Full Chat podcast: Paul Ainsworth on getting his big break and how Kick Start fuelled his love of motorbikes
Michelin star chef Paul Ainsworth is the first guest on a brand new motorcycling podcast, Full Chat, hosted by former Olympic sprinter Iwan Thomas and footballer-turned-presenter David Prutton.
Ainsworth is one of the UK’s most famous chefs, having got his big break working for Gary Rhodes after leaving college, before operating under world-renowned stars Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing.
The 45-year-old has been on television screens for over a decade having first competed on Great British Menu. He has gone on to be a regular on Saturday Kitchen and teamed up with Ramsay again for Next Level Chef on ITV.
Paul Ainsworth discusses how his dad got him into bikes
During the episode, Ainsworth recalled how, like many bikers, it was a member of his family that started his passion for all things two-wheeled. In his case it was his dad that kickstarted his love.
“My dad (got me into bikes). My dad all through his youth was a massive biker, he was a rocker,” he said.
“When I grew up there were always British bikes in the house. Went to all the shows, from steam rallies to bike shows and I loved it.
“When I was 10 years old my first ever motorbike was an Italjet and this basically wasn’t so much trials, but the idea was to get me into trials because I loved watching SuperChamps, which was more kind of bike racing, go-karts and buggies, and then another programme I loved watching was Kick Start.
“Kick Start I absolutely loved it, I could not wait for it to come on and watch it. So we started off with an Italjet and then we sold that and I got my first trials bike which was a Yamaha TY80. I joined a club, the Bishop’s Waltham trials club.
“You could either join the display team, which just wasn’t for me. I’ve always been a bit of a big lad, so if I was ever going to be in that display team, I’d probably have been riding the bike, I might not necessarily be at the top of the pyramid.
“It was always the same routine every Saturday, I finished school for the week, we’d pack up the car, the Escort estate, and trailer on the back.
“We’d go to this land in Bishop’s Waltham and I think at first a lot of the other dads would be like ‘I’m not sure your son’s down with this trial’ it was all about balancing, whereas I’d be ripping round the woods, trying to get the jumps. After a while I started to settle into it and entered some competitions.”
Plenty more episodes of Full Chat to come
Series one is off and running, but there’s plenty more to come from our brand new motorcycling podcast about everything on two wheels. Each week a celebrity guest will detail their history of bikes, along with some funny anecdotes.
You can listen to Full Chat on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or various other platforms if you want to see what all the fuss is about.
