I didn’t know anything about it, that’s fine with me though. I’ve not heard from Karim since Christmas so maybe it hasn’t gone down well.

Yeah it was my worst season ever for injuries, it made me stronger though. Once it was really wet and misty and we were practicing this off–camber grassy rock section. At the end of the section people were stopped in the track and I didn’t see them until late with the mist. I locked–up on the grass, crashed my forks into a rock and stopped dead. I shattered the end of my right thumb against the brake lever bolt. It was the second race of the season and I couldn’t shift gears so we put the shifter upside down on the left side and I came fourth in the race. We were stoked. The Mega was the following weekend, so after the race I moved it underneath the bar and made a bigger paddle for the ‘easy’ trigger so I could use it with my index finger. I got used to it and it worked pretty good, I ran it for half the season. Then I smashed my face in Sweden; broke my eye socket and cut my sinus, the doctors thought I might need an op so I ended up staying for two weeks. Dream Ride Holidays hooked me up with an old Volvo and a fishing rod and I headed off in search of trout. Then I found ‘the lake of dreams’.

But I didn’t catch much so I bought a fly rod from an antiques shop and ‘borrowed’ a boat and would of had the lake to myself had it not of been for otters and herons. I caught lots of wild brown trout and we had fish for tea every other night. It started off badly but it was a great holiday and a much needed rest.

Doing one Irish enduro, the Italian Superenduro Pro and Mountain series, the Mega and Crankworx Enduro. Kona Abracadabra all the way! It feels bottomless, pedals like an XC bike and it’s super light.

A great end to last season. Seriously in the battle with Vouilloz, Clementz, Absalon and Dan Atherton.

Thanks, it’s my goal to be up there with those lads at every race so it was great to finish in the mix at the last race of the season.

Do you see more top–level riders from DH and XC switching codes?

And 4X. Yeah definitely, it’s more fun than XC and more accessible than DH for some. I think the Enduro formats have a natural appeal, either racing against people or racing the clock like in car rally.

They think it looks good but the tracks need to be less pedally and more technical. They think the stage races need a qualifying stage to seed newcomers. They also tell me they would like to see more prize money and that the top 20 should have HOT pit girls with umbrellas.

No mainly because I stay at Riders Refuge, Morzine, for the season and race over there. We have a great country for stage enduro’s though, everyone always complains that DH tracks are too short and the uplifts too slow and enduros could be the answer.

And the Superenduro Pro series – think it was a bit too much. The Mega’s like World Champs and it’s great to have a series to focus on through the year. I was third overall in the Maxiavalanche and think I won Elite in Superenduro because the top dogs are all masters!

It’s good to mix it up through the season, keeps you on your toes, so I hope it stays like this because it’s all good and doesn’t get boring.

It gets a bit silly when the tracks are taped two weeks before but it’s difficult for the organisers not to tape tracks in advance because of the length of the stages. At the Enduro des Nations they used 25km of tape, it was easily the best taped Enduro race I’d seen and it was fair for everyone. I came fifth with two day’s practice despite there being a race on the same tracks two weeks before. It would be cool if it was one practice run on each stage only and more racing instead of practice or completely being blind.

I really like the idea but I’ve never raced one, heard good reports from Rowan Sorrel though. If it’s well taped then I think it would be awesome.

I’ve been trying to work that one out since day one, there’s a lot to learn about that. I suppose the biggest thing is that races aren’t won at the start.

Probably looks like I’m hanging about off the start but no way man, it’s like WRC! You’ve gotta get out in front before you get held up and people start trying to kill you for 100^th place!

Yeah everyone gets ratted the night before the race and all the top lads are on rum ‘n cokes before the Mega.

Hope so, you’ve gotta hang it out somewhere.

I did the whole first season on flats – the French thought that I was crazy to use them! I had some good results but at one flat race I finished 10^th, 5^th in a five–man train and everyone in front was on clips, so I’ve been using them a lot since then. Last year in the Enduro des Nations it was real muddy and 4^th (Andrea Bruno) and 5^th were on flats, but it just depends on the tracks. Andrea Bruno won the Superenduro series completely on flats, so it’s not i