Stone King Rally – The Future of Mountain Bike Adventure?

June 28, 2022

Ash Smith, is responsible for the world’s first point-to-point multi day enduro race, the Trans-Provence and now the Stone King Rally. With the first ever Stone King Rally starting today, we sat down to find out more. We discuss Ash’s background, the Trans-Provence and starting a brewery. As well as finding out all about the Stone King Rally. Way more than just an enduro race, Stone King offers us all the chance to sample some of the best mountain biking adventures on the planet, through a non-race format that is scalable, sustainable and will help to benefit everyone along the route. It’s a super interesting project and something that I’m certainly super keen to ride, and I hope you enjoy finding out all about it. So sit back, hit play and listen to this episode with Ash Smith.

You can find out all about the Stone King by heading over to stonekingrally.org, you can follow the race on Instagram @stonekingrally and Facebook @stonekingrally.

The book that Ash mentioned in the episode is ‘This Naked Mind’ by Annie Grace and is available here.

Supporting Partners

We Are One Composites

I’ve been using WeAreOne wheels for nearly 4 years now and I’m a massive fan. I’m currently running a Faction 29er up front and a Union 27.5 in the rear and I love them. I feel like they strike a lovely balance of being precise but not so stiff that they punish you for being a millimetre offline. The quality and finish of the product is also second to none.

As a downtime listener, you can get 15% off any Onyx Vesper wheelsets and all rim-only products from WeAreOne until 31st July 2022. All you need to do is to use the code ‘VESPER15’ at the checkout over on weareonecomposites.com.

Cycology

Cycology aren’t afraid to stand out from the crowd and have a wide range of incredible quality riding kit for you. A direct to consumer model means the quality is amazing for the price that you pay and what’s even better is that until 5th July you can get 20% off their entire range by using the code ‘DOWNTIME20‘ on the checkout over at cycologygear.co.uk. Head over and check out the range now. There’s a very clever online sizing app to help you choose the right size, free shipping for all orders over £25 and 90 day money back returns too, so you can order with no worries.

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz are the headline sponsor of the Stone King Rally which you can find out all about here. To check out everything Santa Cruz, just head over to santacruzbicyles.com.

Podcast Stuff

Downtime EP

Downtime EP issue 2 is now available at downtimepodcast.com/ep. EP takes inspiration from the guests and topics of the podcast. It expands on them, and takes them into a stunning print-only format. EP is the perfect companion for some quiet time away from the distractions of modern life. Beautiful to have and hold, and a timeless piece of mountain bike history.

Just head over to downtimepodcast.com/ep to save yourself £5 off of the cover price with an annual subscription for just £20 plus postage or you can purchase EP1, or EP2 on their own too.

Merch

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Photo – Sven Martin