#113 Andrew Neethling
The Ride Companion
TRC Media House
4.9 • 533 Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2021
⏱️ 134 minutes
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Summary
On this episode of The HKT Podcast former professional downhill mountain bike racer turned commentator & brand ambassador Andrew 'Needles' Neethling breaks down what it really takes to become a professional mountain bike rider. Andrew shares some of his personal experiences with contract negotiations and offers insights into some of the hardships professional athletes face in the modern day.
We also discuss the Pinkbike 'state of the sport' survey which is available to read HERE.
Follow Andrew on Instagram: @andrewneethling
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right, what is going on out there podcast family and welcome back to another episode of The Hookit podcast. Today we are on episode number 113 with Andrew Needles, Neathlin. If you don't already know, Needles is a former professional down-all mountain bike racer turned commentator and brand ambassador. |
| 0:22.5 | Andrew was actually a professional athlete for over 14 years and knows a thing or two about what it |
| 0:28.3 | takes to make it as a professional mountain bike rider. |
| 0:32.1 | So this conversation spawned from Pinkbite's recent state of the sport survey. |
| 0:37.0 | If you haven't read it, there is a link |
| 0:39.0 | in the show description. Give it a read. It's super interesting to find out what's actually going on |
| 0:44.1 | in mountain biking right now from an athlete perspective. So on this episode, we discussed certain |
| 0:49.4 | elements of the survey and Andrew offers some amazing insights into his first contract negotiations, |
| 0:56.3 | what his first contract actually looked like, salaries, we discussed what athletes actually |
| 1:02.1 | expected to do as part of those contracts to earn those salaries, and we break down a little |
| 1:07.7 | bit of the issues that could be going on right now and all that are going on right now in professional mountain biking and how Andrew thinks we could improve |
| 1:17.1 | the sport. Now, folks, since recording this episode, I have been chomping to put it out. So I really |
| 1:24.2 | hope you guys enjoy this and I really hope you take something away from this conversation. |
| 1:28.0 | I thoroughly enjoyed it. Andrew has become a good friend of mine since I first had him on the podcast |
| 1:32.9 | and I've been helping him with his podcast and stuff and honestly I class this guy as a good friend |
| 1:38.8 | and an absolute scholar of mountain biking. So big up, for being so open and honest in this conversation. |
| 1:45.8 | It really was a pleasure to sit and do this. |
| 1:48.8 | So before we drop in in this episode, I want to say a massive thank you to some show sponsors |
| 1:53.8 | and welcome a new one. |
| 1:55.5 | All right. |
| 1:56.1 | So if you like me, then sometimes you want the ability to go for a bike ride on your own and catch |
| 2:02.1 | up on some podcasts or just listen to some cool music while you're riding your bike. But you don't |
... |
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