Greg Minnaar is the greatest downhill mountain bike racer of all time. His professional career has spanned 21 years at the very top of this high-risk and highly-technical adrenaline sport. In 2021 and at the age of 39, Greg was crowned Downhill World Champion for the fourth time in his career, 20 years after his first World Cup series win. He has been runner up in the World Cup four times, placed third three times, and has been the winner in 23 World Cup events, the most by any racer in history. At 40, he is still competing, and winning.

In this interview he is his usual cool and calm self. He discusses how he manages fear of injury and crashing at speeds of over 70km/h, how he maintains consistent performances and a consistent performance mindset, and about adapting and adjusting to change. He speaks riding the fine-line of the perfect race, between hesitation and caution on one side, and reckless over-striving on the other, and about riding your own race in sport and in life. He also shares advice for recreational mountain bikers to go faster, with while getting injured less, and more.

Greg is the GOAT of downhill racing, and his lessons are applicable to all of life.

Ingredients for Performance  5.35

How it started 9.00

Critical voices 12.00

Managing self 17.10

Evolution of the sport 19.00

The best from the rest 21.15

Mitigating risk 28.10

Fear of injury 29.30

Mindset 31.35

Process and preparation 33.45

Fear of failure 37.00

Overcoming fear 43.20

Flow state 47.00

Character 52.05

Adapt and adjust 53.35

Downtime hobbies 1.02.50

Downhill tips 1.05.40 

Advice to young athletes and their parents 1.07.10

Life lessons 1.10.25 

The big question 1.11.35

Ryan Sandes is one of the world’s best-ever ultra-distance trail runners. His remarkable career started only in his 3rd year of university, when as a wannabe Springbok rugby player and non-runner, he entered the Knysna marathon – only because the half marathon was fully booked.

After only three weeks of training, he completed the 42.2km in a little over three hours - which marked the beginning of a rather unexpected and quite remarkable career.

His first official race as a novice trail runner, was a 250km race across the Gobi desert. Four months of training later, this totally unknown runner from Cape Town surprised the ultra-running world by crossing the finish line first.

He went on to become the first person to win all four races in the 250km Four-Desert Series, and then to become the first person to win an ultra-trail race on all seven continents.

Ryan upped the ante again, when he and a friend, Ryno Griesel, went on to set a new trail-running record by running 1 435km across the Great Himalayan Trail in Nepal, in only 25 days. Which included climbing 63.7km in elevation - the equivalent of running up and down Mount Everest 7.5 times!

He speaks candidly and without filter about his career challenges and lessons - and let’s us into his head as he describes the most extreme spiritual high moments of ‘going to the well’, and to the depths of hell when the mind and body shuts down through sheer exhaustion.

It’s a riveting conversation with someone who’s been to places that few humans ever have, or will go.

First Ultra .840

University/work life 13.45

Gobi Desert 16.40

Competition 19.20

Bonking 30.00

Winning 34.30

Going pro 36.15

Sponsors 42.10

In the Zone 44.40

"Going to the well" 47.10