Singletracks Mountain Bike News
- Autor: Vários
- Narrador: Vários
- Editora: Podcast
- Duração: 317:58:12
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Sinopse
Mountain bike news, trails, travels, and dirt.
Episódios
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After dominating U23, Riley Amos is ready for the Elites. Here's how he's preparing.
19/11/2024 Duração: 48minRiley Amos won overall Under 23 World Cup titles in both short track and cross-country this year and finished seventh in the Paris Olympics, the highest an American has ever placed in the event. He is a member of the Trek Factory Racing Team and lives and trains in Durango, Colorado. Going into the 2024 season did you expect to win the overall U23 titles in short track and cross-country? Do you plan to change your race training or strategy when you move up to Elite next year? How much do you focus on nutrition as a part of your training and racing? For the last World Cup XC race of the season you rode the Trek Top Fuel which is a FS bike with 120mm of travel front and rear. What made you choose the bike for that course? Were you running a dropper post? I read that you joined the Durango DEVO mountain bike program in second grade. Did you participate in any other sports? Do you think it's helpful for athletes to specialize in MTB from an early age? As a USA Cycling National Team member, have you
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Lennard Zinn makes the case for chain waxing (and 36-inch wheels, too)
01/10/2024 Duração: 01h14minLennard Zinn is a bike designer and frame builder based in Louisville, Colorado. His shop, Zinn Cycles, offers "a full line of semi-custom and off the shelf bikes for riders from very small to very tall and everyone in-between." He’s also the author of Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, one of the world’s best-selling guides to mountain bike repair. In this first-half of our podcast discussion, Zinn talks about drivetrain maintenance, focusing on chains and lubrication. Later in the show we talk about the benefits of big 32-, 36-inch, and 750d bike wheels and designing bikes for riders both tall and small. Understanding bike chain wear and elongation 0:00 Chain wear is caused by dirt and oil-based lubricant sticking to the chain, creating a grinding paste that wears down the rollers, bushings, and pins. Zinn describes how the chain's inner links are made. The chain's flexibility increases as the bushings and plates wear, affecting shifting performance. A chain's lateral stiffness is crucial
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Craig Calfee designed his carbon mountain bike to be N minus 1
17/09/2024 Duração: 44minCraig Calfee is an innovative bike builder and the founder of Calfee Design. Calfee was an early adopter of carbon fiber for bike frames in 1987, and brand's Tetra road bike is said to have been in production longer than any other carbon bike. You might also recognize his work with Bamboo bike frames, which he began in 1995. How did you get your start building bikes? What did people think about the carbon bike frame you debuted at Interbike in 1989? Were there concerns that carbon frames were untested? Are you still doing carbon frame production in the US? How does carbon frame repair work? Your mountain bike, the Cephal, utilizes a system called Quick Tune Steering. What's the idea behind this feature? The Cephal is a hardtail with "leaf spring chain stays." What are the benefits to having flexible chain stays? Were you surprised about your bamboo bike frame prototype? From a practical standpoint, is bamboo a good material for building bike frames? Why do you offer so ma
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A mobile mountain bike camp for grownups: Camp Carpe Diem
03/09/2024 Duração: 50minin bike excursions and craft beer tastings, among other activities. The couple has lived on the road in an RV since 2018, sampling trails and beer not just in the US but around the world. They also host a podcast called Craft Beer Travel & Adventure. Why did you decide to move into your recreational vehicle and hit the road full time? Is RV life different from Van life? Is it difficult to find community while living on the road? How did Camp Carpe Diem get its start? What is Camp Carpe Diem? What is the average age of a Camp Carpe Diem camper? Is there a minimum age? Are kids allowed? How do you choose the locations for your camps? Was it difficult to start mountain biking in your 40s? What are the mountain bike destinations that you keep going back to visit? Where are the best trails with a campground attached? How did you get your reputation as "the beer guys"? What are some non-alcoholic beers you can recommend? Learn more about Camp Carpe Diem or sign up for an event at
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How hip packs and frame bags are made, with Bullmoose Softgoods
20/08/2024 Duração: 42minWes Holland is the owner of Bullmoose Softgoods where he designs and produces one-of-a-kind bags for cycling and adventuring. Bullmoose is based in Summerville, Massachusetts and currently offers handlebar and frame bags plus hip packs and accessories. What came first for you: bikes or bags? What kind of riding do you like to do? What is the riding scene like in Boston? There are a lot of hip packs and handlebar bags out there, so why make your own? What types of materials are you working with? What's your shop setup like? Your hip packs aren't cheap, with prices starting at $130. What makes bags like this so expensive? What's the trickiest part about making a bag for biking? How long does it take to make a frame bag, for example? Have you had any failures when testing new designs? With accessory mounts becoming more common across all types of bikes, does this make fitting or attaching bags easier for you as a bag maker? What's in your hip pack? Do you have new products o
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MTB trail quality is "about to ramp up on the hockey stick"
23/07/2024 Duração: 01h03minGreg Mazu is the self-described "Chief Dreamer" behind Backslope Tools, a company that designs and sells tools for trail building and forest maintenance. He's also the founder of Singletrack Trails, a trail building company that recently finished its last project after 20 years in the business. When did you build your first trail? How did you get into professional trail building? What motivated you to start Tools for Trails, and later Backslope tools? Where are Backslope tools manufactured? If you could only have one tool to use for building a trail, what would it be? Some riders say they prefer natural trails to machine-built ones. Do you have a preference for riding machine- or hand-built trails? Can a machine-built trail be built to feel like a natural or hand-built trail, or vice versa? Singletrack trails was involved in some iconic projects over the years in places like 18 Road and Lunch Loops in Fruita, Black Mountain in North Carolina, Palisade Plunge in Colorado, and Handcut
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How do you set an FKT on Kokopelli's Trail? Stop trying to be perfect, says Hannah Otto.
16/07/2024 Duração: 55minHannah Otto recently became the fastest known woman to ride the 137-mile-long Kokopelli's trail from Moab, Utah to Loma, Colorado, besting the previous fastest known time by over an hour. In addition to racing gravel and mountain bikes, she's also a certified athletic trainer. How do you feel now that you can finally talk about your accomplishment? Were you worried someone else would make an FKT attempt between then and now? In October you made your first attempt, but it didn't work out. What happened. What did you do differently the second time around? What was your bike setup? What did you eat? How do you pace yourself for a ride like this? Do you think this FKT rules that should be updated or clarified to allow film crews as long as they don't offer any assistance? How much of a role does luck play in mountain bike racing, versus skill and fitness? Do individual time trials also make you a faster racer in more traditional events, or is this a specialized skill set? What
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Is carbon better than aluminum for MTB frames? It depends on how you use it!
09/07/2024 Duração: 01h01minChuck Teixeira is a Senior Advanced Concept Engineer at Specialized where he's been involved in countless projects from mountain to road, and from bikes to components. Prior to joining Specialized in 2011, Chuck spent 28 years at Easton-Bell where he was the director of R&D. How did you end up in the bike industry? How does the Smartweld tech used on the new Specialized Chisel mountain bike frame work, and what makes it different from traditional aluminum frame welding? Why haven't we seen this on more Specialized mountain bikes? Are mountain bikers still overlooking aluminum in favor of carbon frames? How did you and the Roval team come upon the anti pinch flat bead-wall design? When it comes to mountain bike rims, is there a clear winner when it comes to material choice, carbon vs. aluminum? What are some of your favorite mountain bike products or designs that you've been involved with over the years? How have you recovered from the Santa Cruz wildfire that claimed your house i
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The Case for High Pivot MTB Design, and How it Works
18/06/2024 Duração: 40minColin Ryan is a Senior Development Engineer at Norco and was involved in the design of the latest Norco Optic trail bike which features a high-pivot design. Prior to joining Norco he worked at General Kinetics testing and developing shock absorbers for military and construction equipment. At a basic level, what problem does a high pivot design solve? Is there a certain type of riding that benefits from having a high pivot? What are the drawbacks to the design? Does a high pivot design improve longevity for certain components? With less chain wrap on the crank, are dropped chains an issue with a high pivot setup? How does the placement of the idler pulley affect performance? What about the number of teeth on the idler cog? Did moving from a traditional setup to high-pivot change the ride feel of the Norco Optic significantly? The decision to use a high pivot on a short, 125mm travel bike is a controversial one. Why do you think that is? The latest Optic is said to be lighter than the previous v
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This Mental Health Counselor is Using Mountain Biking as Adventure Therapy
11/06/2024 Duração: 37minSara Hunter is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in the state of North Carolina and a PMBIA Level 1 Mountain Bike Instructor. Her practice includes individual and couples counseling services plus mountain bike therapy and counseling for athletes and outdoor instructors. She's also a Specialized USA Ambassador. What led you to get into counseling? Does everyone benefit from spending time outdoors, or do you think some of us are just wired that way? What is Adventure Therapy? What is the idea behind it? Is there such a thing as spending too much time outdoors? As someone who works to address conflicts between individuals, do you have any ideas about how people can share the trail? Sometimes I get frustrated on group rides when the rider in front of me gets in my way. Is there a way to re-frame this? Unsolicited advice — about how to ride, or fix a bike — generally comes from a good place of wanting to help, but is there a better approach? What are some ways I can be more support
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How to Fuel for Mountain Biking, According to a Registered Dietitian
04/06/2024 Duração: 45minAlex Larson is a registered dietitian and multi-sport athlete who helps endurance athletes optimize nutrition and performance. She's written multiple nutrition guides and offers customized nutrition coaching services to athletes around the world. Do athleticism and nutrition go hand in hand? Are athletes generally healthy eaters by nature? What is a "flexible eating style"? Are restrictive diets sometimes harmful? How does pre-race fueling work? Is nutrition drastically different for training vs. racing? Is it more challenging for athletes to maintain a healthy gut than non-athletes? What types of things can cause gut issues for athletes during a workout? Are there signs that nutrition is holding us back from fitness gains? What have you learned about nutrition from your own training? With summer approaching, should athletes adjust their diet based on the season? Does an individual's nutrition plan look different for different sports? Do you recommend an app for track
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How NICA is Changing Mountain Bike Culture
14/05/2024 Duração: 56minAmanda Carey is the President of NICA, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, a non-profit that develops mountain biking programs for student athletes across the United States. Prior to joining NICA, Amanda served as the executive director of Mountain Bike the Tetons and as a mountain bike coach. What drew you to mountain biking initially? What's kept you so engaged over the years? What do you think has kept mountain biking from growing more than it has over the past couple of decades? How is NICA impacting mountain bike participation? How can NICA teams attract new student athletes who don't have a family cycling background? Why choose mountain biking over another sport? How would you characterize the level of competition at NICA races? What is NICA doing to encourage trail building and maintenance? Is there a demand for a more gravity-oriented youth riding program? What advice do you have for parents of NICA athletes? What are the biggest opportunities for NICA over
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So, You Don't Have Time for MTB Training. Welcome to the Club
09/04/2024 Duração: 49minSara Bresnick is a former professional mountain biker, cycling coach and founder of Pedal Power Training Solutions which offers customized training plans plus advice on nutrition, race strategy, and technique. What are some fitness goals your clients have beyond racing? For example, does it make sense for a rider to work with a coach before a big weeklong mountain bike trip? Do older athletes need more time to recover between intense workouts? What happens if you miss a day, or two, in a training schedule? How quickly do fitness gains disappear? How does an "off season" work for bike athletes? Should you still be biking some, or is it possible to do other activities instead? Let's say I wanted to ride the Tour Divide in 2025, and my goal was to finish the ride in 45 days. Given a good level of base fitness, what's a realistic timeframe for training? In general, what would a training plan involve? What's the biggest challenge most people face when it comes to improving the
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Velosolutions and Claudio Caluori are Making Their Mark on the MTB World
02/04/2024 Duração: 40minClaudio Caluori is a seven-time Swiss National Champion and founder of Velosolutions, "a global network of professionals with profound knowledge in cycling, action sports, tourism and urban development." He's also a popular YouTube personality, delivering entertaining course previews and ride-alongs with top athletes. In addition to building pump tracks around the world, Velosolutions recently helped with construction of the XC race course for the 2024 Paris Olympics and is working on an ultra accurate timing app for pump track competition. How did you get into downhill mountain bike racing? How are you able to talk while riding fast in your Red Bull course preview and Bla Bla Run videos? Does talking mess you up sometimes? How is designing and building a race trail different from building a trail for the public? What's so great about pump tracks? Why do adult riders tend to avoid them? Tell us about Pump Tracks for Peace. Some riders seem to be against asphalt tracks. What'
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Love It or Hate It, Mountain Bikes Aren't As Lightweight as they Used to Be
26/03/2024 Duração: 46minIn this episode of the Singletracks podcast, Matt and Jeff discuss the current trends around mountain bike weights. Are bikes too heavy, or are they where they should be given how durable and capable they are today? This discussion covers: Examples of specific bikes and their weights Why bike weights might be increasing The benefits to lightweight -- and heavy -- mountain bikes Areas where mountain bikes might be able to cut weight This is Matt's last episode with the Singletracks podcast so to start the show we talk about some of his most memorable stories from the past 6 years. We'll miss you Matt! Where else can you choose from over 300 miles of epic singletrack against a backdrop of soaring mountains and cascading waterfalls? Where else can you explore 100,000 acres of public lands laced with hundreds of miles of backcountry gravel roads? Your best mountain biking adventure ever begins in Brevard, North Carolina, home to Pisgah National Forest and DuPont State Recreational Forest. Four p
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Coil Shocks Look Cool on Mountain Bikes. But is that All?
18/03/2024 Duração: 01h08minWill Hart is Product Marketing Manager at Cane Creek, a western North Carolina based maker of suspension and bike components. Besides looking cool, what are some advantages of a coil shock? Are certain styles of riding better suited to a coil shock than others? What makes some FS mountain bikes coil compatible, and others not? How does compression damping work on a coil shock? Is there any air involved? Tell us about the Cane Creek Tigon. What's the idea behind combining a coil with an air spring? How are progressive and linear coil springs different? How do you set sag on a coil shock? What about other settings? Are coil shocks as tunable as air shocks? What does tightening the pre-load on a coil shock do? How does bottom-out work on a coil shock? Is it difficult for lighter riders to find an appropriate spring? How does the weight of a coil shock compare to an air shock? Will a coil feel different over time as the metal fatigues? Are coil shocks lower maintenance than air shocks?
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From Shuttle Vehicles to DH Bikes, Southern Gravity is USA-Made
05/03/2024 Duração: 52minSean Leader is the founder of Windrock Bike Park and Southern Gravity, a Tennessee-based company that builds ramps and shuttle vehicles for bike parks. Not only that, Southern Gravity recently released a prototype steel DH mountain bike that's being tested by top elite and junior DH riders. You've worn many hats in the mountain bike world. When was the moment you realized you could make a living in the sport? How did Windrock Bike Park get started? What were some of the challenges you faced as a bike park operator? Why build your own DH bike? What are the advantages of a steel DH bike frame compared to other materials? Did the expiration of the DW-Link patent figure into your design plans? Tell us about the Southern Gravity Racing team. Who are the athletes on the team, and which races are you targeting? How would you describe the southern DH mountain bike scene today? How has it evolved? What do you say to folks who think the southeast doesn't have quality trails or challenging
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Your Mountain Bike Wheel Questions Answered, from Inserts to Warranties
20/02/2024 Duração: 51minJoel Smith is the Brand Leader for Reserve, a Santa Cruz, CA brand that designs and markets wheels for everything from downhill to road biking. Steel Wisdom-Wilhelmsson is engineering lab technician responsible for lab-conditions wheel testing. In this episode we ask: How are MTB wheels assembled? For high-end wheels, is most of it done by hand? How does rim construction contribute to ride feel? Is a shallower rim better than a deep rim for ride feel? What are the advantages of a high engagement freehub? Is there a number that most riders will find meets their needs or is more always better? Are wheel sizes and standards continuing to evolve? What about rim widths? Are today's carbon rims stronger and more durable than aluminum? How do the weights compare? What other advantages does carbon have over aluminum rims? How much stronger does a DH wheel need to be compared to a lightweight XC wheel? Front vs. rear? What is the most common mode of failure when it comes to mountain bike wheels? What
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Finding Flow with Flat Pedals - MTB Skills
06/02/2024 Duração: 01h07minCarol Baldwin is the founder of Flownetic MTB Skills and is a PMBIA Level 3 certified mountain bike skills instructor. She's also a Singletracks contributor and product tester. In this podcast we ask Carol: Have you alway mountain biked with flat pedals? Was it difficult to switch from clipless to flat pedals? Why? What are the advantages of flat pedals compared to clipless? What are the disadvantages of flats compared to clipless pedals? Are bigger and/or wider pedal platforms better? What's the right number of pins per side? What is your favorite shoe, or type of shoe for mountain biking? What is your favorite flat pedal? Are aluminum pedals better than composite? Are there certain types of rides that are better or worse for flat pedals? For people who have only used flats, is it worth giving clipless a try? Is riding on flats more fun? Learn more and connect with Carol at flowneticmtb.com. --Keep up with the latest in mountain biking at Singletracks.com and on Instagram @
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On Top of the World: How Gravity Logic Builds the Best Bike Parks
23/01/2024 Duração: 54minTom Prochazka is a co-founder and director at Gravity Logic, a bike park design and development company based in Whistler, British Columbia. He served as the manager of the Whistler Bike Park from 2001 to 2007 and designed the iconic Top of the World Trail which opened in 2011. Since then he's worked on bike parks all over the world from the western US to Europe and South America. In this podcast interview we ask Tom: How did you get involved in mountain bike trail building? What do you think makes Whistler such a special place? What drove the huge increase in Whistler visits between 2001 and 2007? How did Gravity Logic get its start? Tell us how the Top of the World Trail came together. How is it different from the other trails in the bike park? What's your definition for the term "bike park"? Are for-profit park operators able to get a decent return on investment on a bike-only, ground-up build? How much work is involved in keeping bike trails running during the season?