Danny Hart: Inside The Mind Of A Downhill World Champion
The Ride Companion
TRC Media House
4.9 • 533 Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2026
⏱️ 135 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Danny Hart joins The Ride Companion for a BANGER episode!
In this episode, Danny takes us deep inside the world of World Cup downhill racing. He talks openly about pressure, qualifying formats and how the sport has evolved since his legendary 2011 Champery World Champs run which cemented his name in mountain biking history. Danny shares what it was like winning world championships at such a young age, the highs and lows of a long racing career and how he's managed to stay competitive in one of the toughest sports in the world. From travelling the globe with his family in a camper van to battling the new generation of riders like Jackson Goldstone, Amaury Pierron and Loïc Bruni, this episode gives a rare look into the mindset of a rider who has spent his life chasing speed. We also dive into race preparation, training, bike setup, the mental side of racing, and what really happens behind the scenes at the Downhill World Cup. Danny explains why racing is often far more intense than it looks on TV, and why even after decades in the sport, nothing compares to the feeling of dropping into a race run. We hope you enjoy this episode with Danny Hart!
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I tell you what, I'm just scanning through them. |
| 0:01.8 | There are so many about your balls and how hard it is to sit down. People want to see them, so if you could just stand up. I'm telling you, I can count five just scrolling through here. Yeah, I saw a lot of those. Do people think that when they write that, it's going to be like, they're going to be the only person that's still there? No, but I think they're genuinely interested. So can we clarify? Yeah, if you could just answer the question, |
| 0:24.5 | you don't need that. Only person that's still there. No, but I think they're genuinely interested. |
| 0:21.9 | So can we clarify? |
| 0:25.5 | Yeah, if you could just answer the question, Danny, that would be much more. |
| 0:36.6 | All right, Davy, this is a mega exciting one. |
| 0:37.4 | It is indeed. I thought it would never happen. It's been on the cards a mega exciting one. It is indeed. |
| 0:39.0 | I thought it would never happen. |
| 0:40.9 | It's been on the cards for a long time. It has. |
| 0:41.7 | We have the one and only, the Red Car Rocket, Danny Hartz. |
| 0:47.3 | Hiped. |
| 0:49.0 | Hyped. |
| 0:49.9 | Yes. |
| 0:50.7 | Very excited to get you back on. |
| 0:52.9 | It's been 10 years. |
| 0:54.1 | You actually did the podcast in its original form. I did, yeah. In 2016. I made this mistake with a couple of them I started too soon, and then they all got a bit better, and I'm like, well, let me jump the gun on that one. Are you early? Like, I was on it, right, I was talking to Ollie about this, slightly off topic to what we're going to start with but i'd start this podcast they didn't know any anyone really kind of relatively fresh |
| 1:16.4 | to the bike industry random bloke starts a podcast and it was kind of going okay but you know you're |
| 1:23.5 | just like oh no one really cares about this and then you dm and it sent the whole thing just |
| 1:27.8 | oh so i asked yeah you dm did say can i yeah you were begging it dude |
| 1:32.4 | you were like please can i come on your podcast i can't remember but yeah you basically asked |
| 1:39.5 | i think it's because i listen to a lot of podcasts myself so then i was like oh this is good like |
| 1:43.7 | i listen to a lot of the the motoc then I was like, oh, this is good. |
... |
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