Photos: Jones/Smurf

You remember Endtroducing don’t you? Well, one thing we’ve learned in our two years on the web is that it doesn’t really have an end so that series stopped making sense. Instead we’ve changed it up a bit and called it Wheels of Industry. The more things change…

First up is Specialized’s mtb livewire Georgia Leslie. Georgia is a Surrey local who started working in a bike shop at 14 and now heads up the big S’s mtb PR in the UK. She’s happy to throw herself into anything from downhill tandem riding to athlete coaching (as long as it doesn’t involve taking the bus) and always has plenty to say. Here’s her Wheels of Industry.

Who is Georgia Leslie?
A very loud blonde girl, with a big gob and a passion for riding bikes…I think that pretty much sums me up!

Where do you live?
Pretty close to Peaslake in Surrey.

What’s your job title?
MTB PR Specialist

What do you do?
I look after MTB PR for Specialized UK, we’re based in Chessington so it’s pretty good to get to the trails easily which is handy!

How long have you worked for Specialized?
I’ve been here for 2 years now. I started as the Demo Fleet Administrator, booking demo bikes out to dealers and now I’m here…!

How did you land the job?
I worked in a bike shop from the age of 14 and a colleague of mine moved from the shop to Spesh, 6 months later I received a text telling me to apply for a job and the rest is history!

What are you riding?
I have an S-WORKS Enduro 29er, I love it!

Why that bike?
I just love it! It handles so well and is so capable, can’t really fault it!

Where’s your favourite place to ride it?
Surrey Hills, solely for how close it is to me and that I grew up riding there. Now that there’s been some conflict with the land owner, a lot of the trails have been demolished which sucks, but it’ll always be my favourite.

What was your scariest moment on the bike?
The day I broke my elbow! I was at Black Mountain, I went straight otb and totally snapped it the wrong way. It was the first bone I had broken and I can say it wasn’t most comfortable.

What’s your favourite thing about it?
The SWAT box – literally couldn’t live without it!

What changes have you made to it?
I really haven’t made many changes to it to be honest… I swapped the grips over to the Hope ones which I’m rather a fan of. I also changed over to a TTX22M Ohlins Coil shock for a while which I loved!

What makes you angry?
When people tell me to stop talking about bikes for two seconds *cough* my mum *cough*.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Listen to your body!

What’s your greatest fear?
My bike being stolen. I can’t live without it.

What was your luckiest escape?
Not going to University.

Do you have any regrets?
I didn’t start racing at a younger age!

What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learnt?
Listen to the doctor – don’t ride when you’re broken

If you could have dinner with three famous people (dead or alive) who would they be and what would you eat?
Right, this was actually a pretty tough one! First off would be Gordon Ramsay, he’d be hilarious to have dinner with! He would obviously have to cook and we’d have steak.

Next would be The Queen, you could loosen her up with a couple of glasses of wine and get all the royal gossip! We’d have to have something super British, so I’m going with Fish and Chips.

Finally would be Shaun Palmer, that would be so loose! Forget the food I think we’d go straight to the beer.

Who is your favourite rider?
Brandon Semenuk without a shadow of a doubt – how does he make everything look so damn effortless?!?!

What’s your favourite bike product of all time?
Muc Off Ceramic lube – that sh*t is fab!

What’s your least favourite bike product of all time?
Grip shifters.

What are you listening to at the moment?
Christmas songs. All year round. Who doesn’t love a bit of Mariah Carey?

What does the future hold for mountain biking?
Levitating bikes. It’s in the pipeline. *mic drop*