johnstone: back then. Don't rub it in. He might be listening.
Natasha Bradley: Hopefully. Yeah, he used to beat me a fair bit and then I started beating him and it's just, you know, big rivalry.
He hasn't ridden in a couple of years and I've been over here riding. And
he's coming over in [00:04:00] January, so. We're gonna have to do a race and I've, I've got my money on myself.
Jake Johnstone: You think you've got it covered? That's awesome. Well, it's gonna be fantastic to be riding with him again. Yeah, it'll be sick.
You're obviously incredibly passionate about all things bikes. I'm curious, like, what is it about mountain bikes or bikes in general that keeps you so motivated, so passionate?
Natasha Bradley: Oh, good question. Um, kind of everything around it. I mean, I really like the social aspect around it. So all the people you meet, all mountain bikers are so friendly.
You know, you're going out riding with your friends. The places it takes you as well, like, all over Europe, wouldn't have been to half those places if I didn't mountain bike. I wouldn't be here if I didn't mountain bike. It's just good times as well. I do like getting the heart up to speed, you know.
Totally. Scaring myself a bit, which is fun. Yeah, just
Jake Johnstone: everything about it. Good for the soul, isn't it? Yeah. And you were saying earlier, this is like your fourth summer in a row. Yeah.
Natasha Bradley: Yeah. Which is sick. So good. Um, yeah, I mean, that's bike orientated, but I also grew up right by the sea, so I do love summer.
And all summer activities, just being out in the sun, having a good time, hanging out on the beach. [00:05:00] So, if it was winter right now, we wouldn't be sat doing this. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Totally. It's uh, yeah, it's definitely harder to do these podcasts when it gets to winter. That's for sure. Some of our last ones in Canada were a little
Natasha Bradley: chilly.
Oh yeah, I bet. Outside as well.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, exactly. So, moving on, these days you're doing some freeride events as well. Yeah. You were at the Dark Horse event earlier in the year. When did you first start getting into the bigger jumps and the more freeride aspect
Natasha Bradley: of the sport? So, to be honest, I've always kind of been into doing bigger jumps, but maybe like, About five or six years ago I was at a four cross race in the Czech Republic.
It was um, what's his name, Tomas Slavik's track. And he has these like crazy massive jumps. The track's insanely gnarly. There's a video somewhere of a four cross race and some dude's doing a wall ride. Right. He overtakes someone. It's like that track. And these jumps are big jumps. And no other woman had done them before.
No one was doing them. And I was like, I want a crack. My friend towed me in. He told me the first time, and I cased the first one, and I pushed back [00:06:00] up, and he was like, Right, you got this. And I sent both of them. And it was insane. The feeling it gave me was mad. And then didn't really dabble with big jumps a couple years after then.
And then it's just like now and again there'll be a real, some big jumps where I want to hit them. And it's just kind of like that, really. And then I went revs last year for That Evolve women's session and I was there a couple of days before and they've got the big line. 50 to 1 line and I was like, before I got that I was like, I'm going to do that.
It's just such a good feeling. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, like the heart racing at the start, all the calculations right, I know I'm going quick enough, I know I've got the skills to do it, and then making yourself do it. And then landing it fine. And all that. Do you ever
Jake Johnstone: get nervous when you first show up to like a new jump line like this and you're like, I really
Natasha Bradley: want this.
Yeah, big time, yeah, but I feel like nerves are good, like, you know, shows you're a little bit scared, which is smart because if you're dropping into something that is quite big and you're not that scared, then you're probably not thinking about it. Right, like you can
Jake Johnstone: almost be too relaxed and not focused
Natasha Bradley: enough.
Yeah, yeah, so I feel like a bit of nerves is good to focus you. Um, yeah, it's good to be a bit scared I
Jake Johnstone: reckon. Totally, I'd agree with that. [00:07:00] Yeah, yeah. Do you ever, sometimes I feel like really nervous to the point where I feel like it's not helping my riding, do you ever like
Natasha Bradley: encounter that? There's definitely moments like that, and then sometimes I'll just listen to myself and I won't ride that day, or I won't.
Won't do anything that I don't think I'm ready to do or my mind is going to allow me to do Yeah, because there's definitely moments when like I feel like I'd get that more so on tech like if there's something really really gnarly I just like stiffen up and be too scared and I'm like, you know what?
I'm not gonna Help myself going down this thing. I'll probably crash and I just won't do it.
Jake Johnstone: Right? Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It's not easy Yeah Yeah, awesome. That was a question I wanted to ask you. Like, you're such a multi disciplined rider, you're doing downhill riding, technical stuff, big jumps, uh, BMX racing, the works.
How does your attitude or approach change when you're going through different disciplines? Damn,
Natasha Bradley: I mean, I feel like mountain biking for me is such a mental game anyway, so I feel like each day is different. You know, some days I'm really up for pushing the limits and trying new things, and then other days I don't [00:08:00] want to do that and I just want to Um, you know, stay in my lane doing what I'm used to.
So I do feel like certain disciplines does change me watching some bike videos before you go is always good. Yeah. Getting stoked before you head out. And just like thinking about it before you go like, right. We're going up bike park and me riding this, this, you know, this is what I need to do. Change the bike settings a little bit.
And just get yourself in the zone then. Or if I knew I was going up to like dream, maybe watching some videos of dream and stuff like that. And just like in my head, listening to music and thinking about, right. Doing Dream, doing Big Jumps, and just setting myself up that way.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, fantastic. And just watching the videos, does that help you with the visualisation process?
Yeah. Seeing
Natasha Bradley: what it's going to look like? Yeah, fully. And like, seeing that it's going to be mint, and like, watching people send it. Yeah. And do really well. I was like, fuck yeah, if they can do it, I can. So rad.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. Yeah, I love that attitude. I'd love to hear you talk about Dark
Natasha Bradley: Horse. Dark Horse was sick.
So, I didn't know I was going. Um, so Georgia invited me to go stay with her. And I'll stay with her in BC. Georgia Astel, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then her and Vinny was like, [00:09:00] right, you're coming up to Casey's event, Dark Horse. I was like, what? They were like, yeah, you're gonna ride it. I was like, no way, that's sick.
So I've never been to Revy before. We got put up in a hotel, which is pretty mad.
Jake Johnstone: So how many days out did you find out you're going to this event, you're
Natasha Bradley: competing? I feel like I knew maybe a month before, but I didn't really know, What it was going to be like, because Vinny was just like, bro, I got you invited to Dark Horse.
I was like, no way. Um, so I was pretty hyped for it and it was sick. Yeah, it was just like real good to meet loads of new people as well. I haven't really hung out with Casey before, so that was cool. We got like bike park passes. We had loads of workshops and we rode like the Dark Horse line. Yeah, there's so many young girls absolutely ripping as well, which is really good to see.
Super cool to see. Yeah, like. Like Morgan, she only lives in Wanaka, the town over. She's an absolute shredder. She's 17 and the way she rides the bike is mad. It's amazing. It hypes you up because it's like, oh my god, these young girls are pushing the limits so much. You've got to push them even more.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, it's crazy to think what the next [00:10:00] generation will be doing.
The next
Natasha Bradley: generation is going to be
Jake Johnstone: next level. Especially when she's 27. Yeah,
Natasha Bradley: it's so good.
Jake Johnstone: So good. Fantastic. So after doing that event, have you got your sights set on any other? You know, free ride events you'd like to go and compete
Natasha Bradley: in? Oh yeah, I'd DarkFest. That's definitely, um, on the cards for sure.
I've been speaking to a few people, but I don't think I've got the invite for this coming DarkFest. But if I'm not going to the next one, well, I'm going to the next one. It's fantastic, I'd love it. I'll be there, I'll be there. Um, it all, it all really is money dependent as well. I'd love to get back over to Europe and do a couple of the Fest series stuff.
That'd be pretty sick. And I did go to Reese Wallace's event in Canada, and I had a really good time there. I mean, I'd love, yeah, I'd love to do as many events as possible, but I feel like, definitely MagazaFest here, hopefully Crankworx on the North Island, and then hopefully try and get up to Canada and Europe, and just do whatever events I can.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, yeah, so cool to hear, like so many awesome things in the pipeline. Yes,
Natasha Bradley: yeah, lots of, lots of things in the pipeline, for sure.
Jake Johnstone: [00:11:00] Awesome, so in the meantime, practicing here in Queenstown, um, I'm curious, do you have a process, or any kind of, step by step thing you'll follow when you're learning a new trick, when you're trying new things.
Natasha Bradley: So lately I haven't been so good because I've just come back off injuries. I'm still kind of feeling rusty and like I haven't really been trying any new tricks because I'm like still just like getting back to speeds. But normally it would be go to the mulch, practice it on the mulch, get it dialed on the mulch.
Probably on the middle mark, which is those three lips, then go to the bigger side, do it on that. And then, the lips are really similar to the last jump on Mini Dream. Nice. They're wooden jumps as well. Yeah, yeah. Transfer it onto Mini Dream, practice it on the last jump, because that one's like, really easy.
And then try it on a bigger jump. Beautiful. Yeah, yeah, step by
Jake Johnstone: step. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so cool to hear. Sorry to hear about the injury. It's always a bummer. Oh, it is. You're on
Natasha Bradley: the other side of it. Exactly. I'm all sweet. I've done, I think, three years in a row now, I've done a collarbone every year. So
Jake Johnstone: you've just broken a collarbone
Natasha Bradley: pretty recently?
Yeah, collarbone and I did slight separation to my shoulder and my hand in two [00:12:00] places. Jeez. Yeah, the hand is still actually a bit iffy. I need to get that looked at, really. Yeah,
Jake Johnstone: yeah, it's tough, isn't it? There's so many moving pieces in the hand. Yeah,
Natasha Bradley: yeah, which is crazy. Like, all the rough stuff, I'm like, oh yeah.
Yeah,
Jake Johnstone: and outside of writing, you work as a chef. I do, I do. So there's no getting away from it.
Natasha Bradley: There's really none, which is, yeah, it's good though. Keeps me busy.
Jake Johnstone: Totally, it's a great attitude. And I guess that's another process all in it. self the process of coming back from an injury and deciding like, yeah, when's the right time to do each new
Natasha Bradley: thing.
It is, it is hard. Cause it's like, I don't want to push the limits too much because frankly the pain isn't really the issue. It's the time off the bike that sucks. Cause also if I hurt myself, I'm not going to get able to go to work and pay bills. Um, but yeah, I think like I had, I've had a few couple good sessions the last.
So I'm like feeling like I'm able to push the limits a bit more and I had a really big stack onto my like, recently healed collarbone. It was [00:13:00] huge. And as soon as I like went down, I was like, no, I just saw it happening, landed as soon as I landed. I was like, ah. Um, not broken, it hurt, but I'm fine. So that was actually a good sign to show that I can crash and like the strengths there again.
Jake Johnstone: Right. That's so interesting, isn't it? So the crash rather than diminishing your confidence, you're actually like, no, I'm healed and strong. I
Natasha Bradley: mean, it hurt, but I've healed and strong. Yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. So cool. So it sounds like it's a very intuitive process for you. Kind of feeling into how you're feeling on the bike and then taking it gradually from there.
Natasha Bradley: Yeah. Exactly that really.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. And I wanted to ask, you said mountain biking is like a huge mental game for you. Yeah. Is there anything you've learnt over the years or anything, like specific strategies or techniques you'll use to help you when you're perhaps not having the best day on the bike and you want to get back into the zone?
Oof.
Natasha Bradley: So when I'm not having a good day on the bike, I find it really hard to get back into the zone. Obviously, you've got to take the rough and the smooth. I mean, not every day is going to be the best day ever, so definitely don't beat yourself up about [00:14:00] it, I'd say. You know, if you're not feeling it and you're not doing as good as you can do, don't beat yourself up about it.
There's always another day, but I'd say just like, I'm just out having fun on my bike. It's nothing serious. Listening to music as well, I find helps me like getting me in the zone, listening to music. And just, you know, just positive self talk, really. Yep. I'd say to get me in the zone. Yeah, yeah, that's great.
Shout at myself sometimes. Depends, depends.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, yeah. Do you find it depends whether you need kind of like lifting up or bringing down
Natasha Bradley: to a heightened state? Like, I don't know, if I'm going to do like, if it's a big day and I'm like pushing the limit so I'm talking to myself a lot and like hyping myself up a fair bit.
Or just like telling myself to chill and calm down and like slow down, I guess. Yeah, it can
Jake Johnstone: go both ways. It really can. Sometimes we can get like overhyped and then we
Natasha Bradley: can't think. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then you're just all over the shop, but
Jake Johnstone: yeah. Do you have any favourite you'll say to yourself?
Natasha Bradley: Oh, pain is temporary and glorious forever.
Jake Johnstone: That's a great one. Yeah. Yeah, fantastic. We haven't heard that one on the podcast
Natasha Bradley: yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's my own [00:15:00] one.
Jake Johnstone: Great. Yeah, yeah. So that's something you'll say when you're out
Natasha Bradley: there riding. Yeah, yeah. Nice. Yeah, because if you're going to, like, you've got to be prepared to crash as well. I mean, like, you know, and that's the thing is that crashing ain't that bad.
If I need to eat a collarbone, I will. But at the end of the day, I'm getting through that jump line. So, this is what happened at Backwoods, essentially. Right, yeah, yeah. Where I crash. Like, I got through the whole line mint a good few times, but then just like, over cocky. There was a crowd there. I wasn't going quick enough for one of the jumps.
I would have pulled out normally, but I was like, stuff it. But when you're dropping into stuff like that, you've fully got to be prepared to have a big crash. Yeah, you've got to accept the consequences. Accept the consequences. Yeah, obviously no one wants to crash. I don't want to crash, but, and I don't think about crashing when I'm dropping in at all.
It's just, you've got to accept that it may happen.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, yeah, totally. This kind of leads straight into a question I often like to ask people. For mountain bikers perhaps on the other end of their career that are starting out, what do you think is more important? Learning how to crash right? Or learning the correct skills so that they don't crash as [00:16:00] often.
Natasha Bradley: Correct skills, 100%. Yeah, yeah. No one wants to crash. No, no, don't learn how to crash right.
Jake Johnstone: It's a common, it's a common debate, right? Everyone's like, ah, if you're a mountain biker, you've got to learn how to
Natasha Bradley: crash. Oh, no. I would suggest learning the correct skills, and along that way, you'll get a fair few crashes under your belt.
And having the more, more crashes, you'll learn how to crash. I'd
Jake Johnstone: say. Yeah. I really agree with that because often I'll follow that question up with like, well, how do we crash?
Natasha Bradley: I mean, I've had hundreds of crashes in my time and I still don't know, you know, as soon as it happens, you don't know what's going on.
It's just happening. The way, the way you, you fall off your bike, you can't help
Jake Johnstone: that. Totally. Yeah. If crashing is a skill, it's a really hard one to practice.
Natasha Bradley: Yeah. Yeah. Let's not rehearse that one.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. Speaking of challenging things, what's been one of your biggest challenges on the bike over the years?
This could be like learning a certain new skill, a certain race, it could be anything. Pedaling
Natasha Bradley: up a hill. Great answer. 100 percent pedaling up hills. Oh yeah, definitely. Right, still working on that one? [00:17:00] Yeah. Yeah, I'm not, I, I'm not, I'm not great at pedaling. I don't really like pedaling that much, so that would be it.
Like if we're doing a pandemic, I mean, I did smash a pandemic the other day and I got up that hill real well and I was really proud of myself. But I'd have to give myself a pep talk to get up the hill. Like whilst I'm going up that, yeah, I'm in the zone.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, yeah, and for the international listeners here, that's a trail that goes up out of the bike park.
So you're getting a chairlift some of the way. Oh yeah,
Natasha Bradley: I'm getting a chairlift halfway up and I'm still pedalling more. Sufferfest after
Jake Johnstone: that. Yeah, it is. What kind of, what does your pep talk look like when you're on the uphill, guys? Lots
Natasha Bradley: of heavy breathing and you can do this and just like get it over and done with.
It'll be okay.
Jake Johnstone: Yep. Yeah. Fantastic. Get the head down and get it done. That's great. I know you've had the opportunity to ride with so many great riders. You've also been involved in a lot of coaching as well, which we'll talk about in a second. Yeah. But I'm curious, have you ever had any, any really good advice from a mentor that stuck around in the back of
Natasha Bradley: your head?
Oof. Nothing I [00:18:00] can think of off the top of my head, but I want to say there's definitely been moments where people have given me tips and I've been like, it's just really clicked. But nothing I can think of right now. Totally.
Jake Johnstone: That's all good. If it comes to you during the conversation, feel free to let me know.
That's great. And like talking about setting new goals, you've obviously got some really hefty goals. You want to get to all these events. You're working on tricks all the time. You're trying to keep up with all the different disciplines of writing you're into. I'm curious, like how do you go about setting yourself goals that are like achievable and you're stoked about, but not so far out of your sights that they make you perhaps like anxious or frustrated?
Natasha Bradley: That's a good question. I like to write things out. Write it out. Once it's on the paper, you can kind of read it and see where you're at. And then it's like, right, I want to, I want to learn how to knack. Okay. Well, I can already do a one foot euro. I'm not that far, you know, I already take one foot off. I'm not that far away from moving the bike around and getting my back foot off there.
I can go to mini dream. Three times a week and I can achieve that by then so just like making it more small and manageable, I guess I love that.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, chipping it down into small blocks. But [00:19:00] yes, I love that you write it down. Yeah. Yeah Yeah for myself. I think it's a really good way to kind of reflect and be like, oh, yeah I can already do this this and this I am already
Natasha Bradley: doing this.
Yeah Yeah, and also just like writing what you're gonna do in that week. It's like right on Monday. I'm gonna go gorge on Tuesday I'm gonna go mini dream blah blah and it's like right I'm doing this in the week I know I'm doing this and this is If I'm doing all this, this is how I'm going to achieve my goals,
Jake Johnstone: right?
Yeah. So you've got kind of like that visual representation of like, yeah, I am doing the work I deserve to be. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. I really love that approach. Yeah. Do you use writing down or like journaling for anything else like writing or mindset related?
Natasha Bradley: Um, I like to write out my plans for the year and if I have any plans for things or certain goals, non bike related, certain stuff like in the gym and stuff like that.
Um. Right. I like to write my own gym programs, but I don't do any journals or anything like that. Yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. More so like
Natasha Bradley: planning out and more planning and just like, yeah. Writing stuff down. Cause then I feel like sometimes the time can get away from you. You know, if you don't like write [00:20:00] stuff down and structure it, it's like, Oh, you're just like going to the bike park and going through the motions.
Whereas if you're like writing down and planning stuff and it's like, right. I said I was going to do a knack. I wrote this down a month ago. I haven't been going to the mulch or doing anything I can do to do that. So it's just like looking back and stuff. Yeah, that's
Jake Johnstone: a, that's such a cool way to like hold yourself accountable.
Rather than be like, yeah, I want to do this one day. Yeah. And then that one day never comes kind of thing. Because it is easy to fall into that trap all the time. Just riding the same trails that are fun. But you're not really pushing your limits.
Natasha Bradley: Yeah, you're like fully in a rut. Yeah. It is just, yeah, pushing the limits.
That's how, yeah, that's how I do it really. It's just like, write stuff down, structure it, and it's like, now I know what's the need to do. That's such
Jake Johnstone: a dialed process. It's obviously working for you. Oh, thanks. Yeah, fantastic. And, yeah, speaking of the mental skills, like for you when you're out there riding or when you're pushing your limits, if you had to put a percentage on it, how much of riding would you say is mental for you?
Oh. Tough question,
Natasha Bradley: I know. That is a tough question. Um, probably like, probably 65 percent of [00:21:00] it is a mental game, I'd say. For me. Nice. Yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. And then what would you make up the other? Oh,
Natasha Bradley: okay. The other 35%. Um, the other 35 percent I'd say a solid, I'd say 25 percent of it was just sheer stupidity and the other 10 percent
Jake Johnstone: was skill.
Yeah. Nice. Yeah. So just 10 percent of the technical
Natasha Bradley: skill. Yeah. I'd say. The other bit is just go for it. I'm just like, yeah. Fantastic.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. And I guess, yeah, that's a skill in itself, isn't it? Like, knowing when the right time to turn that switch on and go for it is. Yeah. Because I, I feel like it's not just like a, a band aid, one stop shop to, like, getting better at riding.
Yeah, it's Because we could definitely, yeah, put ourselves into sketchy situations if we use that
Natasha Bradley: switch all the time, right? Yeah, exactly, like, you, the thing is you've got to be, build the skills up and also build your, like, for example, jumps up. Like, you couldn't just go straight to Dream or something.
Like, a lip that steep, you would die. You, you know. Yeah, I can't believe that. [00:22:00] Yeah, you've gotta, you've gotta build it up strategically. And be like, right, well I've done that jump there at MiniDream. I know I can do that next big one. And that's pretty similar to the other big one I want to do. And it's the same with tech as well.
Oh, tech's actually Tech is the same, but I feel like you can get away with a bit more of just letting go of those brakes. Totally,
Jake Johnstone: yeah. Pointing and shooting. The thing I love about tech is often I'm riding a lot slower. So if I do make a mistake, like often the consequences aren't quite as
Natasha Bradley: bad. Yeah, I feel like the stuff with downhill, I feel like something on Thunder Goat you'd hurt yourself more so on the trail we did.
Yeah. The trail we did, I don't know, like, there's some soft bits, there's a few trees, but like Thunder Goat, it's all just really hard packed and it encourages you to go really quick. Where as like, steep chutes aren't as bad generally. Yeah, I
Jake Johnstone: think like some of the hard packed kind of green and blue machine built trails in the park have way more sketchy moments than I do on the steep stuff.
Natasha Bradley: Same. Yeah, the other day I had a huge stack because I just wasn't paying attention. Lost the front
Jake Johnstone: end. Yeah, that's a really common thing. I hear from so many riders. Hey, like we crash on the easy stuff off We've done the hard thing. [00:23:00] Yeah, I think it's like you say we lapse concentration We're like good or out of the woods now like start thinking about dinner or whatever.
Yeah, and then boom. Yeah It's funny how that works out. Hey Um wanted to talk here a little bit about racing. Obviously you've been racing since you're like 10 or 12 years old. Yeah breadth of racing experience and talking about the mindset there, how does your mindset change when you're Riding in a competition versus when you're just out there riding for fun.
Natasha Bradley: So, I mean, I did a couple, only a couple competitions this year. Crankworx twice. I'd say definitely just like, I didn't enjoy it as much actually. The racing I used to enjoy a lot more, this year I didn't really enjoy it. I guess I'm just more focused really just like analysing the track, analysing your, like, opponents.
Okay. And just going from there really, I'd say. I'd say I'm still pretty, just like, there to have fun though. Like, always there to have fun, have a good time, but like, obviously once the gate drops, like, I'm there to win, essentially. You know? Um, but just positive attitude, make sure you eat some healthy food, and just know where you're going on the track.[00:24:00]
With whatever discipline that may be.
Jake Johnstone: Fantastic. Yeah. Did you find the competition kind of took away just a little bit of the fun for you this
Natasha Bradley: year? Yeah, I think it did actually. That's exactly what I did. I think it just took away a bit of the fun. Uh, plus definitely not as quick as I'd like to be my own fault.
Hadn't been training hard. Like if you want to be competing at, you know, Yeah. I guess that needs to be your number one focus. Yeah. Yeah. And I hadn't been training specifically for stuff like that. And it's just that I wasn't as quick as I thought I was going to be. And it wasn't as dialed and wasn't really enjoying it.
Cause I was just like, Oh yeah. I'd rather just be like riding the bike park. Yeah. I see.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. So is that kind of your focus going forward? Kind of more into the free
Natasha Bradley: ride side of things? Yeah, definitely. Like I'm not super fussed on racing anymore. I don't mind doing the odd race, you know, for a laugh, but definitely more just focused on, free ride events, and just pushing the limits in, you know, bike park speed, jumps, dream and tricks,
Jake Johnstone: really.
Yeah, fantastic. So you can still compete, you can still be competitive and progress, but in a different discipline. Pretty much, [00:25:00] yeah.
Hello everyone and thanks for listening. If you're enjoying the podcast, don't forget to give it a like, give it a subscribe. And if you'd like to know more about my journey in mountain biking and my background as a mountain bike coach, check out episode number 29 where I dive a little bit deeper into that.
Now let's get right back to the podcast.
That kind of leads into, yeah, another question I wanted to ask you. Obviously, you've raced in a whole bunch of different disciplines, from downhill, BMX, four cross.
Does your mindset change at all, like, lining up at the start gate for different
Natasha Bradley: races, different disciplines? BMX is the gnarliest by far, because you've got Seven other people on the gate with you. So, like, I mean, I also think it's my favourite though. BMX and four cross, because I like racing other people.[00:26:00]
Because you're not only concerned about what you're going to do, but what everyone else is going to do on the gate. So you're like, oh my god, like, literally your bars are like inches away from each other, like, trying to get in the zone. I like talk to myself on the gate. Just like getting myself in the zone.
Just firing yourself up. Whereas downhill, I find it harder to like get myself in the zone, because it's just me. Right, it's super quiet. Yeah, it's super quiet, it's just me. And it's just very different to what I'm like, like a race in my head is like racing against people on the same track. Yeah, I see.
Yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. So different, eh? So it fascinates me that you're being competitive in both because they're like two different sports. Yeah.
Natasha Bradley: Very different.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. And do you find, I feel like it's a lot of pressure, uh, any downhill races I've done, because it's like one run, you're like, one chance to be faster than everyone else or faster than I think I could be, like myself.
Whereas, yeah, BMX and enduro races, you have multiple rounds. So it's like, okay, if I mess one up, maybe
Natasha Bradley: I'll do better the next. Yeah, fully. Um, yeah, it's just like, that's the thing. You just got one run against the clock and that's it, which is mad. Yeah,
Jake Johnstone: so any, [00:27:00] like, techniques or tools or tips for people racing downhill, feeling the pressure?
Is there anything you'll do to kind of focus on the task at hand? I
Natasha Bradley: don't know if I ever dealt with it well. Um, but just like remembering the track, watching your GoPro footage before you even drop it, I think it's a good one. Just like memorizing the track and just focusing on your breathing and looking ahead.
I always just tell myself, right, look ahead. Look ahead, now the next corner, don't focus on what's to come, just literally just like where your eyes should be and just telling yourself, you know, stand up tall, look ahead and stuff like
Jake Johnstone: that. Fantastic. So yeah, just giving yourself commands what you want to
Natasha Bradley: do.
Yeah. Yeah. Cause if else your mind wanders and you're like, Oh my God, I'm not going quick enough. I'm going too quick. Oh, I slammed the brakes on there. Don't think about any of that. For me personally, it's just right. Look ahead.
Jake Johnstone: I find it so hard not to think about the corner behind me, so I just blew out.
Natasha Bradley: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and then it gets in your mind and then you mess up the next corner. It's a vicious cycle. It is, isn't
Jake Johnstone: it? Yeah. So you mentioned breathing there. I think that's a fantastic way to kind of ground yourself back into the present. Specifically, how do you [00:28:00] use breathing to
Natasha Bradley: help you? Just really focus on breathing through the nose, nice and slow and breathing out the mouth.
Nothing too crazy. Else, if you like, if you really think about breathing through your nose as well. I find you can concentrate a lot more and slow your heart rate down while you're on track. Whereas if you're just like panting loads, it like, it throws
Jake Johnstone: everything off. Breathing in dust like I was chasing you down there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Natasha Bradley: exactly.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, I find breathing's a funny one. We talk about specifically with riding, you can go so deep into all these different breath work techniques. Yeah. But if we complicate it too much, it's often hard to think about that while you're riding. Yeah. a sudden we're not thinking about body position or cornering or anything
Natasha Bradley: like that.
Yeah, fully. It's just Simple in for the nose and out for the mouth and just go
Jake Johnstone: from there. Fantastic. Wanted to ask you about managing confidence in a competitive environment. I don't know. Sometimes it can go one way or the other when we're surrounded by a whole bunch of other riders and we're, yeah.
Natasha Bradley: I, to be honest, truthfully honest, I didn't really get on with managing confidence that well in the downhill race settings.
Like I've always ridden with other people on the track and they've always hyped me up. So [00:29:00] I do feel like when I'm by myself on the track, I never ride as well and it's hard to build up confidence. I, I, I did struggle like that, like I could go to Coronet next weekend and probably come last in that downhill race.
I wouldn't, I wouldn't be practicing well, whereas if I went with my friends this weekend, I don't know, probably put down a top five time. Yeah, so you feel like if you're able to chase someone and Yeah, or just like being chased, or just like hyping your friends, or just like with my music, riding by myself, whatever, but like as soon as it becomes race setting, I don't know why, it all goes out the window for me.
I don't have as much confidence or as much hype. Don't know why
Jake Johnstone: that is. Yeah, it's so interesting how the people we surround ourselves with can change how we ride so much. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. How do you go about choosing good riding buddies?
Natasha Bradley: Oh, um, good point. I mean, just, you know, when like you click with someone, like we tend to ride in a big group and then it's like, Oh, if there's certain people I'm like, Oh yeah, they shred.
I want to ride with you more. Like just say let's go ride sometime and go from there really. But definitely like [00:30:00] loud people. I bounce off like my friend Bryn. He's a legend. He is, One of my favorite people to ride bikes with because he's just super happy always sending it and just on the edge and just Hyping everyone up and it like pumps you up as well.
Jake Johnstone: That's fantastic. Yes. There's someone that's gonna build you up. Yeah, definitely
Natasha Bradley: Yeah, yeah for
Jake Johnstone: sure. Yeah, I love that on the other end of the spectrum. I've got managing confidence in racing environments Do you ever get race nerves?
Natasha Bradley: Yeah big time Yeah, really nervous before racing. Um, it's hard to manage it.
Listening to music, big time, listening to music, just like stretching, bit of like breathing, just slowing it all down. But at the end of the day, you get on that gate and your heart's going to be pounding anyway. So just like, just talking to myself sometimes, just like slowing it right down. Fantastic.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, not only like having some good tools to manage your nervous system, but also accept them. They're like, yeah, you're right You're gonna feel some
Natasha Bradley: race nervous. Exactly. Yeah, like you're gonna be nervous. Yeah for sure
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, I think, like [00:31:00] you said at the start, sometimes those nerves can be a good thing, hey?
It means we care about the race. Yeah, exactly. If we weren't nervous, we probably weren't stoked to be there.
Natasha Bradley: Yeah, I do feel like a certain level of nerves as well pumps you up and it's like, right, okay, like your heart's racing, the gate's about to drop, bam, you hit that, you go on the first light because you're on it, your heart's already going, and I feel like sometimes you can race better
Jake Johnstone: that way.
Definitely, yeah, I think there's a fine line between nervousness and excitement, hey? Yeah, exactly. Sometimes the two can be blended. They
Natasha Bradley: definitely can, yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, for sure. so, Kind of winding the clock back to when you were in the UK, you did a fair bit of coaching as well as the racing.
Yeah, I did. Yeah.
Natasha Bradley: I'd love to talk about that. I do, yeah. I absolutely love that to be honest. Had my own business. Coaching in South Devon, which was pretty sick. Was doing mountain bike coaching, also BMX coaching, which was fun. Back to my local BMX track where it all started. Coaching the kids there, doing like group sessions, one on ones.
And then also Going into schools and doing bikeability with kids, which is just teaching them road safety on bikes, really. Then also going into schools with kids with, um, additional requirements, [00:32:00] teaching them how to ride little trikes and stuff like that, which frankly was probably one of my favourite things.
I bet that was super rewarding. So rewarding, yeah, absolutely loved it. It was brilliant, especially like the school, school work as well, because you'll go into a school and the school provides all the bikes for the kids and some of the kids don't have their own bikes at home. So like them going out on their bike for the day, they're absolutely loving it, and it's just like great to see.
And you finish the day buzzing. Would have been the best day
Jake Johnstone: of the
Natasha Bradley: whole school year, I bet. Yeah, exactly, which is always fun to, like, fun to be a part of as well, because I'm a big kid myself, really.
Jake Johnstone: We all are. That's fantastic. So when did the whole coaching thing come about for you? Like, when did you decide, like, hey, this is something I'd like to
Natasha Bradley: try?
So I went, I was at sixth form, which is like you're 17, 18 at school, and I did, like, a few different, um, subjects, but I really wasn't sure what I wanted to pursue, and I, no, no, was always into sport. always into biking. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to study sports, coaching and fitness at uni and then get more of an idea of what I want to do.
So I did that. And then I was like, you know what? I actually quite enjoy the coaching thing. Started picking up a few shifts at the BMX track, just doing some shadowing. They kind of just went from there really, [00:33:00] um, really enjoyed it and just set up my own business and just started from there. And it just escalated.
Cool. Did you
Jake Johnstone: go straight into your own business or are you working for someone else?
Natasha Bradley: I've done so many jobs in my time, but with the coaching, I was At the BMX track I was working for another dude, but then with the mountain bike coaching I shadowed a dude called Tony from Evolve Mountain Biking in South Devon.
Great coach. Fantastic. Um, and I shadowed him for a bit and I was like, you know what, I want to start my own business. And just started it from then, really, when I was like, I don't know, 22? Wow. So like a few years back. It must have
Jake Johnstone: taken a lot of courage to be like 22 and be like, right, I'm going to start a business.
I'm going to go all in.
Natasha Bradley: Yeah, it's pretty mad. My parents helped me a lot. That guided me and helped me set it up, and I got a website going, and yeah, my dad's a big, big, big thanks for that P Bag. Legend. That's
Jake Johnstone: fantastic. What was your business card?
Natasha Bradley: Uh, MTB Devon. I got a business Oh, I don't have my wallet on me.
I do have a business card, for everyone interested. The sessions are on hold though until my return, so.
Jake Johnstone: We'll link [00:34:00] the business card at the show notes. Fantastic. So talking about helping your students set goals for themselves, I'm sure they came in with all kinds of lofty goals and different things. How did you go about helping them set goals that again were achievable, yet not
Natasha Bradley: too far out of there?
Damn yeah, I think just like building it up, so. Looking at it, the local park I used to coach at literally upped the road for me, Scadson. They've got loads of jumps there. It's like, right, if you can do the step up on A line.
It's pretty similar to this other jump, just slightly different. It's just like analysing different jumps and just being like, also believing in yourself as well, because I do feel like a lot of the time people don't believe in themselves enough. They're like, if you've done these jumps before, you can definitely do other jumps.
They're pretty similar size. If you've done that, you can do this. So just like transferring skills over, really.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, that's a great way of putting it. Um, do you often find, yeah, people, yeah, they're not taking note of like, yeah, what they are, they have
Natasha Bradley: accomplished already. Yeah. I find a lot of people are, and then you get kids who are trying to, the kids are the opposite.
[00:35:00] Yes. They're trying to like run before they can walk and then you're trying to like pull them back
Jake Johnstone: a bit. Do you find, yeah, I've seen like a complex like that where often kids will have higher confidence. Than technical skill. Yeah. Adult to someone's the opposite. They can do more than they think. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, it's hard to
Natasha Bradley: convince 'em otherwise.
Yeah, it really is as well. 'cause at the end of the day, it's very hard to tell yourself you can do this jump when your brain is like, you are gonna crash. Don't do it. And I do understand that's a really hard thing, but it's just like smaller steps. It's like, right, I've done this small double, I'm doing it fine.
I'm confident. Um, you know, the coach has said, I'm getting on fine body position and looks good. I can definitely do this next job. And just like having confidence within yourself, really.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. It's a great process, isn't it? Cause it's really hard. If someone says, right, you need to believe in yourself more.
Yeah. That's
not,
Natasha Bradley: it's going to happen. No, it's not going to happen at all. It's just like, just telling yourself, you know, I've got the skills to do this. I've been doing this and also just, um, in your mind, imagining it as well. It's like imagining yourself doing this jump and landing it smooth.
Successfully. Just yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, so [00:36:00] often we can unconsciously rehearse what's going to go wrong, what's going to go wrong, I'm not good at this, I'm not good at that. Yeah. Whereas if we change it to the opposite, like you're saying, we're putting in those mental reps. Yeah. We're starting to
Natasha Bradley: build that self belief.
Fully, just self belief. I can't remember what's, what's the word for it when you're, um, mentally, mentally imagining something? Visualisation. Visualisation, that's what I'm looking for. Visualisation, yeah. My BMX coach, I was like 14, 15, he's like, right, every night before you go to bed you need to visualise doing the perfect gate, the perfect jump.
And I was only 14 or 15 at the time, I was like, I don't want to do that. But now I do, and it definitely does work. Like, like positive visualization, for sure. Like if you think something into existence enough, think it's going to happen, and you're going to send it fine, then it will.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, I find it's almost like, yeah, creating those neural pathways in our brain before we've done it in the physical world.
Yeah, yeah. And it's like one less thing to think about consciously when we get to the track and we actually go to do the
Natasha Bradley: thing. Yeah, and it's not so bad. It's never as bad when you do it as well. That's why I was scared. There's [00:37:00] no reason. Yeah,
Jake Johnstone: if we've done enough rehearsals, often it is like a bit anticlimactic, isn't it?
Yeah, it is. Oh, that was easy. That was fine. It's because you've done all the work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beforehand. So interesting. What was one of the, one of the most common things you found yourself teaching students, like in the mountain bike world?
Natasha Bradley: Everyone wants to learn how to jump, don't they? Yeah.
Everyone wants to learn how to jump. Um, jumping and cornering. I'd say jumping I'm good at coaching that I'd say that's the thing I'm best at coaching because you can really just break it down Which I quite like doing as well Like break it down to fully just like a grass field flat field and then building up from there Yeah, jumping, even like, I don't know, you always get the dad's like, I want to learn how to jump.
Um, I'd say that was the thing I coached most.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, awesome. I love that idea of, yeah, dialing the terrain right down to a grass field. Yeah. And then building the skill set up before you hit the jump. Fully,
Natasha Bradley: yeah. Even just like getting a stick and just like practicing like, So like, you bunny hop from the stick, so your wheel, your front wheel hits the stick, the front wheel lifts it.
You're like, it's like an American bunny hop, and then [00:38:00] as soon as your back wheel hits it, you lift up. Kinda like mimicking a lip, because certain, like some people will take both wheels off at the same time when they're doing a jump, you've probably seen it. Yeah, yeah. Because they're not actually driving their legs through the lip.
So it's quite good to take it back down to basics, and then just practice that on the flat, and like, it's crazy how many people can do that.
Jake Johnstone: It is, isn't it? Yeah, I always say we've got to have that foundation first before we try and do anything cool on top like jumps, drops,
Natasha Bradley: etc, etc. Yeah, exactly. Which, it's fun doing that.
Jake Johnstone: Awesome. So, start to wind things down here just a little bit. Before we do that, I wanted to give you the opportunity. Is there any sponsors or industry partners you wanted to
Natasha Bradley: mention? Um, so this year I've been fully funded by myself. So I also want to thank my friend Vinnie.
She's been an absolute legend, she's given me a fair few components for my bike, and my friend Georgia as well, she helped me out with like three derailleurs in a row, uh, what a legend, so thanks you guys, and, yeah, I mean, pretty hungry for next year, I've got a few things in the, in the works, so hopefully should have a year of bikes provided, but definitely needing some [00:39:00] travel budget out there, and, yeah, so travel budget would be amazing, and I'll ride my bike as well as I can, and represent you.
Jake Johnstone: Fantastic. Yeah. Anyone in the industry listening, take note. honestly, it's so cool to hear that you have been fully self funded this year. It's no easy feat, like trying to chase the bike dream, traveling around the world like you
Natasha Bradley: have been. Yeah. Yeah. It's really not, especially when you've got the one bike and the poor, the poor mega is falling apart.
Cause like when you ride one bike for everything, you know, you're trying to do bike park laps, then you're up mini dream and you know, you're going Cardrona, Coronet and the bike just claps out so quickly. So like trying to keep on top of maintenance. And everything like that is hard and it is an expensive sport, you know, it's not easy to get into because there's a lot of money behind it.
So, yeah, it's been a, been a good year though, for sure. And it's kind of nice not having the pressure of sponsors sometimes because you can fully do what you want. And I feel like I needed a year to figure out some stuff of what I wanted from the biking.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, it sounds like that's been really nice for you to go back and find what's really fun for you this year.
Definitely, yeah. And then be able to, yeah, like now you're able to approach sponsors and be like, this is what I'm [00:40:00] into. This is what I want to do. Yeah,
Natasha Bradley: because I feel like I may have lost that. And moving here was always like, right, I'll move to Queenstown and I know I want to bike and at least if I'm there, I'm following that dream.
And so, yeah, I feel like it's been a pretty good year for that, even without the support.
Jake Johnstone: That's fantastic to hear. Well, I'm sure there's some good things in the pipeline. Yeah, yeah. Keep doing what you're doing. and if people want to follow along with your adventures online, where
Natasha Bradley: can they do that?
Um, Instagram. My name is Natasha Bradley with two Y's at the end. Awesome,
Jake Johnstone: and are you posting anything on YouTube or anywhere
Natasha Bradley: else? Um, I did used to have a vlog, it blew up a few years back, and I don't vlog anymore. Fair enough, it takes a lot of time to do that kind of thing. It does take a lot of time, yeah.
I was never a huge fan, to be honest, of like, the vlogging, like, thing, but I was like, you know what, give it a go. My mum was like, you need to be vlogging. To make her happy, really, I started the vlog. I love that. Um, but I haven't vlogged in a while. But maybe the fans want to vlog again. So, who knows?
Jake Johnstone: Yeah, give Natasha a shout if you want to see the [00:41:00] vlog
Natasha Bradley: Comment, give me a follow on Instagram.
Comment on my post and I'll make a vlog. I'd
Jake Johnstone: love to hear it. I wanted to ask this question. Is there anyone that you look up to in the mountain bike world? Or if you had to pick one person, who would it be?
Natasha Bradley: Vinnie Armstrong. Because she's an absolute legend. I feel like Vinny has really transformed women's mountain biking.
I mean, of course there's a lot of other women out there who have been pushing the limits for so long, but Vinny, the way she rides a bike, I've never seen a woman ride a bike like that. And it's just amazing. And like, it's just motivational as well. Like she's an absolute shredder. So down to earth. It's just insane.
The best whip on the planet. Absolutely. Shout out Vinny. You're a legend. Yeah. Big motivation. Cause it's like. It's like, damn, Vinny's doing like, Dark Fest, like, she's up Dream getting sideways, like, it pushes me to push my limits as well, like, she's doing that, and I'm like, right, okay, I need to keep up.
Totally, yeah, it's inspiring to see, isn't it? Yeah, it's inspiring and motivating. Constantly
Jake Johnstone: up leveling, up leveling, and, [00:42:00] yeah, remaining so humble about it all as well.
Natasha Bradley: Yes, like, so it's, yeah, it's motivating for me, it's like, right, my tiny friend Vinny's sending it. I gotta do this.
Jake Johnstone: That's fantastic, yeah.
Keeping each other stoked, I love
Natasha Bradley: it. Yeah, we definitely do. These
Jake Johnstone: days, what does a perfect ride look like for you and why? Ooh,
Natasha Bradley: um,
The thing is, Queenstown's got so much riding. I mean, honestly depends on the day. Bike park laps are insane. Pandemic's a good one. Gorge is also sick. Okay, start the morning with bike park laps. Then mini dream in the afternoon Then Dream, then Gorge. Perfect day riding. What a day. That's a mega day. Yeah, that's a mega day.
That's a perfect day
Jake Johnstone: on the bike. So starting off with the chair, doing some downhill laps, and then getting more and more
Natasha Bradley: gnarly after. Pretty much, yeah. I love it. I'd probably be cooked by, by Dream, but I'd be there.
Jake Johnstone: Fantastic. Well, if you do start the vlog back up, I'd love to see that day in action.
Natasha Bradley: That would be a good day.
I've claimed it now. Maybe [00:43:00] a six hour YouTube
Jake Johnstone: video. Oh
Natasha Bradley: yeah, lots
Jake Johnstone: of talking. Fantastic. Yeah, well, speaking of talking, we've talked about all kinds of things. Really, really enjoyed this conversation. So many wisdom nuggets there. If you could send our listeners away with just one thing to remember and maybe take away with them on their next ride, what would it be?
Ooh,
Natasha Bradley: don't worry about what bike you're on or what gear you're wearing or anything like that. No one cares. Everyone's just out there to have a good time, have fun. And everyone's got to start somewhere. Everyone started from a beginner level at the very bottom. You know, no one was already going as quick as Vinnie Armstrong.
So just have fun and keep practicing. Couldn't have
Jake Johnstone: said it better myself. Fantastic. Thanks so much for sitting down with me today, coming for a
Natasha Bradley: ride. It's been a great time. Yeah, it's been sick.
Jake Johnstone: What's up guys, just one more thing before you hit the trails. If you enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to subscribe and don't be a stranger. I'd love to hear from you about any [00:44:00] topics or any particular episodes that you enjoyed, and even about any guests that you'd like to hear me have on the show in the future.
You can find me on Instagram at The underscore Mind underscore Mountain. This podcast, mountain biking, and mindset are all things that are very close to my heart, so I feel super grateful to be able to share these conversations with you. So much love to you all for taking the time to listen, and I'll see you next time.
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