What’s new in the
life of Shane Leslie? 2017 treating you
well, yeah?
Nothing too crazy, I’ve just been enjoying some down time
and college life. 2017 was a crazy year for me.
I raced both the full World Cup circuit as well as the National circuit.
It was awesome getting to travel the world with all my best friends racing my
bike every weekend. I had a lot of ups
and downs but looking back on it, it was a pretty unreal year regardless of
results.
What’s it like living
in Northern Arizona next to some of the best trails Arizona has to offer?
I love being in Northern Arizona, Flagstaff is home to me
and I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now. I’m originally from Michigan and didn’t move
here until I started school. I never
really had riding out my back door in Michigan and now it’s just unlimited for
me. All of my friends and I can get out
of class and go ride moto, ski and obviously ride bikes basically every day. The
trails here in Flagstaff are unreal too, they’re very chunky, technical trails
so they prepare me pretty well for the World Cup tracks.
During your
off-season, do you spend more time training in the gym or on the bike?
It kind of just depends on the week for me, sometimes I’ll
be in the gym almost everyday and other times we’re riding bikes every day. Normally
in January and February I spend a bit more time in the gym just because we’re
getting snow, but once March rolls around I’m constantly on my bike.
Going to Pan-American Championships down in Colombia must have been quite the adventure. How did that go?
Yeah for sure. Going down to South America is always pretty crazy, everything seems so hectic and high pace. This year on the way to the track we had a few hour bus shuttle once we flew into Bogota. On the way there our bus driver had the thing tapped and it felt like we were going 100 the whole way. When the traffic got a bit heavy we had a couple taxi drivers side scrape the bus going about 80 right in front of some police officers, and it didn’t affect anyone and everything just carried on without anyone stopping. The whole American team was freaking out! Hah. The track this year though was unreal and the people are always so inviting. It was a rad experience and a got to ride some unreal trails and drink some amazing coffee!
You also had a pretty
busy summer going back and forth between World Cups and National Rounds and
were able to get some solid results.
Yeah that was pretty crazy for me. Honestly it probably
wasn’t the best idea. I started to get a
bit fatigued at the end of the season and just needed some time at home to rest
up. All of my best results I had were
after there was a little break. I got to spend a week home in Arizona before
flying out for Andorra and then I was able to get a 32nd there. But whenever I did 8 weeks on the road going
back and forth from Nationals to World Cups, my results started to fall a bit
at the end of the trips. It was for sure
a good learning year though and I know what to focus on now for next season.
Lastly, being a
business student at Northern Arizona University, how do you balance between
life as a full-time student and as an athlete outside of school?
That’s for sure a tough one, I probably focus a little too
much on racing and not enough on school. Haha, which my Mom for sure wouldn’t
agree with. Even at this very moment I’m
answering these interview questions instead of studying for my Finance
exam. But I’m able to make it through
with the help from my professors and some long nights. I think being a
Marketing major is a good fit for a racer though. Racing has helped me more
than school ever could in learning about relationships with people and how
companies work together. I get to work
with marketing people through all my sponsors and get an inside look at what
they’re doing for their brand and how they are trying to make it bigger. So when
I’m in my classes talking about trying to market a product or having a good
brand image, I already feel like I know so much about the topic just by working
with my sponsors.
Thanks Shane! Congrats
on a rad season and stoked to see you continue to kill it! Any last words before you take off?
Thanks a ton! Yeah just want to thank my parents for always
sticking behind me through all of my racing, and all of the people who have
helped me along the way getting to this point.
My team manger Joey Palmer has been a huge help for me this season, and
always getting me squared away when needed.
And of course a huge thanks to all my sponsors- Defiant Racing, Intense
Cycles, Industry Nine, Monster Army, Deity Components, Maxxis tires, 100%, Fox
suspension, Five ten, Crankbrothers, Geiger coaching and Absolute bikes.