Episode 226 - Aaron Gwin Will Ride Crestline, Plus His Commentary and Racing Plans for 2024

The Pinkbike Podcast

Pinkbike

Sports, News

4.8 • 718 Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When the UCI team list was released for the upcoming season, there were many answers to be found about who will be riding what. One inclusion that didn't shed too much like, however, was Aaron Gwin's name under his eponymous racing team. What bikes were they riding? What would this team look like? And will Aaron himself be lining up at World Cups this year or being confined to the commentary box as he rehabilitates from an arm injury sustained early last season? In short, the bikes will be from Crestline, but don't go thinking this is a standard sponsorship deal. It seems to run far deeper, with Aaron taking part ownership in the brand that was founded a mere couple of years ago. Although not their first outing at World Cups, the RS 205 VHP frame was raced under Sam Blenkinsop last year, this does feel like a big step up for a brand that is still so relatively young. Aaron made time for us during a very busy team camp. While it might sometimes seem to be all glitz and glamour in mountain biking, I love the fact that we're still raw enough to sometimes be about propping up a laptop in short-term accommodation as you pack in as much preparation and planning as you can, and answering questions honestly that fans of the sport will likely want to know about. I'm thankful that even as mountain biking becomes more pro the level of access athletes and team owners are prepared to grant media is so great, and it personally only makes me love mountain biking and World Cup racing even more.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Aaron Gwynn, thank you for coming on the Pink Bike podcast.
0:10.5	Now, this is quite exciting because you are at a test camp.
0:13.8	You're literally, you know, getting ready for the season as we speak.
0:17.3	And although it's quite late and even people testing you know checking out the UCI
0:21.3	team list will have seen you registered they don't know what bike could be riding I don't
0:26.7	know what bike could be right it's all very exciting so Philison what you plan what
0:31.2	will you be riding as we go into this 2024 season yeah man so it's been it's been a
0:35.9	journey for sure I guess for starters this off season has been So it's been a journey for sure, I guess for starters. This off season has been, yeah, it's been different than pretty much any other offseason I've ever had. I think just at the point in my career that I'm at and the things that I'm kind of hoping to do in the future. We have the bike park here at Windrock now that we're running and we've been putting a lot of
0:54.5	time into that. We've got the race team. I've had a race program for about seven years now, but I'm
0:59.7	kind of running it under my own name now, which has been exciting. And we can kind of dig into all
1:05.3	those details and then, yeah, actually am adding a bike brand to my list of businesses now too.
1:12.2	So I'm partnered as an owner and the new bike brand.
1:16.2	And so, yeah, because of that, like the deal is just taking more time.
1:19.9	Like I was really kind of patiently going about trying to find the right fit,
1:23.7	kind of moving forward for the rest of my career.
1:26.6	And then once I'm retired as well.
1:28.3	So, yeah, the bike brand I'll be riding for is Crestline bicycles.
1:33.7	I'm super excited.
1:35.3	It's been kind of crazy, like different than maybe some people would expect or think.
1:42.1	But really, like I said, it's been a different journey this off-season.
1:45.8	I've been trying to really find good alignment more than anything. And I think long-term for me,
1:53.4	I've always wanted to start my own bike company. I've thought about it a few times. And,
	...

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