How to Turn Local Laps Into World-Class Results – Jake Atkinson

Downtime - The Mountain Bike Podcast

Downtime MTB

Sports, Leisure, Fitness, Health & Fitness, Hobbies, Wilderness

4.9 • 628 Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today we’re talking to Jake Atkinson, a rider who’s made a meteoric rise in the sport, despite growing up far from the perfect training grounds for what he’s now doing. From the trails of the Lake District to competing on the world stage, Jake’s story is one of trusting the process, leaning into the challenge, and making huge strides in a short space of time. We dig into how he’s done it, the lessons learned along the way, and where he’s heading next. So sit back, hit play, and enjoy this conversation with Jake Atkinson.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube here.

You can follow Jake on Instagram @jakeatkinson and find his latest edit here.

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Photo – Guy Fatal

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Tom Issted was like, God, you should do an event in Europe or something.
0:05.0	And I was like, oh, I don't know.
0:07.0	I was actually so, I was very close to not going.
0:10.0	Really?
0:11.0	Yeah, yeah, because I was like, I don't know if I can ride jumps that big.
0:14.0	Like, because I never had.
0:15.0	I just thought, I was like, I guess I'll never be able to do it if I don't just try it.
0:20.0	Hey, everyone. I guess I'll never be able to do it if I don't just try it.
0:28.7	Hey everyone, I'm Chris Hall and this is the downtime podcast, the podcast for the true fans of Gravity Mountain biking, taking you deeper into the sport than anywhere else.
0:32.4	This episode doesn't have any brand support, so more than ever, the support I get from
0:36.2	Patreon is key to helping me keep the show going. So if you're enjoying the podcast, getting something out of listening and are in a position to help out, then from just £3 a month, you can join my Patreon over at patreon.com for slash downtime podcast. That's Patreon spelled P-A-T-R-E-O-N. If you're already a Patreon supporter, don't forget that on Thursday this week, you're invited to an exclusive Ask Me Anything with Nika Malali, Oli, Oli-Morris and Chris Kilmurray. You'll have the details in your Patreon inbox, so come along, hang out and ask your own questions of these three World Cup megabrains. All right, just a couple more quick things before we get stuck into this week's episode. Please make sure you never miss an episode by following the podcast.
1:13.4	Just hit the follow button in your podcast app now or there's dedicated buttons for all the major platforms over at downtimepodcast.com for slash follow.
1:20.8	You can also keep up to date with what's going on by following us on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok where we're at Downtown Podcast.
1:26.8	And if you're hungry for more downtime, then you can join the newsletter at downtimepodcast.com for slash newsletter. If you prefer to watch today's episode, then you can check out the podcast on YouTube at YouTube.com for slash at Downtown Podcast. That and all the links I've mentioned will be in the show notes for this episode on the website, podcast.com. All right, today we're talking to Jake Atkinson, a rider who's made a meteoric rise in the sport, despite growing up far from the perfect training grounds for what he's now doing. From the trails of the Lake District to competing on the world stage, Jake's story is one of trusting the process, leaning into the challenge and making
2:00.9	huge strides in a short space of time. We dig into how he's done it, the lessons learned
2:05.4	along the way and where he's heading next. So without further ado, here's Jake Atkinson.
2:14.4	Jake Atkinson, welcome to the downtime podcast, mate. Thanks for traveling to Flang Goughlin and sitting down for a chat.
2:19.8	No worries. Thank you for having me on. Good stuff. Well, let's get the whole story, mate. Let's start from the beginning. Just tell us a little bit about growing up. You grew up in the Lake District, right? Yeah. Yeah, so started, well, like mountain biking was sort of the first thing.
2:37.1	First ever mountain bike ride was on a 16 inch BMX.
2:41.6	Nice.
2:42.0	That was good.
2:42.6	Yeah.
	...

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