 | | | | | | | | | | Do you get excited about products?
Chris: It's always nice to have the new stuff, but
nah, not really. If it looks cool and works well
Paul: I'm not bothered any more. I just want to ride my bike.
You used to like your tyres a lot, didn't you?
Paul: I did, yeah, but I'm kind of over that.
Chris: it was a rubber fetish, I think [laughs] - I think that's just how he released it. Some guys got full suits, but he did it with tyres.
Paul: I had two eight-foot piles.
Chris: Damn! Preparation H'd sort that out [laughter].
Paul: I had them all before they came out in the shops. I managed to source them. I was sad.
Did they make any difference?
Paul: No [laughter].
So what tyres do you use now?
Paul: Just Maxxis. Just High Rollers - I leave them on all the time.
Are there any pieces of kit that you swear by, that you'd never change?
Paul: Tioga grips. That's about it.
Chris: Fox suspension. It's just so good.
Do you both run Dura-ace mechs?
Chris: Nothing but the Dura-ace!
Paul: They're the best, yeah. Actually, that's another thing that I would always use.
Why?
Chris: They're just so snappy and they just work.
Paul: And they're really light.
Chris: Yeah, they don't weigh anything.
Paul: I've never ever broken one - EVER!
Chris: EVER!
How long have you had that hair style?
Paul: Five years? Yeah, I got slagged at the beginning, but everyone's starting to see the way - see that it's the way to go.
The mop-top?
Paul: Damn right - this is the year of the mop-top. I'm tellin' you, I'm comin' into my own this year. Ladies love it.
Chris: Maybe it is the hair then. Maybe it's like a pheromone thing.
Paul: You've got to have long hair 'cos it looks good in a hat and that's all that matters, really.
Chris: It does over-heat you when you're in the gym though - you just get a hot head so bad.
I saw that you had a Saltire strapped to your helmet in Fort William - have you got any more plans for shameless publicity stunts to get more cheers this year?
Paul: [laughter] I've got a couple of things up my sleeve, but you'll have to wait and see till my race run. I'll expect just as big a cheer this year!
Are you planning anything for the cameras?
Chris: Nah - I let my riding do the talking [laughter].
Paul: See - I can't, so I've got to do something to make me stand out. I'm just patriotic, you know? I'm proud to be Scottish.
Are you proud to be Scottish, Chris?
Chris: Aye,I love it. It's really cool actually - there's a definite identity thing that goes on.
Paul: People like Scots people abroad.
Chris: People do, yeah. That's how Paul pulls most of the women.
What do you think of the whole scene in Scotland?
Chris: What scene? The gay scene?
Yeah.
Chris: You asking?
Is it rockin'?
Chris: It's really good actually [the downhill scene, that is], it's really small. Everyone kind of knows everyone. There's probably only about three or four kind of groups of people - there's the Glasgow lads and the Edinburgh lads, and then there's the Fifers and the north of Scotland guys.
Paul: But everyone gets on.
Paul: Yeah, pretty much.
Who's going to win the Scottish Champs this year?
Chris: Monkey. Monkey's going to rule.
Paul: No-one likes to say - you just have to wait and see what happens.
Monkey: You're just dying to say yersel, eh?
Paul: Not me.
Chris: Angus - it's Angus all the way this year. It's year of the Angus.
Paul: It's never the
the year of the Angus has passed [laughter].
Who would you like to thank?
Chris: I'd like to thank Paul, for his hair styling tips [laughter]
And for the introduction to AC/DC?
Chris: I actually introduced Paul to AC/DC.
Paul: Yeah he did, yeah.
Chris: So it was me that changed Paul's life there.
Paul: Yeah.
Chris: Paul was like Michael Jackson before
so we kind of did a trade: good music, for good hair [laughter].
Paul: I'd like to thank Ed at Fox as well.
Chris: Chris at Mojo.
Paul: Tim at Mojo.
Chris: Everyone at Mojo [laughs]. Everyone at Fox, my girlfriend for putting up with me riding my bike all the time.
Paul: My mum and my dad. Everyone at work for letting me have the time off.
Chris: Yeah - the Edinburgh Bike Co-Op, for just letting me slack all the time. They give me time off all the time to let me do the stuff that I need to do. [Chris has got his knee pads round his ankles] I feel a bit like Jodie Marsh with those kind of foot warmer things. She was wearing them on The Games - do you watch The Games?
No.
Chris: It's good.
Jodie Marsh or Jordan?
Monkey: Jodie Marsh.
Chris: I'd say Jordan - Jodie Marsh's nose is weird! But neither really, they're both double-baggers.
Explain 'double-bagger'
Chris: [laughs]
Paul: Yeah, what is that?
Chris: Ah, no - 'cos this is gonna go on the website...the double bagger thing is like when you say someone's that bad that you'd put a bag over her head first. So if she's a double bagger, it'd have to be like two bags 'cos she's so ugly. 'Mantelpiece - fire', sort of thing [laughter].
Any more thanks:
Paul: Yeah, thanks to the guys at Zeal as well.
Chris: Yeah, but that's just a Paul thing. I don't have that [sniffs dramatically]. I have to buy my own goggles.
Cheers, Guys
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