Pro Blogs - Intoducing Jack Reading

Over the 2013 season MoreDirt will be following the progress of some of the UK's fastest up and coming racers as they try and take their riding up to the next level...

Hey MoreDirt Readers!

My name is Jack Reading and I race on the World Cup Downhill Mountain Bike circuit. I am also a self employed locum optometrist, a career which I’m using to fund my racing career.

Unfortunately the biking industry isn’t the goldmine that is football, so to get a healthy wage you have to be right up there at the top. Now I’ve finished my masters degree I am putting everything I can into racing, and am hopeful to keep improving and push towards the top of the sport over the next few years.

I love riding mountain bikes. Whether it be a local ride in my back garden in the peak district hills, a trip to a trail center such as Gisburn Forest, or preferably an uplift day on my downhill bike, I always have a good time.

I don’t use road bikes at all in my training, as it simply doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest and I don’t see it being a good cross over to my downhill bike. Instead I do my leg and cardio training on my XC bike and in the gym with my strength and conditioning coach Nicolas Jones of DNA Sports Performance.

I live with my fiancé Sarah in an area called Saddleworth, which is 20 minutes outside of Manchester and is a fantastic training ground for me with a number of big hills littered with tracks only a stones throw away. Other places I use for training are the downhill venues of Hamsterley, Foel and Llangollen, and a little further away Malaga in Spain where the RoostDH boys are based.

Throughout the 2013 race season I will be supported by the following companies:

Jack Reading Optical Services
O’Neal
Mojo/Fox
Schwalbe
Kore Components
Shimano
The Brakes Clothing
Trek UK

You will be able to keep up with my 2013 activities via this blog on MoreDirt, Facebook, Twitter and also through my website www.jackreading.com.

Wish me luck for the upcoming season...