6th in the World With a Day Job - Charlie Murray

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Charlie Murray is a super talented up-and-comer from New Zealand. He definitely made his mark on the Enduro World Series and World Cup downhill circuit last season. Charlie even dabbled in the e-Bike World Champs. Which, despite running out of battery mid race, has paid off pretty well for him, as you’ll find out in this episode. Charlie provides great insight into what it takes to get inside the top 10 of the EWS, while still holding down a day job. We talk about training, mindset, the importance of looking after yourself and much more. Charlie has some great stories to tell, so hit play and have a listen to this episode with Charlie Murray.

You can follow Charlie on Instagram @murraycharles and on YouTube here.

Supporting Partners

Misspent Summers

Misspent Summers is a group of incredibly talented people who love riding bikes. They have just released their 2020 mountain bike yearbook, Meltdown. It’s a work of art, packing 240 pages with incredible photos and writing. Which serves as a memory of some of the good times that 2020 managed to provide. It’s a great read and a beautiful addition to any coffee table. Also, given how unique 2020 was, it really is a piece of history. I’m stoked to say that they even asked me to write a little article for it, which is a massive honour. So that’s in there for you to read too.

You can get your own copy by heading to misspentsummers.com/meltdown and as a Downtime listener, you can get yourself a lovely free Misspent Summers wall calendar with your copy of Meltdown until the end of March using the code ‘meltdowntime’ at the checkout.

Canyon Bikes

This episode is supported by Canyon Bikes. Canyon has just updated their eBike range, and they now all feature the amazing Shimano EP8 motor, providing 85Nm of torque. They’ve also launched a brand new model, the Torque:ON with 180mm travel, 63.5 head angle and a playful ride for all your gravity needs, without a chairlift or a shuttle. If that’s a bit much then there’s the 150mm Spectral:ON that will enable you to cover much more ground on your trail rides, and the 130mm Neuron:ON and hardtail Grand Canyon:ON too. What’s even better is that they are currently in stock in most countries. If they aren’t in stock with you, then they will be soon and you can sign up for a notification on the Canyon site. So if you’re interested in an eBike this year, then head over to canyon.com now and check them out.

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Photo – Sven Martin

Episode Transcript

Charlie Murray, welcome to the Downtime Podcast. How’s things with you?

Charlie Murray 3:35

Yeah, thanks for having me. Things are good. I’m just here in New Zealand and summer and yeah, and really enjoying it. Actually, it’s we’re pretty lucky not to have any COVID here. So that’s the main positive at the moment.

Chris 3:46

Yeah, man, honestly. It was strange watching the coverage of McGazza Fest in Queenstown seeing everyone like trackside and crowds and feels so alien for us over in Europe at the moment.

Charlie Murray 3:59

Yeah, that was that was an awesome weekend. And we you kinda don’t really realise you just get used to it. And then suddenly, you can’t take a step back and you’re like, wow, like, We are so lucky just to be able to hang out and have festivals and mountain bike events and hang out with friends. And it’s really it’s really good over here at the moment. So I’m not in any rush to leave.

Chris 4:20

Yeah, you’re a wise man. Well, let’s, let’s wind the clock back a little bit and find out a bit about kind of where you come from, but Well, first off geographically, where did you grow up?

Charlie Murray 4:30

I grew up in Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. So that’s the South Island. And, yeah, we kind of we grew up in the city and then we had a little batch or like, holiday house kind of cabin, out in the country, near the Southern Alps, which is the main mountain range here in the South Island. So we kind of got there every weekend and build little pump tracks or jumps and then in the winter would be up at the ski fields. We just kind of fell in love with the outdoors through through that little cabin. Really?

Chris 5:08

Lovely. I hear your parents are like multi sport royalty over there.

Charlie Murray 5:13

Yeah. Is it? There’s a bit of that. Yeah, both my parents did lots of adventure racing. I don’t know if you if you’ve heard of adventure racing, but

Chris 5:23

yes. Explain that for people that don’t know much about it.

Charlie Murray 5:26

Yeah, well, basically, it’s like, kind of multi sport. Like, like an Ironman but not with swimming. And you have running and mountain biking, kayaking, sometimes you have whitewater rafting or abseiling or they even have inline roller skating, which was quite entertaining. And it’s all kind of off road and more of like an expedition adventure sort of thing. And some of these adventure races would they could take like six or seven days to finish, and you don’t stop to sleep either. You just go the whole time. So it’s pretty crazy. And then there’s, there’s one, there’s a one day one here in New Zealand, called the Coast to Coast which is quite, um, quite a big deal for the Kiwis. And both mom and dad hold the hold the record currently for that race. So insane. So

Chris 6:15

is that east to west or west to east across the South Island or something?

Charlie Murray 6:18

Exactly. Yeah. So it’s Yes, that’s on the west coast and finishes in Christchurch on the east. And that’s Oh, wow. Not exactly sure how many cases but it takes about 11 or 12 hours. And that’s road biking, mountain running. whitewater kayaking, and then more road biking at the end. So further on. So that’s like

Chris 6:39

over because there’s a big old mountain range that Arthur’s past and stuff in the middle is

Charlie Murray 6:42

exactly yeah, it goes through the mountain pass, an Alpine pass that you run across basically,

Chris 6:50

impressive. Yeah, they’re pretty fit then.

Charlie Murray 6:53

Yeah, yeah. They don’t hang around. Even now. Like, dad’s getting a bit older. But if I go out with him, he doesn’t go easy on me. So yeah, he’s it’s pretty, pretty cool to have those super active parents in my whole last three kids are pretty lucky to grow up with Eric has definitely shaped us into our sports and given us a bit of a background in the outdoors. Yeah,

Chris 7:19

what age did they start kind of getting you into outdoor sports? And was it pretty early?

Charlie Murray 7:24

Yeah, I’m not really sure. Like, there’s like photos of us like climbing mountains and like in backpacks on the back of your back and stuff and dad for training used to he used to put me in the in the bike seat on the back of the seat on the back of the bike. So like a little bike seat on like an old mountain bike. And then he would ride up the hill near our house as fast as he could. The other day, I’ve met someone at work or something and they said, Oh, the last time I saw you, I was road biking up, dies pass and you you over took me on the back of a mountain bike with the dead pedalling.

Chris 8:04

Amazing. So were you like I guess sort of naturally fit then as a kid, just from all the activity that you do with your family?

Charlie Murray 8:15

Yeah, we would never, never really struggled to kind of keep up as such. Yeah. So you’re pretty lucky in that regard. Fitness is something that comes relatively easy.

Chris 8:27

Yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah. So what are all the activities that your parents were kind of getting you involved in? What stood out for you when you were younger?

Charlie Murray 8:39

Well probably skiing really. And biking was awesome. We were like groms because we just had little kind of beer mixes and we would just do jumps and boot tracks and everything that you know groans usually do. And then we got you had a more and more into skiing. And that kind of took over my life for a few years. Just skiing, because we got some really good mountains here in New Zealand. So yeah, that was the point the main thing.

Chris 9:06

Yeah, you got into the kind of freestyle side of things is that like free skiing side? Is that the right way to describe it?

Charlie Murray 9:13

Yeah. What what’s free ride is the is kind of what I’ve what I’ve ended up and really isn’t much anymore, but free rides like it’s called like the Red Bull rampage of skiing. So you get a big face. And you can have a start point and a finish point and you can choose your line anywhere down the face. And it’s off pace kinda. Yeah off like rock drops and cliffs and shoots and stuff like that.

Chris 9:37

And what are they marking you on? Like technical difficulty of the line or tricks or like was it kind of like rampage like the whole thing combined? Yeah. So

Charlie Murray 9:45

it’s an overall impression, basically out of 100 points, but there’s five categories that they take into account so they consider like your, your line and fluidly so that’s like, obviously had technically aligners and if you’re stopping or starting or If you just, if you just keep holding speed the whole way through, then you get a lot more points. And then they have like spin style. So that’s like, kind of how aggressive you’re skiing. And if you’re doing tricks and big ears, and if you’re looking composed, and not, you know, flapping your arms around and stuff. And then what else is there, there’s a few more other categories as well. But you basically start with 100. And as you go down, you kind of like a speed up speedometer. You either go down or up, if you do something, that some say you do a feature, and you do really well, you’ll go off. And if you do it and like, even if you do a massive trick, but you put a hand down and touch the snow when you’re landing, you might kind of just stay at the same point. So you didn’t really gain anything, we didn’t lose anything.

Chris 10:50

so like, what was that the sport that you kind of saw yourself wanting to progress in life to become I don’t know for that to be your career was that in your head in at some point.

Charlie Murray 11:04

I never really thought about it, to be honest. Like, we just always did it with a crew of us when we’re kids, and we just love it hope so just always go up and try and get better and push each other to do more and more tricks and stuff. And then after a while I kind of got sick of the competitions because I just didn’t really like the whole judging side of it. Like sometimes you’d have a good run, and you wouldn’t get scored very well. And it’s a bit hard to swallow. Whereas at least with with mountain biking, the clock doesn’t lie. So I kind of moved away from competing in the skiing and did some more filming stuff for a couple years and then now don’t ski much because I’m so busy riding but my brother’s continued with it. And he’s a he’s actually a pro on the on the Freeride World Tour. So he still does the comps and goes around and competes in those. And in the winter in Europe.

Chris 11:59

Nice. That’s Craig right?

Charlie Murray 12:01

Yeah, yeah. Craig. Wheezy Davis as we like to call him

Chris 12:05

So you were kind of following the winter around the globe a bit like spending winters in Europe and then over to New Zealand like doing a back to back stuff with skiing.

Charlie Murray 12:15

I think we probably did like kind of maybe eight or something back to bit winters. Love it at the end of high school in the start of university sort of thing

Chris 12:25

is that must have been pretty excited and quite young, sort of spending a lot of time in Europe away from home. Yeah,

Charlie Murray 12:30

no, I was awesome. I we can’t remember exactly how we were I think we were like 16 and 18 or something when we first went over. And we were just living with some kind of family friend that someone knew. And, Germany and France. It was a it was incredible. We were just kind of living off the smell of an oily rag and one time particular we went to the cabin what the supermarket’s called the car for the supermarket or something in them. They had a big dumpster at the front and it was kind of overflowing with food. So I had a look. And they were throwing out all these perfectly good, like breads and crackers and stuff that were just expired by few days. So we just loaded up out of the dumpster didn’t even go into the supermarket and just walked home and had food for like half a week.

Chris 13:25

Nice. Living the dream.

Charlie Murray 13:27

Yeah, that was all it was like, we thought that was the best thing ever.

Chris 13:31

Shabbat is good for that. There’s a lot of people living on very little income over there, like skiing and climbing and riding in the summer making it work.

Charlie Murray 13:40

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Few ski bums around, we were probably that. Yeah, definitely some of them.

Chris 13:48

Excellent. And I mean, you did that for a while, obviously. But at some point, because your your day job at the minute is as a structural engineer. So you’ve clearly done a fair amount of studying I guess for that, like, where does that fit into everything?

Charlie Murray 14:03

Yeah, so it kind of like was while I were basically I used to race. Back when I was like, just starting High School. So kinda like 13 1415 I was racing cross country. And also skiing and then the cross country we got a bit bored of it because I know we’re never allowed for suspension bikes or anything because dad’s a doctor and he reckons it was a bit dangerous. I think he thought that they were motorbikes rather than downhill bikes. So we had to do it. Which we enjoyed, and we were pretty good at it, my brother and I, but then just all the training and just got so sick of it and kind of took the fun out of it. So then we both stopped, stopped riding bikes, really and we just skate kinda from size 16 through till I was probably 20 or 21. But yeah, before I found it full suspension bikes. So did that. And that was kind of while I was at uni. So I finished high school when I was 17 to four years at uni here in New Zealand, which was an experience in itself and got a structural engineering degree, and then kind of went straight into work for the last three years. And that was when I, when I finished uni is when I got a mountain bike. Personally,

Chris 15:22

you’d spent some of your studies in the US there. Yeah.

Charlie Murray 15:25

Yeah, yeah, that’s right. So I was lucky enough to be like an exchange programme. So they basically seen you senior way to place that you can be chosen, you can do a semester there, or I think I was over in the states for kind of six to eight months. Which was, yeah, that was pretty awesome. I was living in a place called Bozeman, Montana, which is kind of way up in the north. And they’re really good skiing there, which is why I picked it. And but it’s funny because the American uni is like, you see in movies and see all like the fraternities and sororities and all that stuff. And you think this thing that’s just, you know, movies, but then I was, like, shocked when I got there. And it was exactly like movies, like, I think they all had the great leaders, all the Greek life stuff, and it was like, Sigma Chi and we different fraternities. And I was, like, stoked. I’m sorry, let’s go into some of these fraternity parties. And, you know, see if they’re, if they live up to what we expect. And pretty quickly, I realised that it was like, not quite what I thought it would be not quite what New Zealand parties are. And they just bet like full of themselves. fraternity boys. So we got we had a few new and a few runs. And if you enter the party, which is the first thing, it’s so exclusive, like, they finally listened to one and we went in and they were just like, all these fraternity brothers had like, invited the he’s, like, fresher girls, and they just had like, heaps of girls. And they’re only like a few guys. And so it was like, kind of a bit weird like that. Like, yeah, they were just trying to take advantage of it. But I think and then yes, we’re just kind of running a bit of a mark and playing around having some fun, and they don’t really like us, we really like them. And things got a bit heated, and we kind of got got tossed around a bit and stuff. And then we went upstairs, my mate and I and he’s an Australian guy. And he’s, yeah, as you know, Australians are but can be loose. So we were just walking out there. And he just reached like, tapped me on the shoulder and just handed me something. And it was dark. And I was just like, Ah, it was just a big fire extinguisher. We went and we’re up on the top level. And there’s this like, it’s called like, the big or like the president. It’s the guy who like runs the whole fraternity. And he had the SEC pager and it was like, four with LCDs. And like the DJ set up and everything. super fancy. So we just walked in there and I just open up the whole room. And then like straightaway, the fire alarms went off. So we’d like sprinted out and we went down one of the staircases, these two big staircases and we went down one at the same time that all the fraternity guys were coming up the other one and we just missed them. So it was perfect. We managed to get away and then but then for like the next the next like month at uni I was like walking around with a hood up because I was so nervous to mechanise me and beat me up.

Chris 18:33

But you got away with it. Yeah,

Charlie Murray 18:35

we got away with it was it was pretty funny.

Chris 18:39

Good effort, was it was it hard to like, get a balance between studying and like the sport side of things. Was it? Like was there ever? Like one side of things you felt you needed to compromise on a bit?

Charlie Murray 18:52

Yeah, like, I definitely didn’t do any sports seriously when I was at uni. I think I mean, I yeah, when I talk to idiots kind of the same. Like you just get so caught up in the uni scene. And like, we just go skateboarding and we’d go skiing in the weekends and go surfing and stuff. But we were never like, committing to one sport or just do what if we wanted kind of women want it? Yeah. And like I said, Yeah, we did under now my flatmates rode bikes or anything. So we just didn’t bike. We’re just, yeah, we just do other stuff like skateboarding.

Chris 19:26

So at that point, then was there never really like a seed in your, in your mind of becoming like a pro athlete in any discipline? It was always like you enjoyed sport or something you did, like as a hobby, I guess. And that structural engineering thing was your career. Is that kind of how you felt at that point?

Charlie Murray 19:45

Yeah, like pretty much like I never, never really even thought about being a pro and anything. skiing or anything else really. I just love doing it. And it’d be cool if we you know, get free gear and get trips paid for and stuff. Which we, we work with the skiing, but never would make any money out of it? And I was happy with that. I thought that was awesome. And yeah, I never really thought about it. That’s what I just went straight into. went straight into my engineering pretty much as soon as I left uni,

Chris 20:18

what sort of structural engineering stuff are you doing?

Charlie Murray 20:21

So I’ve been working mostly in residential. So designing houses, like if people have, you know, massive Windows, or if they want to put their house on a on like a really steep site or something, we have to do a retaining wall or a lintel above the window or a beam if they want to have a big open kind of room or something. So I know a lot of that. And then also, some kind of geotechnical work and some commercial warehouses and stuff, but it’s all pretty boring. So I won’t go into details.

Chris 20:49

That’s fair. That’s the year that you’re the sort of person that’s doing all the math to make sure things don’t fall down. Right.

Charlie Murray 20:55

Exactly. Yeah. So it says anything that’s kind of not moving. As the civil side of it that I was, that’s the field I was Oh, yeah.

Chris 21:02

So you started working, I guess you know, you’re starting to earn a bit of reasonable money is that when a full suspension mountain bike finds its way back into life, or into your life for the first time?

Charlie Murray 21:12

Well, funny that actually. So it was pretty much like the week I finished uni, I had my last exams. And my girlfriend at the time was living Indonesian, was still my girlfriend. She’s living Indonesian. And she just, she’s always been into biking. And she used to race cross country, World Cups, and all that carry on, she was like, Oh, you should really, you know, you should really get a bike and come down to these enduro race things. And I was Oh, what’s that? I thought it was like an endurance thing where you go for, you know, 10 hours or something. I’m unreal eyes. It was like a come downhill, more of a downhill race. And I was like, Alright, sweet. So then my brother and I had been running into proposals for like ski trips and stuff. So we’re like, why don’t we just change it and just ride it for biking and send it to everyone we know. And see if we can get a couple bikes. So we just like, did exactly that. We sent it to everyone we could think of in New Zealand, and just asked to loan to bikes for a year. And then this bike shop called fleet cycles and crushers just came back and said, Yeah, sure. We’ll, we’ll lend you to Scott geniuses, like just entry level model, like Fox performance or whatever. And we, we just thought that was the best thing ever, you know? And then, yeah, that was kind of where it started. That’s where we that’s where I found you’re really

Chris 22:36

awesome. Was it kind of love at first descent. I did you did you enjoy that gravity based side of things straightaway.

Charlie Murray 22:43

Yeah, absolutely. Like, the bikes now. Like we’re just used to riding like cross country bikes with like, anymore. 100 mil with a seat up and like geometry from 10 years ago. So it was it was amazing. It’s just like, like skiing on dirt almost.

Chris 22:59

Yeah. Was it long before he entered a race then?

Charlie Murray 23:03

A couple months? Probably like, yeah, yeah. Would have been probably two months. Went into my first race.

Chris 23:10

Yeah. What Where was that? And how did you get on?

Charlie Murray 23:14

There was Indonesian. And it’s called free peaks. And it was, I don’t know, trying to think what riders were there. But I don’t know if you know, like Joel Davis, the American guy on UD. I don’t know the name yet. And Joe nation as well. Yeah. So they were racing. And they, I would like ask the organiser, if I could start like out the front with like, in the first wave. And they’re kind of like, laughed at me. And now like, I’m not sure how, whatever, and my girlfriend, she was helping organise it. And she said to them, oh, yeah, actually, you should let him and he’s, I’m sure he’ll be fine. And then I was doing like, kind of top five stage times throughout the day. And then just on this kind of like, XC bike, and he’s kind of pro gt riders or whatever, we’re on full factory bikes. And at the end of the day, the organisers counter me and just like, Who are you? What’s going on here? And my brother was disabled. He was writing that same race, and he was doing some more times. So that was definitely Yeah, a bit of a surprise to me. Like, I was like, Man, I’m actually not bad at this. Like, it seemed a bit too easy. I don’t know. Like, yeah. I think it might just be like the scheme just having a background in writing, like when we’re groms also help. Yeah,

Chris 24:39

I guess a bit of a lack of fear of being in the hills as well that you know, you must know the mountain so well, from all the time as a kid and through skiing you you’re not intimidated by stuff or space.

Charlie Murray 24:51

Yeah, I think so. Unlike with skin you’re going, you’re often going like way faster and going bigger, like You know, sometimes you end up doing like, you know, 100 foot jumps or whatever, but you it’s a bit softer. But I think we didn’t really realise that when we first started, we thought it was just we didn’t think that what happened if you crash, we just thought, well, this is fun. Let’s just go as fast as we do on our skis, basically.

Chris 25:18

Um, was it long before you had a big a big accident?

Charlie Murray 25:23

Oh, yeah, we’ve had our fair share, but been pretty lucky. Really? Like, I probably got away with it for a couple years before I kind of broke myself. So that was good.

Chris 25:32

Yeah, yeah, definitely. So at what point did you start to kind of feel like you wanted to put more focus on the mountain bike side of things? Was it still running alongside scheme for a bit?

Charlie Murray 25:43

Yeah, it was for a bit. Yeah. And almost too recently until the last couple years, really, but so I’m trying to think when it first race? Well, I think it was 2018. Maybe. Yeah, that would have been started 2018. And then

Unknown Speaker 26:03

there

Charlie Murray 26:06

is I still would have scaled quite a lot through that year, but I didn’t go see his first gig. And then I’ll just like, I remember just going to work and just thinking about, like, just writing and just wanting to get faster and wanting to go and try new trails that I hadn’t done. And every time I was at work, I was just constantly thinking about writing. And I was like, just finding work really boring. And rotting was like, so easy to do, because it’s all wet. Like we have good tracks near where I used to work and cross church. So it was so easy to go after work and you know, do a few laps or go out in the morning and do a pedal and stuff. So I just ride all the time. And just like that was where I live for that was only thing keeping me going and I was just getting so sick of work and just battling through the day just so I could go ride my bike.

Chris 26:58

So that sounds familiar. So was that was the enduro World Series like a natural goal for you? Did you know existed? How did you? How did you set your sights on that?

Charlie Murray 27:09

Yeah, yeah, it’s quite funny. So yeah, so basically, I did that first race that three peaks and today, and one of the organisers was also running a race called Trans NZ, which is like a sponsored race that goes rather at well around the South Island doing like a five day enduro. Yeah. And my girlfriend was working for us. So she got an injury. And it was like, kind of like a bit of a date, we went into this five day race. And I like to really well, and the organiser, he had just broke his shoulder and he was supposed to, he’s called Tom Bradshaw. He’s one of the pinkbike presenters at the moment. Okay. Yeah, I hit back a shoulder and he was like, supposed to be here to slot to race. And like Chile and Colombia when it was last on I think that was the start of like, maybe April 2018, or something. Yeah. And he couldn’t do and he’s like, oh, like, you’re, um, you know, you’ve been running so well. How do you feel about taking my spot and this is kind of back before the UCI was involved. And Natalie from the enduro World Series is like super, she’s awesome and super happy to help out and Thomas voucher mean, zero and email just did. Like, trust me, this guy’s good enough. And then like some of my results. And next thing I know, I was on a plane to South America and taking time off work to go into that. So it’s play just kind of fell into it. Really? I didn’t. I’d heard of it. But I wasn’t planning now just happen

Chris 28:44

in at the deep end, then. So yeah, that was that’s the kind of the huge high altitude Chilie round, isn’t it? I think so.

Chris 28:53

How was it then being at the start of something like that? Because I’m guessing. You know, whatever competition you’ve done in New Zealand, that’s a very different event to be at.

Charlie Murray 29:03

Yeah. It’s like black and white. The difference is huge. I remember walking up and I didn’t even really think about the race. I was just so excited to be on holiday and being in South America, I’d never been there before. And everything was foreign and exciting. And CO and we were staying up at La pava which is right at the top. Yeah, right up at high altitude above Santiago. And the other course was brutal. It was just like Rocky and loose, loose kind of dry, dusty, like scree slope, like shadow and stuff. Yeah. And yeah, I was just the whole brightness. I wasn’t even thinking about where the train was going. I was just having so much fun. I was just like session in jumps and just like smiling and just doing drifts and just having to tie my life and I’ve tried to keep that going even now with my races because that’s just that’s It’s all about

Chris 30:01

yeah enjoying yourself and that you went from there on to Manizales, which was like the next almost the next weekend that year or maybe two weeks later. And that was the one that was super wet, wasn’t it? Yeah,

Charlie Murray 30:14

that was crazy. That was just absolutely passed down for like a couple days before. And you could barely ride like I was just, I was just happy to get through. I was I was pretty, like hungry to do to do well, because I was like the week before and in Chile. I have a wider stage one I like had a rock and a cat my brake hose, my rear brake and I don’t know. So like Jonathan’s first stage, and went to hit the first corner and grab the brakes and there’s just nothing there. So I blew off the berm and smashed like down right besides Sven and Sven was just like, cracking up. He’s like, Whoa, is this like, Kiwi guy. And like, I was wearing like skiing kneepads, and like borrowed a full face from Rupert. And on like an XC bike with 34mm stanchions, or whatever. And then I only have one braid, and spin was just like, man, pull off, you’re done. And I was like, Nah, it’s all good. Oh, keep going. So I just kept going for the rest of the day with just the front brake. But like, at some stages, I was actually close to tears, because it was pretty hard. And it was so steep, like, I remember just coming into corners and just trying to slow down just not gonna slow down just having been the bike just like complete washing out the front wheel because the front brake would just take the whole wheel. So when I came in two minutes, Allison, I was like, yeah, and then when I got my brake fix actually did some good stages, like I think like in the 30s, or 40s, or something. So I kind of meant as I was, I was like, man, I can actually, I can smash this like, now be stuck if I could finish with the top 50. So I was just like, it was so muddy, you couldn’t even really write it. So I was just like, running everywhere. And like, just doing any like pulling off trees on like on little pinch climbs that you can, you can write up and stuff like that. Just trying to get every second occurred. And like so many people were giving up, they were like, this is stupid. And they were like throwing their bikes and losing it. And I was just like having fun and just try my best to like, it was almost like multi sport like a bit of a Milan, sort of race. But yeah, I finished in 48. So I managed to get my goal of top 50 accomplished.

Chris 32:28

Good effort, you did a couple more rounds that year in Europe didn’t think the Spanish round and finale at the end of the season with a couple of like mid 70 places, which again, like pretty good first year, but what did you learn from that first year of EWS? And what sort of stuff Did you feel you needed to do to work your way up the ranks?

Charlie Murray 32:50

Yeah, so yeah, then I came back home after that, after South America and like, did pretty well and just had so much fun. That the same the guy had broken a shoulder and given me a spot, he rang me up and said, We should go and do this turn in Europe, because I haven’t got to race yet. And I really want to I was like, Yeah, awesome. I meant, like, had just enough money in the bank account to get some flights. And it was better than work. So I was like, Yeah, for sure. We’re going and we went over there and made Sam shore. He had a van over there. So we just jumped in with him and pretty much went around Europe for about 2020 euro a week or something. And to those two races, but I didn’t have the best races like living out of a van. I had a couple mechanicals. And then we all got food poisoning because we they had the Sausage Party. And now Yes, massive castle. And before the race I forgot the night before the race, they have this mess of Sausage Party. And they get like, I think it was a kilometre of sausage. It was like on this big barbecue thing they put out in the courtyard, and just went back and forth across the whole court, you had this massive sausage, and they like cut it off and they would just give you like half a metre of sausage. Ah, so we’d like just got heaps of it, we were just like taking more and more and more. And then we put it all in the van and like just put it like in the front of the van or something. And then we were eating that for like the race week. Just the sausage, but it sounds like it was so hot that it was like 40 degrees Sunday. So the sauces were just getting caught. And then we obviously got sick because we’re eating this sausage that was sitting in the sunlight while we are writing. So then we’ve been really suffering for a bit of that trip, but kind of managed to put together a little bit for finale. But then for now it was also not a good race because my mate Sam, he had his theories like when I’m camping back home, I do this thing right transition to ground. So he’s like, Yeah, I just slowly like get rid of my mattress until I’m on the ground and then the whole bed is my The whole world has my beard like, you can sleep, right? There’s no light, there’s no edge of, of the beard. You can, the whole team is in your beard. So I was like, yeah, this is such a good idea. So, like coming into the race I like started with like a little, like thermarest like a little inflatable thing. Yeah. And then, like, the next night, I just had like a little bit of fun. That was a bit funner. And then like, the next night, I just had like some cardboard. And then it came up to the night before the race, and I was just on the ground. And as I’ve done it a few times in the ground, like sleeping, in sleeping well like, and all this stuff. And then I just had such a bad race. And I was just so tired, and like really struggling to, to race. And then we finished rice and had like, a little bit off party and stuff in the back of the tent. And I was like, I’ll just try the thermarest again, and I’ll just slip like a baby for the whole night. And I just couldn’t believe that I’ve been that I’ve actually tried this stupid idea that I really, really didn’t have myself those first two races. And that was what I learned really was that just you got to look after yourself. You’ve got to eat good food, and you got to sleep well and make sure your bike actually works.

Chris 36:14

Yeah, for sure. It’s not a it’s not an easy weekend. Is it or an easy week with EWS? There’s so much activity over a period of days of practice and race and everything. That’s the recovery element of it must be really important.

Charlie Murray 36:28

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I’m still learning that now. Like, we’re not the best of recovery. Like, with the perfect crew, we’d like to have a few beers. And yeah, I don’t think that helps. Like, I think if you just but then you got to have some fun as well. So I’m not really sure what the recipe is, but we’re definitely more regimented than we used to be.

Chris 36:49

No more transition into ground.

Charlie Murray 36:51

None. we’re transitioning the ground. I don’t recommend that to anyone. That’s a terrible idea. You get the biggest thickest mattress. You can and you’d be swayed. Definitely.

Chris 37:00

So 2019, you took on a few more. EWS rounds. How How are you funding? It was still was that still self funded at that point?

Charlie Murray 37:09

Yeah, pretty much. Yes, I just pretty much work the whole year, and then just take holidays and spend all my money on biking, going over and racing, because yeah, it’s just fun. And I just got pretty hooked on it and just want to get faster and it was better than work as well. So and then 2019 2019 year 2019 I had some help from a friend who in New Zealand, Brendan Clark, he like started a bit of a like, development team for for Kiwis.

Chris 37:42

Okay,

Charlie Murray 37:43

so that was actually awesome. He like we still flight flew over there. And then once we got there, he just picked us up and he was racing to in the masters. And he just loves bikes, anything about bikes, he just loves helping out Kiwis as well. So he’d drive us around in a van. And then we’d have accommodation at the races. So that was huge. That was like going from the van the year before to actually having a place to sleep and a way to Yeah, more comfortable place for the for the race week. That was huge.

Chris 38:13

Yeah, for sure. And it shows in the results, right. He definitely moved a good chunk up the rankings that season.

Charlie Murray 38:20

Yeah, yeah, that was, yeah, I was definitely starting to just feel better and better. And I think I was on I was on a Yeti that year. I came from the Scott genius, with 54 mile to the Yeti with the 36 bill. And yeah, I remember telling Sven and Joe because I would always tease me about having 34 more extensions. So I told him that I’d got the 36 going, I’ve finally made it. So I thought but no, the bite was good. And I had done, you know, two times as much running as I’d done before that come into that season. So I was like, yeah, there was there was just even it was easier, basically.

Chris 39:02

Yeah. And it peaked with a 26th place I think in North Star like the last round for you of that of that season. You must be starting to feel pretty happy with that. I mean, it’s a hell of a competitive field now enduro World Series. Yeah, yeah,

Charlie Murray 39:17

I was. I was so stuck with that I was we have Whistler and then we Yeah, even kind of comes out of Whistler but second of it tired, I think, but I’ve managed to avoid most of that. So I was feeling pretty good coming from North Star and then we went down there and it was just like super dry and ragged and Rocky, and like the rock gardens were pretty insane. Inside is pretty much put in like, crushed on the front crusher in the rear and then just rode into everything, just like rows of the rock guns were really pick a line I would just kind of hold on and just go for it. And that was kind of what you had to do because everything the rocks were kind of moving and The roads are so long, you never stay on the same line the whole way through. So if you’re trying to do that you just end up making mistakes or going slow or whatever. So I just kind of Yeah, had a few good stages and kind of what I wasn’t one of the Queen’s stages are somewhere in the top 10. So I was pretty stoked with that. And then, on the last stage, oh, like, I knew that I was doing really well. So I came to the last stage, and I just was like riding so safe, and lost quite a bit of time on that. So I was kind of that was another linear experience as well. Like, I don’t know if you shouldn’t look at the times or not, because it’s kind of hard to avoid, but at least just keep the intensity high.

Chris 40:38

no room to back off these days. Is there at EWS today?

Charlie Murray 40:42

No, not anymore. Well, I don’t know if that ever was but like this now, there’s so many writers and the top, you know, the top 20 is all in the same, you know, a couple of seconds or it can be not a couple of seconds. But like it’s pretty easy to to drop back just a few seconds could see firefighters back if you’re unlucky. Yeah,

Chris 41:01

yes. You came out of that season with solid. Yes, super solid performance, I guess. But still room to move further up. And you started off 2020 pretty well as early on in the season. It was the Trans NZ enduro again. And you did a clean sweep that you want every day, didn’t you?

Charlie Murray 41:19

Yeah, yeah, I want every stage I was. I was so stoked with that there was I just feeling really good on the bike. And just everything was just clicking at that point. Like, I think I just got to get more confident in myself and like, figuring out the racing, that those sort of races are so good for that because you racing every day during like five or six stages.

You just get a feel for like, when you’re in a good mindset at that stage. And you know what that looks like? And I just Yeah, I was feeling good and had a good race there. I think I’ve managed to put like a minute into the field each day. So it’s pretty healthy need at the end, which was a good confidence booster going into that season. Yeah.

Chris 42:04

When you talk about the mindset thing, is that something that you feel like you have some level of control over now, like, have you learned what it takes for you to get into that space?

Charlie Murray 42:15

Yeah, definitely, like, just trying to be kind of positive and not overstressed. Like, it’s easy to get really nervous, like, especially now because I’ve been doing more downhill. I’ve been like having to relearn, because it’s a different mindset. It’s like, the downhill is kind of more intense, because just one run and you can’t make any mistakes. And it’s been a shorter track. So that’s kind of like a whole nother level.

But yeah, with the injury, I used to start just being so stressed about each stage, and being like almost shaking at the top. And then just yeah, just take a few deep breaths and relax and have a laugh. Like that’s the best thing is just having a having a major ride with like, the liaisons is awesome. And just chatting, having fun, and I think that helps. Ah,

Chris Hall 43:04

yeah, definitely. And you went from there to Crankworx Rotorua, and it was that your first ride on a pivot?

Charlie Murray 43:11

Yeah, that’s actually kind of a funny one as well. Because I’ve just kind of signed a deal with pepper. But they couldn’t get the bike yet or something. So I just liked seeing Mr. Ed. And I didn’t know he that well at the time. And was Kobe kind of helped me like, it is like a really good talent scout like he he prides himself on being able to pick riders and Cole Lucas the year before, and like, kind of helped him out during the season. Yeah. And then he obviously thought that I was had some potential when he in 2019. So is that our common ride for us in 2020. But my bike hadn’t arrived. So I like got a run for the night before the race. I’d like to miss practice, because I had to work that Friday, and apprentices on a Friday and I was like when I was working I always get so pissed off because I’m like, why are they making the progress on like, on the weekdays, like Don’t they know that like, as normal people have to work. And so I must practice and I showed up and it was like 11 at night. I had eaten his bike and and eating and stuff, were replying, they’re all asleep. But I had their address, I had to go and like pretty much break into their house and I found like Mark Scott like wandering around his undies, and managed to like, he helped me find the bike and I got the bike and it was all good. And then the next morning, but it was like missing bits and pieces and I had so the next morning I got to the race early and just like spent like an hour or two just building up on the carpark like fixing it and then had like a bounce around the carpark and it felt like it was all good. So just went straight into the race and my first ride on the pivot was literally like stage one of that race.

Chris 44:57

That’s impressive and you took sixth place as well. You’re kind of up there with all the all the big names, I

Charlie Murray 45:02

guess. Yeah, I was always surprised I was just having fun like, same again, it was kind of, I wasn’t expecting anything I was because I just like, headed on the practice. So I was kind of like, just having fun and loving and just pedalling wherever I could, and trying to get down the stages as fast as I could, and not really thinking about it too much, and had a pretty good race. That was heavy.

Chris 45:24

Yeah, definitely. And obviously, I guess, coming out of those two events, I must have been feeling pretty good about 2020. But as everyone knows, then COVID sort of arrived, like, how did that impact you? And how did you set yourself up? I guess for the rest of the year with training and that sort of things. I guess if you’ve got got your day job to focus on maybe that’s not as a significant change as it is for some of the pros that suddenly had no no racing and, and kind of nothing space.

Charlie Murray 45:55

Yeah, I definitely feel for, for the pro boys, because it would, it would have been a real spin on the works for them. Because they aren’t really before now I haven’t really trained like, properly and like structured, I just kind of do what I can in between work and stuff. And so I never had that feeling of like building up to something. Whereas I guess those guys would have been building and building for the start of the season. And then suddenly, like the whole world turned upside down. So yeah. Oh, yeah, I’m sure. I’m sure it was pretty tough for them. Yeah.

Chris 46:31

How do you fit your training in? And like, how do you approach trying to be an EWS fit and doing a day job? Because I’m sure there are plenty of people that wonder how the hell that actually works?

Charlie Murray 46:42

Yeah, um, well, yeah, my poor girlfriend has to put up with it, she, she does the washing the cooking pretty much, which is a huge help. But basically, I’ve got not much free time. But I try and I’m super lucky with where I was working and living because the tracks were close. And so what I do pretty much most days would be get up at like 530 or six, go to the gym for like an hour, and then go to work like a little bit early, like kind of 738 work through to like 430, and then knock off and ride up the hill on the way home. So I’d ride my mountain bike. So I was commuting to work on my enduro bike hitch day, stopping at the gym on the way. So you’re going through a few drive trains, and then we’d go up the Port Hills, and just do like one big lap on the way home, down the downhill tracks. And then I’d do that during summer. And then sometimes in summer, I do two laps, because there’d be more daylight. And in winter, I’d just take a torch and just do it when it’s dark. But that’s pretty. That’s not the most fun.

Chris 47:52

Yeah, fair play. That’s a lot of commitment.

Charlie Murray 47:55

Yeah, I really enjoy it. Like, just being on a bike is like, yeah. Still still fun, even if it’s raining and dark.

Chris 48:04

Good effort, good effort. So yeah, we did, we did finally get to go racing quite late in the 2020. Season, and we kicked that off for three rounds at EWS. They went, I think it’s fair to say pretty well, for you to know.

Charlie Murray 48:18

Yeah, yeah. No, it was really, I was stoked with how it turned out. I like, came into it not really know what to expect. But I knew that I could, like, be capable of some quick stage times. But I just still hadn’t figured out how to put all the pieces together. Like, um, because I’d be, you know, fast on a long stage and slow on a short stage and stuff like that. And then, I guess, yeah, I must have just found like, just that consistency, and 2020. And the first one was a bit of a funny one, because it was like, obviously, only two stages, and super weird and snowing. But then the picture on was, there was heaps of fun. And I think I think I was 18. Yeah, 14, and that one. So then I was like moving the right direction. And then coming to finale, we were just having so much fun in the same house for like two weeks and finale. Because those two races were back to back. So we were really like relaxed and having fun and going to the beach and going riding in the mornings. And we just had a really good crew like Ed and Bernard and Barney and Morganne and we were riding together and just having heaps of fun. So that kind of, I don’t really think about the rise too much and then just went straight into it. And I guess maybe that’s the theme that’s developing is that if I don’t think about it and have fun, then it works out well. So I ended up in sex on that one. So it’s pretty cool. Yes. Awesome.

Chris 49:49

Do you get to ride around with Eddie and Bernard on that? Like, how does it work with EWS?

Charlie Murray 49:55

Yeah, so how it works. So first race I think I was running with Bernard, because of our rankings or something. Yeah. And then second race. I think the second race was my first race in the top 30. So like, cuz there’s like all the men and then there’s like the pro woman. And then the top 30 men go after them as a woman to kind of in between. And there was always the dream of mine. Like, since I started racing as a hobby, so cool to be able to start in the top 30 and like, start at the end of the race instead of before the woman. And that finally happened. And I just couldn’t believe it. I was like, This is my dream come true. This is amazing. Getting to ride with like, all the guys that I look up to and yeah, Ed and Cole Lucas and the kiwi crew and Jen and all just everyone else is super friendly. And yeah, even. Everyone’s really nice to me in welcoming along. I just fit right in. So it was pretty cool. And then I think that for that finale one Yeah, I was running either right behind or right in front of Ed, I think.

Chris 51:09

Yeah, does that you think that helps to kind of have someone that you know, pretty well let one of your teammates out for the whole day with you?

Charlie Murray 51:16

It definitely helps. Yeah, like just your mindset. Like, you might not think he does, but I reckon especially like, yeah, it is, he is pretty fun to be around, like, who will pretty much always put a smile on your face. And if you’re at the top of a run, that’s a bit intimidating, or you’re, you know, tired or struggling with the heat or something that just having a bit of a laugh and a smile like, Oh, it’s like someone’s loaded you up with energy gurus or something. It makes such a big difference.

Chris 51:50

Nice. Nice. Did you finish one of the stages a little bit too early as well?

Charlie Murray 51:56

Oh, yeah, that I trying to think about it too much. I am. I was having an awesome stage. Like it was really kind of janky technical one. And I always love that sort of stuff. So I was like, start having heaps of fun. And then I just I wasn’t even I don’t know what I was thinking. I just was boasting that illustrate and then we were in this round corner. And all like everyone was like shouting and cheering on it straight. And then I went past like some sort of sign or something. And I thought that was the finish board. So I was asked where I’m finished. So I just stopped and just like shouted back up the track because they’re all my key roommates who were like spectating. And I like shout out to him like, yeah, boys and stuff. And then I just got back on my bike and like, keep rolling. And then, like, five or 10 seconds later, I should roll past the finish board. And I’m just like, oh my goodness, I’m so stupid. Because I was like, in a really good place before. They’re a carrier, but like, close to the top five. And then I did there and I just thought my writers over I was like, I can’t believe that I’ve stopped moving to finish. Just because I saw the wrong sign like, but I’m never gonna make that mistake again. So that’s good.

Chris 53:08

Yeah, definitely did it was it hard to kind of recap the focus after that, when you think you’ve thrown it away? Or did it maybe even help you relax more?

Charlie Murray 53:16

Not definitely was hard. Like, I was just kicking myself, like mentally. I was really, really pissed off at myself and like, but I kind of like didn’t let it get to me. I just like, was kind of pissed off for five minutes. And then I was like, well, that’s done. I’m just gonna go as hard as I can on this last stage and just leave it all out on the track. And then just to that, yeah, but it got me about one second.

Chris 53:42

So it was good enough to get it to fifth.

Charlie Murray 53:46

I think it would have been at least it would have been at least a second. Maybe a couple of seconds. But that’s alright, because yeah, I don’t mind. After all, it is done for me. I’ll definitely given the government place in front of me.

Chris 54:00

Play 2021 you can you can get your own back. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then off from there. You must have been like must have been buzzing after that. So really, really good little EWS season and then after World Champs with the pivot guys, and I think you wanted to try and get a jersey Didn’t your national jersey to race downhill but that wasn’t wasn’t gonna happen.

Charlie Murray 54:22

Yeah, yeah, that was the thing. There’s a lot of emails a lot of phone calls going back and forth. And as I became quite good friends with people in cycling New Zealand, but that didn’t, didn’t help my case, even even though I was mates with them. They were like, Oh, I’m sorry, but you have to do at least a downhill race before you before you can rest worlds. So had you done

Chris 54:47

any downhill racing at all at this point, like even back home.

Charlie Murray 54:51

I’ve done a few like local races on my trail bike just for like, progress, but I’ve done one race on a downhill bike and I’ve just bought a nice bike for like a Like a club champs in Berlin. So that was Yeah, my only write real down All right.

Chris 55:08

So kind of one downhill race on a borrowed bike and you already up for World Champs I like it.

Charlie Murray 55:13

Well, he has nothing to lose, especially, you know, I sort of saw it. I was like, Oh, this is awesome. Like anything could happen in the mud.

Chris 55:21

Yeah, but that wasn’t to be so you decided to take a different route to World Champs?

Charlie Murray 55:26

Yeah, exactly. So, you know, that was it? No. And then I was talking to when I think or when or when already and they said mentioned the e-Bike. And Bernie’s like, oh, I’ve got a bike in the back of the truck. So I just flicked another email back to New Zealand said, what about the e-Bike? And they’re like, yeah, there’s no requirement for e-Bke? Sure, you can do that. Um, so I got to do that in my world champs experience, and it was a lot of fun on the e-Bike actually.

Chris 55:58

It looks, it looks pretty hard work. To be fair, that course was not was a long way from dry and a long way from grippy right.

Charlie Murray 56:06

Yeah, that was almost why I was so good. Like, it was so muddy. And I just put like mud ties on the bike. And then it’s just so much fun, because like the uploads and downloads are all fun, you know. So it was like an enduro stage, but on the way up and the way down. And yeah, I was just impressed. I didn’t even like practice the track I just went to this one like grassy section with these drifty corners. And I just hit the corners over and over again in Vernon it he just came and watched and just shouted at me for like an hour. And then the preposition finished, and I just watch for biking at home. So it was I was just having so much fun. It was like, I mean, that’s the thing really. Like, that’s the reason I ride bikes anyway, it’s just cuz I love it. And I’ll just love the racing as well, like the competitive part of it is heaps of fun. So I don’t really care if it’s down on the bike or exceed or anything. I just was so happy to be racing.

Chris 57:02

Yeah, what’s the strategy for a race like that? I guess and you only get one battery. So have you got to try and kind of conserve but you can’t just smack into turbo mode the whole time.

Charlie Murray 57:11

It’s only like an hour or an hour and 20 long. So if you have a good bike and you seal up properly, you can do the whole thing and turbo. Okay. I didn’t manage that. We I think we had the wrong battery or the wrong motor or we had suddenly wrong with the EBI. And I got I thought Ben is like yeah, definitely do and the whole time like he like rides at home for like two hours on turbo or something. But it was like so muddy that there was using way more power. Okay, cuz there was so much resistance like for the buy. It was like running through porridge pretty much. And then so I got to let I think we do five laps I was left for and tools inlet for just fully died. And I was like, are so guarded. And I was actually in a kind of decent place. Like, I wasn’t doing amazing, but I can’t remember exactly maybe like top 20 or something, but because I think like some of the bikes are faster than others. So like, I have been pedalling up these hills as hard as I could. And then solid come past just like kind of smiling, like not even trying it out. And I was like, I’m sure I should be as fast as this guy. But that was that was right. And it sort of ran out of battery. And I just made it up to the feed station. And like if it was flat, I could ride it. But as soon as it was a little bit uphill with a mud, it was pretty much unraidable even in the easiest gear. It was pretty much unraidable. So I kind of ran it up to the feed station. And he’s like, what happened to my battery? He’s like, Alright, that’s it, we’re done. And I was like, oh, now like I started this, I might as well finish it. So I just went out last night and I was so tired because I like hadn’t been doing any cross country training. And it’s just a cross country race at the end of the day. So I was Yeah, like not an I wasn’t I’m always fit, but I wasn’t in cross country sort of fitness. So then I just was like running and cramping and Toronto’s like pretty much crawl around this last lab trying to stay ahead of the trials, the trials. Sorry that the tail end, Charlie, the motorbike or at the back. But I didn’t get left out and I managed to finish so I think about the I was like person a fish in front of me was like 510 minutes in front, but I was just so happy to finish.

Chris 59:36

Good FMA that’s a hell of a commitment getting an E bike with no battery around a track like that.

Charlie Murray 59:42

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t recommend it and I wouldn’t do it again. It’s Yeah, it was pretty pretty hard. It’s probably the hardest race I’ve ever done I think yeah, pretty happily say that but it was actually a bit of a blessing in disguise because um my well for for next year. The Team Manager, he actually saw me during the bike race, and he just thought it was so funny. And like, he obviously like my determination. And that kind of helped me. Kind of get a get a conversation started with him. So it was it was actually yeah, the bike race might look funny from the outside, but it was actually pretty important in my season. Good stuff. Yeah,

Chris 1:00:21

it’s nice when stuff like that falls into place a definitely. Yeah.

Charlie Murray 1:00:25

Pretty, pretty funny way for it to come around.

Chris 1:00:28

Definitely, definitely. So you went, you went from there to marable World Cup? because why not? Right, let’s enter a World Cup downhill, having only raced once before. So this time, was it on your own bike? Are we still on a borrowed bike?

Charlie Murray 1:00:41

No, I’ve never heard down a bike until, until, like, couple weeks ago, as I was just buying one of burnouts, but he had a calf on the truck. So I kind of just took one for a few weeks. Yeah, and set it up how I want to, although I don’t actually know how I want it. So I just use you just copy Ed. And he. Yeah, he’s so good. Like, he would just literally help me pretty much until, yeah, as much as you can really, you know, without being reasonable, but he’ll just do everything and like, help me set up all the spaces and the compressions and rebounds and things like that and get it feeling pretty good. And I mean, it’s really good for me, because like, I’m so confident that I couldn’t sit a lot well, so I just know that if I’ve got any sit up, like, there’s no way I can make it better. It’s as good as it could be. Yeah. So I don’t even have to worry about it. I just go riding because I know the bikes as good as it could be, even though like EDC that might not be as good as like breweries or something. But it’s, you know, it is set up 10 times better than, than my setup. So it’s, it’s awesome.

Chris 1:01:48

Yeah, one less thing to worry about. What How did it feel then lining up for your first World Cup downhill?

Charlie Murray 1:01:55

Oh, I just thought it’d be fun and like, had a pretty relaxed approach to it. And then I got to, like the CD or the practice, time practice, or whatever it was. And I was just so nervous. Like, I don’t know, if I’ve ever been that nervous and felt so much pressure, even though there was no expectations. I wasn’t trying to I wasn’t like, no one was counting on me or anything. I was just there because I wanted to be in. I wasn’t even expecting to, you know, to do well at all. But I still was really nervous. I don’t know why I think it’s just everyone else is so nervous. And it’s such an intense atmosphere at the top of those tracks. So I was I was kind of taken aback a bit,

Chris 1:02:38

but it turned out pretty good, right? 44th and 48 that your first ever World Cup. I mean, there’s there’s people that have been doing it for years that struggled to qualify, and you’re putting down results like that on a borrowed bike, kind of three or four downhill races into your career.

Charlie Murray 1:02:54

Yeah, no, it did turn out pretty well. I mean, I wasn’t gonna, I wasn’t gonna go easy. Like, I went as high as I could. But I’d like to do more, really, it’s a learning thing. Like I felt really out of my depth, but had so much fun. And after my first CD ran, it all kind of got better from there because I like, was more confident was kind of feeling better on the track and knew what to expect with the whole, like, environment and the vibe at the top. So yeah, it was I’ll be back for sure.

Chris 1:03:32

Awesome. Yeah, it’s good. What do you think? Is it again? Is it like the scheme background that gives you the ability to ride? Like, at that level so quickly?

Charlie Murray 1:03:44

Yeah, I think there’s a quite a bit from that. Like.

Yeah, that’s that’s a good question. But definitely the skiing and just, I think their attitude to like, I, well, you know, a lot of people have had like, nice gear for when they were kids or something, you know, like, I don’t know, maybe like some of the pro pro dudes at the moment would have come up to the junior ranks and have always had, you know, pretty nice downhill bikes and stuff. Where I came literally from a Scot genius. And that was only three years ago. So it’s like, every bike I get on, it’s just awesome. Like, especially now like, getting you know, x y z only x t this year, but but getting even getting x t was like the, you know, the greatest thing ever. I was like this is saying these gears are so good. The brakes are so good. So when you’re only expecting the worst, then you’re always kind of happy with what you’ve got. And I’m never questioning the by I’m always like this black is so much better than you know what I’ve come from whatever. So then I just dragged on the writing and I think so many writers now like, I want to just kind of get into the same but From what I’ve, what I’ve seen recently is like, so many riders get so caught up in the bike and all the sit up and stuff. But at the end of the day, it’s actually just the rider, like, yeah, I mean, say if you’re at the top level, like Bernie or someone, you have to have a really good setup, but there’s no reason why someone with, like, you put Samho on any bike, you know, you could put them on the Scot genius, and it would probably still be top five and abs. So that’s Yeah, I think that’s kind of as the bike as the rider on the bike at the end of the day. Yeah.

Chris Hall 1:05:39

Yeah. Fair Play. Nice. super impressive. So, I mean, after a season like that, does that kind of change your goals and your expectations for 2021? and onwards? Like, how did you start to think now like, Okay, this could definitely be a career. Yeah,

Charlie Murray 1:06:00

yeah, definitely. And so I’m just going to use it at the moment, it’s been a, it’s been a big change since, since in the last year, I’ve been talking to a few different people. And it was called interest about really kind of writing for, for a team for for the next couple years. So I think people just kind of saw that, you know, keen to give anything a go, and I’ve been improving at a pretty good rate. So Fine, keep doing that, then it’s, it’s gonna be good. Really? So yeah, um, yeah, made a decision. And I will be, it’ll be announced soon. But it’s going to be a pretty fun couple of years. And I’m stoked to be able to do some, yeah, focus on EWS, but also do some other types of racing, and hopefully a few demos and stuff like that to mix it up.

Chris 1:06:46

Awesome. So does that mean you’re effectively professional mountain biking? Are you able to leave the day job?

Charlie Murray 1:06:53

Yeah. So well, pretty much today. Or maybe yesterday was kind of the last bit of work the last the engineering work that I had to do. So I took that off and feeling pretty good about it. Yeah.

Chris 1:07:08

Congratulations. Well, that’s amazing.

Charlie Murray 1:07:11

Thank you. Yeah, no, it’s um, it’s a bit of a surprise. Like, didn’t really expect anything I like. It always been nice. Since I started doing the enduro stuff. It would have always been nice, but I was kind of just, I just love it so much. Anyway, like, I just I do it. You know, even if I pay to do it, I’d still do it. So. Yeah,

Chris 1:07:31

definitely. That’s amazing. So if you’ve got all your bikes and stuff, like, is everything arrived?

Charlie Murray 1:07:36

We’re getting there. I’ve got a couple of them. Still waiting for a few more bits and pieces to arrive. But that’s all I’ve been on.

Yeah, the downhill bikes since the start of the year. And yeah, that’s been awesome. And I’ve pretty much just been riding downhill, like, because I’ve just loving it so much that I haven’t too much time on a downhill bike before. So I’m learning heaps, and I think it will hopefully help mine Jura. So you have just been doing that, really? And what else? try and do a bit of fitness stuff and a bit of gym, but you’re mostly just running down? Oh,

Chris 1:08:11

nice. Yeah, I was gonna say what happens now to training now that you’ve got much more hours in your day? Like, how are you structuring that side of things.

Charlie Murray 1:08:22

I’m almost just the same as I did at work, but a little bit more flexible, like, I’ll still try and do something in the morning, like pretty early, and then a ride or something in the evening, or the afternoon, but as good like just having time to actually rest and if you’re tired, you don’t have to get up at six and go to work, you know, you can actually just sleep in a bit and while I’m actually still figuring out I guess, because it’s pretty much day one today, but it is nice having more time, that’s for sure. I think it’ll be helpful because I can actually like build up to the races and focus on like certain aspects of stuff whereas before I just ride and like if I was riding a few times a week, then I’d kind of be generally pretty fit.

Chris 1:09:10

Yeah, and D like employ someone or do you follow a programme How does that work with with your training

Charlie Murray 1:09:20

now I just I just wing it really like to what’s been working so far I just if I’m feeling strong or just go out and just absolutely smashed on the bike like and then if I’m feeling tired or just go out for a crazy one, or just have a day off or something. I mean, I just try and like Robert fast people like try and run with Blinky and broken Ed and coal and a few like Matt Walker and the kiwi lads and I think that helps as well. Just like didn’t download speed.

Chris 1:09:51

It seems like fitness is something that I can think comes relatively naturally to you don’t seem to have no point of view mentioned That you felt you needed to get fitter to be more competitive, it seems like it’s more of an experience based learning rather than improving your fitness. Is that fair?

Charlie Murray 1:10:10

Yeah, that’s a pretty good point, I think like, I can probably be a little bit further in some aspects. But as I’ve got so much to learn with the skills, so I haven’t really bothered about like, a training programme or coach at this point, because, like, when I felt when I feel like I have, have got everything else figured out, then I’ll be looking for those extra gains. But right now, like, I just didn’t master the basics, and just like, job and practice and corners and practice, you know, different aspects of like the technical side of it to improve and I know exactly what I need to do. So I’m trying to work on there. And then if I need help figuring out how to get better after that, then I can, you know, get someone.

Chris 1:10:53

Yeah, and the better tech, the better your technique, the less energy you’re using. Right. I think Sam Hill is probably a good example of that his flow through a trail is so good that he’s using less energy I guess compared to a rider with less technique, or worse technique. Yeah,

Charlie Murray 1:11:10

I’d say he was incredible to watch he just stays perfectly still on the bike. So that’s like the goal. You can ride like him. But um, yeah, I think Yeah, with with better technique will come. Come the fitness and and the stamp cinema and composure. I guess it is, isn’t it? Yeah.

Chris 1:11:27

So what what are your goals for 2021 than a year sort of person that puts pretty concrete things down? Or is it just about progress? How do you look at it?

Charlie Murray 1:11:39

You have to be careful what I what I say to other people and what I have in my head. I guess if you say a goal, and it’s, then you kind of get a bit more committed to it, which is good, I guess. But yeah, and I have I always like sit pretty ambitious goals. And then if I fall short of it, then you know, that’s just how it is. But I’d rather do something that it’s gonna be really hard to achieve, and something that I can pretty confidently knock off.

But this year, like I’d really like to, I’d like to, I’d like to be in the top five and EWS would be awesome.

Yeah, it’d be nice if I get on a few podiums at the rounds and stuff. So that’s kind of the goal for EWS is want to focus on during the whole season of of enduro, and really see kind of what I’ve got, because I’m feel like, I’m just going into the stage where I’m at, you know, close to close to a good level for myself. Before now, I’ve kind of been like, definitely knowing that I could be better knowing that there’s so much room for improvement, whereas now I’m kind of like, feeling pretty decent on the bike. But there’s still lots of things I can tweak.

Chris 1:12:48

Yeah, nice one. Yeah. I’m looking forward to seeing that go to you, man. It’s should be a big season, all things, all things falling into place.

Charlie Murray 1:12:56

Yeah, no, I was looking like, a bit bigger than last season. So I think that’s awesome. Yeah, definitely exciting to watch and take part in these races. Nice.

Chris 1:13:08

And I am I spoke to Eddie to get a little bit of a little bit of insight. So he said, I should ask you who Chazz Mazz is

Charlie Murray 1:13:18

Oh, no, he really put me on the spot. Chazz Mazz, he’s raw. Yeah, he’s the guy who left the fire extinguisher and then the fraternity house. With the guy that comes out, he’s a close relative of mine. And after a few beers, he he comes out for a play. But not that much. Actually. I’m really like, at uni. We did heaps of partying. And I’ve kind of left it behind me a little bit. I’ll still have as a special occasion. I’ll still have a few drinks. But now like I don’t really enjoy being hung over and you don’t just do it for the sake of it. Like we used to at uni. So and trying to train and race and stuff. It definitely doesn’t help. So yeah, been pretty reserved for the last couple of years, that’s for sure.

Chris 1:14:09

But if you get on the podium, then we might see Chazz Mazz.

Charlie Murray 1:14:14

If I get on the podium then definitely, Yeah, you can. You can come and meet him.

Chris 1:14:20

And Eddie also said I should ask if you’ve got any good Bernard Kerr stories.

Charlie Murray 1:14:32

I’m trying to think that’s I’m trying to think what he wants me to share with you and when he doesn’t. I’m like, I’ve never met anyone like Bernard like, He’s our he was so good to me this year. He’s like, a lot of people like solid statement is a bit like arrogant or something. But he’s actually the most generous dude and he just helped me out. So much like taking me around, paying for all my food and accommodation and stuff and He’s just a really good night now.

Chris 1:15:01

Because you weren’t officially part of the Pivot squad where you they sort of took you under their wing, right?

Charlie Murray 1:15:07

Yeah, not at all. I think it is just like Aspen. And if I could like come on the enduro races, and then after that we had such a good time. They were all good for me to come along for the rest of the season. So I was like, Yeah, why not?

All the bird doesn’t like to a minute hearing. And so I invited myself. I wouldn’t have been there, you can guarantee it. Because if he, if he has something on his mind, who said, there’s no way he’ll hold it in, which is what I love about him. Like, he, he taught me so much about, like, how to how to kind of stand up for yourself and like, value yourself as a writer, because he’s, like, really good at that. And he won’t. Yeah, he won’t really negotiate. He’s just like, very firm with what he says, which works for him, because he’s, you know, quite a big deal. But even for me, like, coming up and learning how to actually know that I’m worth something to be. Yeah. As it has been been huge and learnt heaps from that

Chris 1:16:05

So has that been helpful in your dealings with teams getting ready for this season? Like to actually justify what your value is?

Charlie Murray 1:16:14

Definitely, yeah. Yeah. He kind of, yeah, he’s in one printers perspective, and was like, yeah, you know, you could ask for this. And if you’re on my team, I’d pay this. And he’s like, yeah, don’t let them walk over. You just tell them how it is. And you’re trying to do your job to help them. Like, you’re, you’re helping them and they’re helping you basically, it’s a two way thing. Don’t just think that you’re really lucky. And you’re just getting all this help, like, by luck. You’ve actually earned it and you are worth it. Because that’s the whole reason why you know why they’re employing you. Which is, yeah, I’m still figuring it out. Exactly. But I still feel so lucky to have the opportunity. So it’s kind of hard to look at it from two ways, but it definitely helps to get a second opinion.

Chris 1:16:59

Yeah, everyone loves right. And so much like most people, I guess, would say they do it for free. That’s the problem, isn’t it? It’s, it seems strange to be expecting to get paid for something that you love so much. But it’s it’s work, right?

Charlie Murray 1:17:13

Yeah, that’s exactly right. I think that’s a perfect point as, as so many people would, would just do it, because they love it. So that is that’s why people get confused with what they are worth. But then yeah, but you’ve got to think of it from the other way. Like, you know, if you’re risking risking everything hurtling down, like a down on track, and you know, you’re only getting paid as much as the Secretary. That’s just, you know, not not taking huge risk, then, you know, that wasn’t speaking of a little bit. Yeah,

Chris 1:17:46

sure. All right, well, we’re getting we’re getting close to the end of our time. So we’ve got our final four questions we’ll hit those up. The first of those if our listeners out 150 pounds, which is about 290 New Zealand dollars to improve their performance on a bike what would you recommend again, spend it on?

Charlie Murray 1:18:05

Bike parts are so expensive in New Zealand, so it’s really hard but

Chris 1:18:11

it doesn’t have to be bike parts necessarily. Anything that you think would help them get quicker or? Yeah, better on a bike.

Charlie Murray 1:18:20

Yeah, I’m trying to think of what if you only better at racing, then I think you need like a strong bike. So like you go for like, some decent rems or some decent tires and maybe a Cush core or something. Because that yeah, that’s like the that’s the biggest thing that I found as I was just you know, getting flat tires and buffing wheels and stuff and then as soon as you get a proper wheel tire set up, it makes all the difference and even for just riding like you get good compound tires, that’s that’s huge.

Chris 1:18:54

Even in Cush core, front and rear, or does it vary depending on the track?

Charlie Murray 1:19:00

It depends. I’ve what I’ve been doing. Last year, I was almost running front and rear the whole time. Okay, but just recently I’ve been trying just in the rear, and I think that’s pretty good. Like, I think I was maybe a little bit a little bit keen within the front as well. But like someone like Northstar, you might as well get in the front. Yes, I think this to do like, do a max if it’s like a pretty normal track. I’ll just have it in the rear. And if it’s super rough, then maybe put both in.

Chris 1:19:31

Yeah, fairplay. Alright, a second question. If you could rewind the clock back and sit down with yourself at age 16. What advice would you give him?

Charlie Murray 1:19:42

Well, I probably wouldn’t do structural engineering again.

Why not? Well, I had a lot of fun at Union law I’ve been I’ve enjoyed the job a little bit, but it’s definitely not. It’s not really me. It’s not. It’s not my personality, and it’s kind of not what I wanted. Do it for the rest of my life. So I would probably, yeah, I would say just have fun with a sports and just study what you’re interested in. Yeah.

Chris 1:20:11

Did you feel like you have to go and do some kind of study to lead towards a job rather than following the sports side of things? Like, was there a pressure there? And where does that come from?

Charlie Murray 1:20:21

I’m not really a tool, like maybe for myself, but like, my parents don’t care at all, like my brother, he just left school and then went skiing straight away and kind of for that skiing pathway, because that’s what he loves to do. Yeah, that’s what he wanted. And then I just lost my friends are going to uni. And I was just kind of just loved the idea of university. And that just, this is what I did. I just as well, when you’re when you’re leaving school, kind of 17 you got no idea what you actually want to do. Like, I just signed a paper and the next thing I know, I was showing up at uni, I was like, Alright, well, I guess I’m doing this. But I wouldn’t change that for anything. That was some of the best times I’ve had is University.

Chris 1:21:05

Yeah, play. Alright, third question. If you could have a coaching session from anyone past or present, who would it be? What would you want to learn from them?

Charlie Murray 1:21:19

I don’t know. I’d probably just keep pretty simple and just go with Bernard. Because I’m okay. He’s, yeah, I don’t know if many people know exactly like, what his writing is like, but he’s just got such good bike skills. Like, he’ll jump on anything with wheels and just pick it up straightaway. I mean, like, even like a jury never done the job before. And he was straightaway pretty decent and juror. And it’s just so comfortable in pockets. Like he’s just like he’s walking on the footpath. It’s that easy for him. Yeah. And I think that that’s pretty cool. Not to mention a stop is I’ve been trying to learn the burger stoppie. But it’s not quite as easy as well, it doesn’t look easy, but it’s definitely not easy. Yeah,

Chris 1:22:02

stoppie is hard enough anyway, but landing a jump into stoppie. I can’t get my head around that I’d be over the bars every time.

Charlie Murray 1:22:10

Yeah, there’s just a lot of front brake. But then you got to actually jump off the jump, like, tapping forward. So you’re already off balance. But yeah, this I’ve worked on it. I need it. I need to get in. Maybe this season. I’ll give him a few pointers for for the stoppies.

Chris 1:22:29

All right, final question. What do you do every day that you feel benefits?

Charlie Murray 1:22:40

Well, there’s two things probably. But I guess the main thing is like, I just go try and you know, go hard at everything. Like if I say if I’m going for a ride, like I’ll you know, I mean, even just be a real one. Like always, if I go for a run, I just can’t help myself from just going as hard as I can, like, at one point. Or in the gym like oh, yeah, we’ll go until I can’t go anymore. I don’t know what it is. But I just always go 100% you know, maybe not the whole ride. But like, at some point, I will just I think that benefits me because especially working like you know how much time to, to train and stuff. So when you are writing if you’re making it count. That’s what yeah, that’s what makes the difference.

Chris Hall 1:23:27

Yeah. All right. Fair Play. Well, it’s been, it’s been super interested in finding out a little bit more about you can’t believe quite how far you’ve come in such a short space of time. So yeah, I’m really excited to see how a pro deal goes. And yeah, how you get on over the next couple years, man, I’ll be watching for sure.

Charlie Murray 1:23:44

Awesome. Yeah, thanks for us. Yeah, Ican’t wait for the next couple years. It’s pretty exciting times ahead.

Chris 1:23:51

Definitely, if people want to follow you and keep up with what you’re up to, where’s the best place for them to head

Charlie Murray 1:23:58

just Instagram, like @murraycharles, on Instagram, or @chazzmazz if you want to meet the other guy, but he might not accept you. So you, you have to be a special friend if you want to get in there. Otherwise, I’m on YouTube, as well as Charles Murray, which isn’t that active. But now that I’m not working, I think I’ll try and put up a few few things on there. Okay, so yeah, that could be could be the next thing

Chris 1:24:25

Well, we’ll stick some links to those in the show notes so people can find them. And yeah, wish you all the best for the next couple of years and see how things go for you.

Charlie Murray 1:24:33

Awesome. Cheers.

6th in the World With a Day Job – Charlie Murray

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