Riding through a couple of berms with barely a bike length between them and then taking off on a huge, hipped step-down at virtually the same time, two of the world’s best mountain bike racers land pretty much on top of one another – much to their own amusement, and a sharp intake of breath from me, behind the camera. One hailing from Sheffield in the north of England and the other from Bristol in the south, the pair are separated by geography. Not to mention age – one will celebrate his 50th birthday next year, the other his 27th. And background – one famously worked as a plumber before catching his big break, the other went pro aged 16. But none of that matters on the track, where they banter like old friends and jostle for position, each trying to outpace the other.
Steve Peat and Laurie Greenland may be from different generations, but the two British riders are now together as master and apprentice on the Santa Cruz Syndicate squad, where – along with Peaty’s old mucker Greg Minnaar, hard-charging German rider Nina Hoffmann and Canadian phenom Jackson Goldstone – they form a formidable team. They’re here at BikePark Wales for a couple of days to take part in the Vanta Jam and
