You said you have a bit more of a relaxed mindset in downhill than when you raced cross country, does that naturally come easier in downhill due to the nature of the sport?

Nah, I think it was more to do with me to be honest. In cross country I had someone hounding me all the time and it was something I never really wanted to do but the downhill was really my choice. I went into it off my back and everything was to do with me.

I made the decisions at the end of the day. In that sense I could relax a bit more because it was something I wanted to do rather than an opportunity I was handed.

You talked about staying injury free, was that something you were consciously thinking of as you were racing? Would you back off to stay injury free?

Obviously no one wants to get injured and it’s not always in the back of your head, but you have to be sensible at times. I felt like if I wanted to be on a team in the next three years I’d have to not miss any races or time on the bike because I was learning so much. It would all just get put back and then it might not be easy to come back.

Even when I raced it did scare me a bit because I was bit like: “woah, this is throwing it in at the deep end already.” You see boys hitting the deck left, right and centre and you think: “maybe I shouldn’t do that gap”. It was just little things. Some of the big lines I wouldn’t hit because I knew that it wasn’t consistent for me to do it. If I want to get anywhere in the sport I’d need to use everything as a building block.

If I’m confident enough to do it then I’ll hit it but until then I’ll just take a back seat and go round it. I’ll just choose my line that I’m confident with.

What sort of things was Mick doing for you?

I came into contact with him a few years ago when I first started and he came to the Scottish downhill at Glencoe. I think I managed to beat him [by 2.5 seconds, Kenta beat the entire Elite field as an Expert rider], but it was cold and wet and he is Australian so I did have a bit of an advantage.

Ever since then he has been interested in what I was trying to do and where I’d come from. At the races I’d just get the craic going with him and then bump into him on track and discuss lines or just little things. He tells me it’s all a mind game just gives little pointers here and there. I just thought he’s a really nice guy and just normal.

How will life change now you’re on a team at a race weekend. It must make life so much easier for you?

Oh yeah for sure. The free bikes and the fact that I can be full time is amazing but I guess the thing I’m going to appreciate the most is having that back up. There’s loads of little pieces that have a knock on effect.

I can go to a race without stressing about what I haven’t bought because I haven’t had the allowance on the flight. I did a few races where I used the same tyre all weekend because I either didn’t want to change the tyres because it was tubeless and I didn’t know if I’d get it back up tubeless, or I didn’t have a spare so I just rolled with it.

And setting up my bike. I’d never, never ever looked into that. I’ve just sort of built it, bounced on it a bit and thought: “that’ll do for me!”