How Much Faster Are PRO Women Mountain Bikers?

This is a story about how I went from this to this in just one bike park lap. Tracey Hanna is one of the best mountain bikers in the world, but just how much faster are women downhillers than regular folk like myself, or indeed you, fellow punter watching at home. Today I'm going to try and give that some context. So how this is going to work is we're going to go to Queenstown Bike Park, she's going to ride in front, and we're going to see how fast she disappears away. I have ridden with Tracey before, and let's just say the last time that happened, things didn't end so well for me. And then after we've done that, Tracey's going to follow me and give me some pointers to see how we can reduce that gap. Well, I guess from like here to here, I mean, that would be great. But some of you might not be familiar with who Tracey is. So why don't we find out a little bit more about her. Tracey Hanna is currently ranked third in the world by tech... Paul, isn't this a bit too serious? No, no, no, no, just keep going. As I was saying, Tracey Hanna is currently ranked third in the world in downhill racing. A junior world champion and multiple time World Cup winner, she can go very, very fast on a mountain bike. That's clear. She's going to take her third ever World Cup win. Tracey Hanna from Australia smashes it by over 10 seconds. Faster than me for sure, but just how much faster? We headed out for a few laps in Queenstown Bike Park to find out and to see if there was anything she could do to reduce that gap between us. First off, we've got to get a warm up in. I haven't done this track this year, it's pretty sick fun. Have you? Oh, see this is a big side hit. OK, time for lap two. This time I'm going to really try. I'm really going to try and keep up with her while she goes at about... How hard are you going to go now, Jess? I don't know. I'm not good with percentages. I'm just going to cruise by. Is that like 50%? No, I'd say it'd be more like 60%. OK. So I'll go 100%. Well, I don't like 50% because then you start crashing. You crash if you go slower? Yeah, because I'm bored. Surely I'm going to be able to get a little bit close. I'll just wait for him to drop into the... Oh, good pull. Right. OK. I can still see her. Whoop. This is a straight line. Come on. I can't let her get that far away. Oh, God. She's already around the corner. I can hear him screaming. That's not a good sign. Oh, yes. Good work. Get off the brakes. Off the brakes. He's coming. Oh, good. Here we go. Oh, no. And the punter is coming down. Not too far behind. Why are you screaming? Because I'm scared. Are you actually trying 100%? Oh, yeah. That was the hardest I could go. We're going to do some training after this lap. Oh, my king God. He said right... Oh, right here. Here we go. We don't do these ones very often, so I'm trying to figure out where to go. Oh, my. She just cut the whole thing. Oh, sassy. That is mine. Oh, God. Oh, I wonder if Tracey's faster. I can hear him screaming. Are you still on your bike? Do you want to do this hip? Jump the hip? Yeah. Oh, I don't know. Okay. Might try it straight. Okay. Okay, I'm Tracey Hannah, I'm third best in the world. Oh, what? I told you it was harder straight. I didn't know you went left. I didn't even know that existed. That was sick. We knew how that was going to go, right? Yes, she's one of the fastest people on the planet, but what can she do for a punter like me? For the third lap, Tracey follows me down to check out my riding style. Well, the good thing is that you can get better. Yay. Not in a bad way. I mean, you don't have to change your style. You know, you like got the right body position and stuff. Oh, yeah. You're doing so good. Deep track, trail bike. Yes, Paul. Now, you've likely seen a lot, and I mean a lot of how-to videos on YouTube. How to corner, when to brake, the best bike setup, the whole catalog. Maybe even more than once. But what Tracey told me took me by surprise, and it's something you might not have ever thought about. I've given you, what are you going to do on this run? I'm going to trust myself. Yeah. I can do it. Yeah. Because you just told me that I'm doing everything right. It's just that I'm not letting my body do what it wants to do. Is that right? Is that how you put it? Yeah, you could, this sounds weird, but a few things I do is get a song stuck in my head. Okay. And sing it in my head on the way down, or focus on breathing. So notice when I'm breathing in, and notice when I'm breathing out. Try to put your attention on something else. So don't think that you don't want to think, but think about something. Completely takes your conscious mind out of the picture, and just takes you back to something else. I just want to see how that will work for you. Okay, well try the song. Try to sing a song. And every time you think about riding or cornering, sing the song again. Wait, hold on. Did she just say, sing a song? No way. Let's see how this goes. In your head, please. Not out loud. Way better, just saying. That's cool. But now, man. Look at him fly. You're seven minutes. It's so sick. You absolutely saved it. Oh my God. That's ridiculous. I'm so proud of you. You're so loose. We might have just broken the internet. Everyone will be singing going mad. I did tell you to sing in your head halfway down because no one wants to hear that. On the edge, on the limit, like your back wheel was sliding, you jumped stuff. You jumped some doubles that you didn't jump. Oh, Tracey, you're crying. I'm not crying. I'm just proud of you. I've never had like that much of a switch, just from that. Go, Paul! You are so... Keep singing! You're absolutely sending it, Paul. You're literally like, I can see you on the edge now. I can see you actually like skidding out and doing stuff. I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. It's ridiculous. I'm really proud of you, though. I can't believe it. You're a genius. You took it on board. You took it on board so fast. I wanted to know what we're tuning into. And on Paul the Panther's radio station today, we have... Let's listen out for it, guys, because we don't know what it is, but we'll know if he's singing, because he'll send it! Sending it, Paul! Yeah, Paul! You hit the jump! Oh, Paul! So sick, Paul! You're so good. Oh, Paul. I would be surprised, too. I didn't know what was happening. You're believing in yourself, Paul. I know it's scary, but you've got to choose another song to ride down K-Way with. Yeah, it's scary, because now we're getting into the technical phase. Straight over the roots. Sing! Sing, sing, sing. Oh, he took the high line! He totally just took the high line. Yes, Paul! Nice! Sending it over the roots. This is a new man, people. A new man. I don't know who you are. I've never met you before, but you are sending it. Yes, Paul! There is still a little bit of a GoPro effect, and it might be hard to get across this on camera, but I have never in my life ridden as comfortable, as fast, and as confident as I did on that lap. And you know what? Tracy sings down the trail as well. Maybe in my brain, I already knew what to do. I just had to trust myself that I could. Needless to say, in every video I do from now on, I'm going to be singing. Now, if you want to join me on this path of progression, hit the subscribe button, and if you enjoyed Tracy's advice, then there's a good old like button down there. Cheers, punters. I'll see you next time. Boom, boom, boom, boom. I want you in my room to spend the night together. You know those things you wanted me to edit out? Is that one of those things? Yeah.