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00:01Brooke McDonald, the man who broke his back and was told he would never walk again.
00:08It's such a taboo thing and I think like mental health in general is not talked about enough.
00:15One of those things that's very difficult to be open to people about what you're suffering or struggling with,
00:21where it should be talked about.
00:23Some of the biggest challenges for me have come from sport.
00:27When I look back, there's not many memories apart from training really hard that I can remember.
00:42I'll have you start by saying your name.
00:44Brooke McDonald.
00:46Evie Richards.
00:48Before we saw it, Evie Richards had on the pedals!
00:51Brooke McDonald, the bulldog's tail is wagging again for you.
00:57The level's so high that you actually can't even make a mistake these days.
01:02You've got to be a top-notch rider to be a World Cup winner.
01:07I just love pushing your body to the limit.
01:10Like, I love it when I push myself so hard in a five-minute effort that I want to pass
01:15out.
01:17I don't think you're a normal person if you're doing this sport.
01:19You've definitely got to have some screws loose.
01:26Brooke's riding style is, like, all gas.
01:29He's just a bulldog when he's racing.
01:34I was watching down this particular section.
01:36You know, everybody was somewhere just touching the brakes to take a couple of Ks an hour off just to
01:41give them that slight feeling of control.
01:44Whereas Brooke, completely, completely free.
01:48Oh, he's up by two seconds!
01:51He is the most committed person you will ever see.
01:56I think we're just wired slightly different that we love that discomfort.
02:00Because, like, my mum would think, why are you doing that?
02:03Like, go shopping and get a buzz from, like, going for the sales or something.
02:07I think one of the downhills is, if you're not crashing, you're not going fast enough.
02:12Evie Richards, Britain's first ever world champion in cross-country mountain biking.
02:24That's what I like on here, how he was so quick, like, like, agile, should we say, like, getting around
02:29that tree.
02:31Again, that's a key term, that, isn't it? It's worth working on that one.
02:36You know, there's high pressure, and with high pressure that brings high emotions.
02:39So, it's very, very calm mind to manage those emotions.
02:44It takes you a long way.
02:47The thing they all have, the really good ones anyway, is they kind of carry themselves with that kind of
02:52confidence.
02:53Some people get agitated before a race, and some people get calmer.
02:56But both, in some ways, is a kind of manifestation of confidence.
03:00It's not about doing it on one weekend, but these riders that do it day in, day out, year after
03:05year,
03:06their head space and their supreme confidence is pretty amazing.
03:11I try and understand the way that Brooke thanks quite often,
03:15and when he's riding, everything else goes out the window.
03:19He's full focus and committed to his race run.
03:22You just kind of got to switch everything off and let the fitness and the speed all combine into one.
03:28You know, that is what gets you down the hill and, you know, potentially winning World Cups.
03:36Would you just jump that instead of roll down that?
03:39You probably wouldn't do that though because that's so flat, yeah.
03:44Does Brooke have the best quads on the World Cup?
03:48Brooke's quads.
03:49They're good.
03:51They're nice to look at.
03:52I don't know.
03:54Is that a good flex?
03:55Yep.
03:56That's pretty good.
03:59Definitely after my accident, I lost a lot of muscle mass and still got power.
04:05But, yeah, a little bit smaller than they were.
04:09I think the perils of chasing the top results, I mean, there's the physical things, right?
04:14There's a risk to it always.
04:17There's a lot of athletes that have had some pretty horrific injuries.
04:21Oh, big one!
04:23So you're putting your long-term health on the line, I guess, for these goals.
04:29Final day of practice, first run, was going smoothly and then ended pretty quickly.
04:36I didn't know Brooke until I watched that crash and I think when I watched that crash, it did really
04:40scare me.
04:41And the same with G, like, I know G a bit and I saw the crash.
04:45We need an ambulance!
04:47I think my injury last year was by far the worst injury I've ever had.
04:52You know, it was a rough one and it was touch and go whether I survived it.
04:58Oh!
05:04People were all looking at me and there were strange looks.
05:07The severity of things kind of kicked in once people came up and informed me of his accident.
05:14When the accident happened, I knew straight away there was something wrong
05:16because I was lying on my side and went to roll over and lie on my back
05:20and I literally couldn't roll and I was like, ****, I can't feel my legs.
05:23It was just like a buzzing, tingly feeling.
05:26The steps of mental recovery after an injury are very difficult because you have a massive mental battle that you
05:32have to go through.
05:34And, you know, it's not enough to ignore it or bury it deep down, you know, you have to take
05:37it on and confront it and battle through it whatever way you can.
05:40You're doing well but your legs still.
05:43I know.
05:45I feel like I'm a pretty stubborn person and I can deal with mentally challenging things myself.
05:51Obviously, I've been through some stuff and, you know, I don't use a psychologist.
05:58I'd like Brooke to see a psychologist.
06:00I think it would do him a world of wonders.
06:04I think it's not something like loads of people talk about but I definitely feel like I don't know where
06:09I'd be without weight.
06:10It's my psychologist.
06:12I think probably from the age of like 17 I had like, I wouldn't say an eating disorder but I
06:17had like very disordered eating.
06:18I was just always trying to lose weight and train more and that led me to lose my period at
06:24a very young age.
06:26And it just got to the stage where I think mum hugged me after one of the races.
06:30She just cried. She was like, there's nothing left of you, Evie. She was like, what's happened?
06:34I've worked with a sports psychologist for six years, seven years.
06:39I don't want people to get labeled as like, oh, she's like the one with the problems.
06:45It's like, no, she like acknowledged that it's a hard situation and it's a challenge is not a weakness.
06:51It's just kind of a realistic appraisal of what it's like to try to be the best in the world.
07:04It's okay. I started a little strong and then I chilled in the middle and then I came back.
07:11There's so many things that are trying to capture and what it looks like to be at your best
07:15or what, you know, metric shows you that you're riding well.
07:19It can be a power meter. It can be any number of things that we look to quantify this experience.
07:25Something that you can also do, which is hard and why not many people do it, is test different approaches.
07:31So, you know, different mindsets. I think the reason we don't do it is because you can't document it.
07:38What are the stats I see on my Garmin? Well, I see my heart rate, my lap time.
07:45Time, three second power.
07:48Temperature, calories.
07:50Cadence, distance.
07:52I think the possibilities are endless. You can pretty much put everything on a Garmin now.
07:57Everything except mental health data. What would you buy a computer display if it could measure that?
08:02How happy you are, how you slept, like feel good if you're on your period.
08:07If I'm really enjoying riding my bike, like I feel good on my bike, I'm having fun on my bike.
08:12Have I fallen out with anyone? Those are probably like the four things that would probably be on my Garmin
08:16if they weren't like statistics.
08:19Yeah.
08:22Three, four, come on. Five, four, three, count.
08:27Four, five, six.
08:30If the brain was a bike component, it for sure would be the brakes.
08:33And I think secondly, probably the suspension. I think having a good set up definitely makes you ride fast.
08:39Because if it is wide open, it'll top out.
08:42Yeah, sure.
08:44Yeah, welcome.
08:46My name is Jordy Cortez. I work on suspension and brains.
08:53So I think if we build up the back of the staff, it won't get the packing at the low
08:58speed.
08:59But it'll have the catch at the hot.
09:02I like that.
09:04Yeah.
09:06Name a problem that's possible to have and we've dealt with it, whether it's my suspension sucks or I'm tired
09:13or I want to go home.
09:15Yeah, we'll try that.
09:20There should be a psychologist.
09:25The bike and rider are such a tight unit. If you're not on your mental game, you're not going to
09:31ride well.
09:32You are risking your life. So if you're not in the mood, it's not going to go well.
09:39Yeah, but it used to be like way smoother. It used to be like a smooth landing.
09:45You see riders having an incredible pace and then a big injury and then their pace drops off a bit.
09:52It's hard to come back again and again and again.
09:55You don't have any weird thoughts being out of this?
09:58No.
09:59It's just another bike race, eh, Roy?
10:02Let's be honest, those sort of crashes can go one of two ways, can't they?
10:06You know, like sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you work, there's no returning kind of thing.
10:17Congrats for what you did.
10:19Ah, thank you so much, bro.
10:20Just come back and...
10:22Yeah. Thank you, brother.
10:24You're really strong.
10:25Appreciate it.
10:27Can this guy return was probably my question, you know, like thinking maybe even, even a Brooke McDonald couldn't.
10:35Turn a new page, wear a new stitch.
10:37Call the haters, I'm Rick James.
10:39Any thing I wanna be, any second I can dream it.
10:42They told me if I can see it, I can be it.
10:48When you don't qualify, when having to stand on the side and watch has been super tough for me.
10:56And he was going so fast!
11:06And it's kind of mentally and physically broken me.
11:11I never worked it, I just played it.
11:13I fought two for nil and we made it.
11:17Matt Walker, who takes his first ever World Cup win!
11:22Sorry to hear that, mate.
11:24Are you alright?
11:26I don't think we've seen his true pace in his race results this year.
11:30I think he's had a frustrating season and he's not been able to execute on quite what he's capable of.
11:35But we could see Brooke on the podium still.
11:38The mental toughness to come back from literally not being able to walk to being able to ride a bike
11:43like that.
11:44Yeah, mind-blowing guy.
11:47For me in the off-season I think I've got quite a lot to work on.
11:50Working with a sports psychologist just to kind of help me get back into building that trust and confidence.
11:58I'm excited to go home and see what next year brings.
12:02Smarter Bulldog!
12:05That's a little hot, isn't it?
12:07It's taken me a long time working with a psychologist to realise I probably went over the limit on that
12:13sharpness of trying to be the best,
12:15where actually I probably should have seen my friends a bit more over the winter and had a bit more
12:19balance between how much I was riding.
12:22Harry Styles is going on tour in Cardiff next year, so I've got to get tickets because it will be
12:27the best day of my life if I go.
12:30The conversation around mental health is just important to normalise because as people we all face ups and downs, we
12:39all have challenges.
12:40And that is something that has to be kind of acknowledged and can be worked through.
12:45Way to go! You're awesome.
12:49I think dogs are kind of the key to mental health.
12:55When there's riders that are promoting eating healthy and fueling your body, I feel really proud to be part of
13:01the sport
13:02because I think that's promoting really good role models and I think that's amazing.
13:07And that's something I feel really strongly in that we have a job to promote looking after yourself.
13:16My injury definitely strengthened our relationship. She sacrificed everything for me.
13:22I feel like I'm so much more serious than him and he really makes me chill out and enjoy life
13:28a lot more.
13:29He's a special person to me.
13:33It's pretty amazing to see what a person can do for someone that is struggling to walk, struggling with life.
13:42Yeah, pretty cool.
13:44Take me to sleep when the sun's going down.
13:52Next on Race Times.
13:55It was so easy as a junior. Everything was always working out.
13:59She's attacking and she goes down!
14:01Oh my .
14:02Leogang was the first time I cried because of a race result.
14:07I get comments for people maybe not understanding how I got to where I am today.
14:11It's insane to see that tiny little man doing so well and riding so fast.
14:16I travel to radio and riding so I can't sleep.
14:18It's hard to sleep when I'm with you.
14:18But then we are alive today and I pick up my place.
14:19I just have to sit down on the race.
14:20I'm not afraid of you in your right place.
14:21I'm not even sure.
14:21I'm not afraid of anything.
14:22I just have to fight.
14:22And I know this way to avoid a race.
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