Podcasts about Bike Magazine

Today, we're joined by Duran Morley, an action sports enthusiast who has built a thriving business centered around adventure living. Duran is the founder and CEO of VanSpeed, a company that converts sprinter vans into recreational vehicles for adventure-seeking customers. College wasn't the right path for Duran, and he found that he learned best by doing. At just 17 years old, he opened the Van Mart, an e-commerce store selling van accessories. That venture has since snowballed into a full-scale, eight-figure annual revenue sprinter van conversion business, customizing vehicles not only for recreational use but also for mobile business opportunities. And he's only 24.Duran has taken the outdated 1980s RV design and transformed it into something modern, efficient and visually appealing. As an avid surfer, motorcyclist and camper van traveler, duran is the end user of his own products. His work has been featured in American Iron Magazine, hot Bike Magazine, roadkill Magazine and Hot Rod Magazine.Subscribe on Apple Podcast , Spotify or other major streaming platforms.Let's connect!Subscribe to my newsletter: Time To Live: Thriving in Business and BeyondWebsite: https://www.annemcginty.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annemcgintyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/annemcgintyhost

In 2014 Bike Magazine's Hugo Wilson and John Westlake formed two thirds of a three-rider team that rode a V-Strom 1000 from their offices in Peterborough, in the UK, back to the factory it was assembled at in Hamamatsu, Japan. Chris Moss talks to the pair about the journey, the boozy planning session, losing luggage, and imposter syndrome when being met by the welcome party at the factory.

Derek Taylor once held the most important job in ski media at a time when magazines dominated the media landscape. Derek was Editor in Chief of Powder Magazine, but before that, he was a “ski bum” in Crested Butte right about when Seth Morrison and the US Extremes came to town. In the early days, DT made ends meet by freelance writing for outfits like ESPN The Magazine, The Ski Journal, Freeskier, Outside, Bike Magazine, and more. Then he landed the dream job at Powder. On the podcast, we talk about his journey from college soccer player to dirtbag skier, the early days of Crested Butte, and the rise and fall of Powder Magazine. The Buena Vista Surf Club asks Inappropriate Questions. Derek Taylor Show Notes: 3:00:  Rugby, The Hartford Whalers, soccer, and skiing; growing up  10:00:  High School, college soccer, leaving and going to Crested Butte and what the town is like 15:00:  Ski v Snowboard rivalry, and all the players of Crested Butte 20:00:  Rollerblade: They invented inline skating and make the best skates on the planet. Best Day Brewing:  All of the flavor of your favorite IPA or Kolsch, without the alcohol, the calories and sugar. Elan Skis:  Over 75 years of innovation that makes you better. 23:00:  Covering the US Extremes for the school paper, ski bumming, is Vail the enemy article, and landing an internship at Bike 32:00:  Moving to CA and working for free, making a difference at Bike as an intern, going back to Crested Butte, learning how to freelance through friends, X-Games, and leaving CB 41:00:  High Cascade Snowboard Camp: The legendary snowboard camp Stanley:  Get 30% off site wide with the code drinkfast Peter Glenn Ski and Sports:  Over 60 years of getting you out there.  43:00:  Getting hired by Powder, Powder Magazine readership, where they make their money, what is lifelike writing at the mag 49:00:  Pressure at the magazine, favorites, his writing, passed over and eventually landing the Editor in Chief role, and his vision with Powder 56:00:  Crazy expense reports, writing the letter from the editor, managing Powder in the changing landscape of media, and money 63:00:  Changes when getting bought, fighting for his team, what happened to Powder, and giving up work to become a stay-at-home dad   75:00:  Inappropriate Questions with The Buena Vista Surf Club  

Hey listeners! Are you a bike enthusiast always looking for better products to improve your riding experience? Then you don't want to miss this latest episode featuring Pius Kobler, founder of milKit. Pius Kobler's passion for cycling started during his childhood in Switzerland where he grew up riding bikes and joining his family on biking holidays. He studied mechanical engineering at university in Zurich, and his love for biking took him on various long-distance rides and expeditions, including one from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.  Pius worked for a design bureau that provided product development and design services for companies in the bike industry, such as Scott and BMC. Then, during a bike trip across the US, he got a flat tire in Colorado due to the dried-out tubular tires caused by the heat. This incident inspired him to create milKit, a company that offers a tire sealant solution that allows cyclists to check the amount and quality of the sealant inside their tires. The importance of maintaining the sealant in tubeless bikes is emphasized; still, many bike owners neglect to check their sealant levels regularly. Pius came up with a valve system with a rubber foot that allows the air pressure to remain in the tire when checking the sealant levels. The technology allows for easy maintenance of tubeless bikes and prevents sealant from spilling out. But it doesn't end there! Pius also created the GTA Booster, a portable aluminum drinking bottle that helps push the tire bead out to the side and secure it in place. The booster delivers more air in one second than a compressor and is efficient in changing and installing new tires. But that's not all; milKit's product line now includes additional consumables like rim tape and sealant that have unique features making them an essential tool for all bike enthusiasts. The company has also released a multi-tool with storage compartments for the plugs and other functions like a chain breaker. The latest trend in bike segments is having quick and easily accessible solutions, and Milk Kit has developed a solution in a compact way. The kit is super light and can be strapped to the bike or screwed to the frame.  Craig Dalton had a pleasure talking to Pius Kobler, who designed milKit systems with thought behind them. Don't miss this exciting episode - tune in now to hear all about Pius Kobler and his innovative products! Visit milKit online Episode Sponsor: Hammerhead Karoo 2 (use code: thegravelride) Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the show. We welcome Swiss-based founder and rider PS cobbler to the show to talk about his company. Milk it. And the system they've developed. Around tubeless tires and a brand new product that they've created. To support that system in the form of a multi-tool. I happened to meet PS on the trail, on a group ride. I went on. Last week as he was in town for seawater classic. And we got to chatting about his entrepreneurial journey and his rider first perspective of design. And I thought it'd be great to have him on the show. And I was fortunate to grab him on a Friday night over in Switzerland. To talk more about the company and the company's journey and some of the products I know you'll get value out of being aware of. I encourage you to check out some of the links on the show notes as some of the nuances of the product design, maybe best seen in a video. If you're watching the video of the podcast, you'll see PS reference and hold some of his products in his hands. As part of the conversation, but detailed videos are available on the website, which is over at milk it's dot bike. Before we jump in, I do need to thank this. Week's sponsor hammerhead, hammerhead, and the crew to computer have been longtime sponsors of the show. As you know, The crew too, is the most advanced GPS cycling computer available today with industry leading mapping navigation, routing capabilities that set it apart from other GPS options out on the market. Over the course of my conversation with PS, we talk a lot about rider oriented design hammerhead, and the team over a crew to definitely take that perspective. And they're constantly. Updating their products with bi-weekly software updates. There's nothing cooler to me on the hammerhead crew to then. Getting that notification. That a software updates available because I know they're adding things. That are going to be of interest to me. Whether it's today or down the line. One of the biggest updates I received that I love is the climber feature, which has predictive path technology. Which basically shows you what's ahead of you on a climb. While that may not necessarily be important on your daily routes for me when I'm doing an event or I've borrowed a route from someone that I've never done before. I'd love. Knowing is this a short, punchy climb ahead of me? Or do I really need to settle in for a longer climb? For a limited time offer our listeners can get a free heart rate monitor with the purchase of our hammerhead crew to simply visit hammerhead.io right now, and use the promo code, the gravel ride. At checkout to get yours today, this is an exclusive limited time offer. So don't forget to use the promo code. The gravel ride. Simply add that heart rate monitor, strap to your purchase cart. When you're checking out on the e-commerce system. At hammerhead.io, use the promo code. The gravel ride and that heart rate monitor will be yours for free. With that said let's jump right into my conversation with ps cobbler PS welcome to the show. [00:03:39] Pius Kobler: Thank you. [00:03:40] Craig Dalton: You have the honor of being our first Swiss guest, [00:03:43] Pius Kobler: Oh, I'm very honored. Yeah. [00:03:46] Craig Dalton: and how cool was it that we got to ride together [00:03:48] Pius Kobler: how cool [00:03:49] Craig Dalton: prior to recording? [00:03:50] Pius Kobler: other like three days later across an ocean? Yeah. [00:03:54] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I love it. You know, I'd, I, as I mentioned to you on that ride, I'd been familiar with the, the Milk IT brand and some of the products specific to the, the Tire Sealant solution, um, for a number of years. But I'm, I'm curious to kind of just step back and learn a little bit about. More about you and then the formation of the company. Cuz as the listener of this podcast knows, like, I'm super keen on the entrepreneurial ideas and, and journey as an entrepreneur myself. So let's start off by kind of where you grew up and how you discovered the bike. And then we'll get into how you decided to form this company. [00:04:28] Pius Kobler: Yeah. Yeah. I grew up in Switzerland and I was always a cyclist, like I cycled to school. What's that? Um, 12 miles every day. Two ways. So, so when I was 14 or so, so yeah. And then with my family, we always went on bike trips in holidays. I, I, I literally grew up on bikes more or less. But then man, biking came quite late. I, I, I started Mecca Mechanical Engineering at, um, et h Zurich here. And after studying, I. Um, took my recumbent and rode it from Alaska to Te del Fugo for one and a half years. So I've been cycling a bit. [00:05:09] Craig Dalton: You spent some time on a bike. I see. [00:05:11] Pius Kobler: Yeah, I was, I was in in the Bay Area earlier already passing through. Yeah. And, [00:05:19] Craig Dalton: That's interesting. You know it's funny when you even mentioned the word recumbent as a style of bicycle. That's in my mind, that's such an engineering type vehicle. Why did you choose to tour on that? [00:05:30] Pius Kobler: the perfect nerd in personification, uh, that you can have sometimes as in the US it was most fun. We were getting off recumbent and people go, oh, but you are not handicapped. Why would you, why are you riding one of these? [00:05:47] Craig Dalton: Yeah. And, and not, not, and not to derail the conversation too much, but is, is it from an engineering perspective, is riding a recumbent sort of mechanically or aero aerodynamically better for long distances than other style bikes [00:06:02] Pius Kobler: There is no, no doubt. No. [00:06:05] Craig Dalton: Really? [00:06:05] Pius Kobler: so much for long distances. There is no discussion actually, but nobody knows and, and everybody thinks that they can't be good because then more people will be doing it. You, you don't have any. Pain in your wrists, neck, uh, butt. Wherever you, you have a relaxed sitting position. You have a third less wind drag. You have several of these advantages. You have a lower, um, center of gravity. You have a much better curve stability. You have a longer wheel base, more stability. But then the main, the main factor for me is, You are, you have a completely different way of sitting on the bike. It's not, you're not sitting like this and staring on the road in front of you. You're sitting like this open, you like, like on a couch riding through the countryside. You know, it's for traveling by far the best. But I would never use it in a city or so, like daily life. I don't have one. You know, I, I sold it after I traveled. [00:07:03] Craig Dalton: That's so interesting yet. So off topic for this podcast. [00:07:07] Pius Kobler: Yeah, this was the perfectly wrong start for this, for this episode. [00:07:11] Craig Dalton: Right. And then, you know, I feel like now there's this, uh, potential that a listener isn't imagining you being some nerdy bike nerd on a recumbent yet. My interaction with you was on a mountain bike where you tackled every complicated shoot that we came in front of on Mount [00:07:30] Pius Kobler: rich in Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. [00:07:34] Craig Dalton: Great. Okay, so we, we've, we've established engineering degree. We've established you spent a lot of time on a bike. This is a big leap, leap before, you know, between getting an engineering degree and obviously looking at bicycles from a mechanical engineering perspective, and then starting a company. What was the journey like to that point? [00:07:55] Pius Kobler: Yeah, basically when I came back, I, I haven't, I haven't done kind of performance cycling. It was always holiday or, or work or whatever, traveling. But when I came back, I was in, in okay shape, let's say, and a body of mine was in man biking. So I joined him for some longer rides. And that's how I got into man biking only after I did that trip. And, um, Basically I, I started working, that's the coincidence that led to things. I started working in a, in a company that, it's a design bureau, you could say it's a, they, they do product development and design as a service for large companies. We, you could say we were professional inventors, uh, uh, and we were, we were developing products. For many companies in the bike industry as well. Like we were working for Scott for B m c, for, for these brands here in Switzerland among others. And we were, um, a group of bikers in that company. So one thing led to another and, and what made the. The, the deciding point for for to go into tubeless was basically a, a bit later, after that long trip, I, I had the chance to take an unpaid leave for eight weeks and. Go to the us, buy a van and drive it from one I M b A epic ride to the other for eight weeks, which was amazing. I might have ridden more trails in the US than most Americans, you could say. Here. [00:09:31] Craig Dalton: I bet you have. [00:09:32] Pius Kobler: Yeah. No, that that was really, really good. But the not so smart part about it is W we were going to Colorado and Utah in July, which is not the right moment. It's like 120 degrees or so over there. So we was a bit warmer that than we were used to. And. We ended up with a flat because our tubeless tires were completely dried out because it was so warm. And so I, I'm in the middle of nowhere, somewhere on the continental divide in Colorado with that dried out tire, putting a tube in what everybody hates when you write tubeless, you know, to take the whole thing apart and put the tube in. And that's when I, when I, when I. Started thinking, you know, I had few weeks more to go and which means a lot of time to think and, and I said, wait, if I'm me as a bike freak and, and, and tech developer, like, if I have this problem of, of not being able to maintain my steel and I should other people do it, you know, [00:10:37] Craig Dalton: And when you thought about that problem, p was it, it was, if I'm articulating this correctly, the problem was you just weren't aware of the level of sealant that was remaining in the tire. [00:10:49] Pius Kobler: I had no idea. I had no idea that it was just drying up faster because it was a bit warmer, you know? [00:10:56] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I and I, and I encourage, like everyone listening right now, think about your bike, think about the sealant, and think if you have any idea whether there's enough sealant in there or not. I can guarantee looking around my garage right now, I would say 80% of the bikes I have. They have to be bone dry. It's like without a question, but I don't know. And I'm a bit lazy to find out, right? Like, it's like if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But to your point, you get out there and you have the situation where sealant is a godsend, right? It steals that hole and it's not there. That's that. That's a problem. [00:11:35] Pius Kobler: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's basically we say if you split up bikers into people that ride tubeless and don't, then the ones who are ride tubeless, you can basically split them up into the ones who know that you have to maintain it and the ones who don't know and find it out a bit later. And then the ones who know how to maintain. They have to maintain it. Um, a good part of those things. Yeah. I'm always feeling a bit sealed in and it's fine, but the not, not so big part know that they should look at what, in what's inside. Like they should check the old sealant or get it out before they push in the new ones or you have a, a really good working sealant in there and, and yeah, [00:12:19] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So you, you sort of recognize, you recognize this problem, which when you articulated is pretty obvious, I think, to us. All right, we, no one wants to look inside their tires. What's the solution? How do you go about solving that problem? [00:12:33] Pius Kobler: Yeah, that, that was, uh, as, as often in product development. It, it was a step by step process where, where first we had the idea we need to drill a second hole into the rim to somehow look in there and then, Refill through the valve, and then eventually we, no, we are not gonna have a second hole. We have to make it through the hole that's already there. So eventually we were going through the valve, but then we still had a, because the, the first thing you think about is a dipstick. You know, you need to, to go in and check the sealant, and then you fill and then, By coincidence, like by using it, by having prototypes realized weight. And, and maybe at this point I should explain the, the whole valve. Basically what we do is we have a normal tubeless valve, uh, that you install into the rim like any tubeless valve. But at the, at the bottom, the. At the bottom of the rubber foot, the, the, the rubber is closed and it's slid into, into rubber flaps. So when you unscrew the valve core, the, the air stays in the tire because these rubber flaps at the bottom are closed. And now we have, uh, we have a syringe, kind of a syringe and needle with a, with a flexible extension. And, and the sealant regulator that you connect together. [00:13:53] Craig Dalton: Let's take a pause for one second PS and just so the listener understands. So if you can imagine that your normal valve core for tubeless, you've got a, a, a, a section that is inside the rim and obviously the section you see outside the rim and what you've described and shown to people who are on the video, you've got sort of on that inside piece, a rubber gasket that its natural state is to be closed. So if you're not pushing air or something else through it, Nothing's coming back through it. No air's coming back through it, et cetera. And then you've, [00:14:26] Pius Kobler: the ketchup bottles, you know, you have to ketchup bottles that have these, these, these flaps on the top. That's a, that's the function. More or less we have, [00:14:34] Craig Dalton: I love it. I love it. Take taking a, a commonplace design concept and putting it in something technical on the bike. So then you just, you just had picked up the syringe and you knows some people are used to using just sort of their bottle of sealant and pouring it directly into the tire. Some years ago, I started adopting the syringe for more precise measurement and the ability to insert through the valve core. It's possible in a standard valve cord to do that, but it's kind of difficult in, in a number of ways, which I think you'll get into in describing the value of having that seal on the inside of the valve and how that interacts with the sort of plunger, if you will. I don't know if that's gonna be the right term that's attached to the syringe. [00:15:22] Pius Kobler: yeah. Like the wording is we, we, the, the part inside the, the inside the tire. Inside the rim, we call it the rubber foot. And then you have the, the, the aluminum part, uh, that you screw onto the rim, that's the valve stem. And then you have the valve cord that goes into the valve stem. And we removed the valve core. And the air is still the, the, the, the. The tire remains pressurized because the rubber flaps are closed. And now the trick is that with this needle here that we have connected to the syringe, you can push through the rubber flaps into the tire with the air pressure still being in the tire. That's the, the core of our technology because now you with the needle, you go to the bottom of the tire, the sealant has accumulated at the bottom of the tire, and, and now basically all you have to do is you open the sealant to regulator. And the, the, the air pressure in the tire is pushing the sealant into your syringe. You don't even have to suck it out. It's, it's pushing out, it's, it's automatically flowing into your syringe [00:16:24] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that was a point you had made to me on the trail the other day, which was the aha moment for me. Cuz when you first described the mechanism, I was like, oh, that's great. You know, you. You push the syringe kind of legs into that, the bottom of your tire, and you can touch the sealant. But that nuance there that since you've left the air in the tire, you have air pressure, which you can then draw out the, the sealant into the tube with the air pressure pushing it effectively into the syringe, and you can see the exact measurement of what remains in the tire at that point. [00:17:01] Pius Kobler: And the main reason, back in the days when we invented this, the main reason why it was important to to, to have the pressure remain in the tire is when you release the air from the, uh, from the tire back then the tire would fall back into your rim, you know, and then you would have trouble inflating it again. Nowadays, this is becoming better because you have these rims where the, the tire stays outside when you deflated, but it's still. A cool feature to not breaking the bead, to not, um, losing any sealant and not having some, some sealant getting out on, on the side and it, and it's just, Literally more fun doing a tubeless maintenance. If you go in, it comes out automatically and you just push it back. So once you've extracted that sealant, you see how much was left, you might realize, oh, that wasn't, that wasn't much left and. This, this looks bad. I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw this off. So you disconnect the syringe, you throw it out, or you just top it up with new one. And then what you do is you push against the tire pressure. You push the ceiling back into the tire with with your syringe, and that was the original idea. To, to be able to measure and refill the sealant in a minute or two without, without a drop spilled, you know, and that's, that's literally our claim. You can install a tubeless tire and maintain it without ever seeing a drop of sealant. [00:18:27] Craig Dalton: And that, that to me is a godsend. When I sort of think about my process for updating tires and sealants and whatnot, like I think I, in my mind it's so laborious that I don't even wanna do it. And that's exactly the bad. It's exactly a bad approach, cuz that's why 80% of my tires are bone dry right now. [00:18:47] Pius Kobler: Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's the, the challenge. That's our chance. We, we, we, what we do, and it's our challenge. At the same time, you know, we, we, we really solve something that hassle that people have, but still, we have so many customers that we. Don't get to sell our product because they, they haven't started looking into it yet, even, you know. [00:19:11] Craig Dalton: Yeah. There's definitely like a journey that I went on, which was like, first I had a good friend who would help me every time I needed to. Change or put sealant in the tire and he would handle it. Then I got some of the tools myself, particularly an inflater, like a booster to help seal the tire. But still to this day, like the, the, the maintenance of it is beyond me. And I, I am super keen to get these installed on my bike just so I can be more diligent about checking the sealant, particularly when I go off to events and it's been. You know, three, four months between checking and I'm concerned, do I have any sealant in there in a day, or, you know, a big mountain adventure that really counts. I wanna know and be confident that I have the sealant I need. [00:19:56] Pius Kobler: It's actually interesting you saying that because that's my answer. When people ask us how often do I have to re have, do I have to check my sealant? And my answer is that I can't give you a number. No way. Uh, I can give you a time span because the guy riding in Mexico summer or in let's say Utah in summer, riding every day having his bike in a, in a shed, in, in, in the heat, that guy and the other guy in Montana riding a maybe. Double ply downhill tire or, or something every second week. That's com two completely different cases. The one has to, to measure four times more often than the other. And, and, and what we say is exactly what you just said. Measure your sealant before an important race, before, uh, uh, a weakened with your bodies because before you go to the holidays, Just do the check quickly and you have to peace of mind. My tubal system's gonna be perfect for that occasion and be because you do that, you'll, you'll eventually realize, oh, my, my system with that setup every three, four months is fine. And, and another will see, oh shit, I have to do this every second month. [00:21:09] Craig Dalton: Yeah, yeah. Interesting. So as you guys have designed the product and brought it to manufacturing, where, where did you end up manufacturing this product? [00:21:17] Pius Kobler: that's, that's, uh, that's, uh, one of these startup stories. You know, we, we, we literally started in the south of Switzerland to the Italian border where you get. Italian manufacturing pricing and, and, and across the border some, some legal, um, opportunities. Like it was just easier due to be in Switzerland. And, um, that worked well from the, let's say, from the quality perspective, but then, uh, logistics and organization were. Um, how to not be unpolite, um, to towards Italians. Uh, it wasn't optimal. And then we did, we did some risk diversification where we went to the, the future of, uh, cycling industry in, in Europe, which is Portugal, which. Might be true, but only if you really know what you're doing when you're sourcing a manufacturing partner, which we didn't entirely know back then. So we ran into into quality problems, which actually led to one of the. Darkest hours of our startup. We, I, I'm gonna come to the booster, to our, our inflater. We, we had a recall on that product just after releasing it because of some quality problems in production. Uh, you can imagine how, how, how that feels when you release your second product as a startup and, and, and you're gonna recall it from, from everywhere. So, so that led us to. Basically learn the lesson and, and say when you are, when you are an early stage startup, it's so much more important that you, that it works, that you have a production that works. The price, the 20% more cost for your product doesn't matter in the beginning. And we went to Germany and, and we, and we are still in Germany because having a reliable system, having, having. Production that you, you can just rely on is up, up till, till. Today's super important and, and we, we, we are now stretching out towards other regions because the, the, the numbers are getting higher, but for a long time you can, you better go for reliable than for, for cheap. That's [00:23:40] Craig Dalton: Yeah, for sure, for sure. And um, I can definitely commiserate with that hardware development and production journey that you just described. Just so everyone understands, when was the company first founded? What year? [00:23:54] Pius Kobler: Um, basically that trip to the US was in 13, summer 13. Then, The original idea was to, that job that I had at that at product developing company was really cool. So, so I was, I was perfectly happy there. And, and the idea was to develop the whole system and sell it on an on, in an online store besides working there, which sounds a bit naive now looking back, but, but that was the original plan. And step by step we realized, no, no, no, you, you have to do this. Properly or, or there is no chance. And so in summer 14, I quit my job there and started bootstrapping. We, we, we, in Switzerland, you have, um, let's say not so optimal investment, um, environment like, like in, in, especially in the Bay Area and in the US in general. But what's very good is the, the start of support ecosystem. Like you, you have many coaching programs and, and. Prizes and, and we were lucky enough to win some, some startup prizes, uh, because the story was good. And, and, and, and I had a, a co-founder who already had started a startup before and I was this e t h engineer bike guy. So that, that was a good mix. And, um, that, that's basically how we started bootstrapping. And then in 2015 we started the company and did, uh, raised a, a financing round to, to get production started and everything that there was, there was capital needed for that. [00:25:26] Craig Dalton: It's such a hard business. Any, any business that involves inventory, there's just so much additional risk beyond your own personal sacrifice and time to get the business up and running. [00:25:38] Pius Kobler: And that's where you're, you're, you're from the very beginning in Mm, how to say you're, you're not perfectly independent from the very beginning because you already have your shareholders that you, that you have to justify always what you're doing, you know? So the pressure is on from the first minute kind of, [00:25:58] Craig Dalton: yeah, for sure. So we went through sort of the valve system and then you had just mentioned the, the booster. And I think the booster actually is where I first came, encountered, encountered the brand. So can you describe the, what the functionality of a booster is? What does it, what does it do for a rider? Cuz I, I imagine many people don't have that type of product. [00:26:17] Pius Kobler: Yeah, maybe let me just quickly finish, uh, the, the valve system there, the, the original idea was to do that measuring and the refilling, which, which is still the, one of the major usps. But then that's a also a nice story. I, one day I was, I was installing a tire. I, you removed the valve core because you need a good airflow. I inflated the tire and literally I was. The air wasn't coming out because I, I was holding my, usually you hold your finger on the valve stem and then you really quickly, you screw your, your valve core back, you know? And I was, I wanted to do that and then realized, The air isn't coming out. That's how we, we, we basically invented or realized our second big U s P is the air stays inside. You have like a one-way valve with these rubber flaps, so well, it changes the whole installation of a tubeless tire where whereas normally you, nowadays you fill in the ceiling into the tire, then you push the tire on the, onto your rim, then you inflate it and while popping it, some, some seal this. Spilling over. You know, that's the messy part. When you're inflating a tire with our valves, you, you take the valve core out, you have the full airflow and the tire. They do that without sealant in the tire. So you have a dry installing of the tire and once it sits well, Then you take the syringe and add the sealant into the already installed tire. So that's, that's the, the, the no drops build part is, is, is with installation also, because you do that new sequence of installing. And then the third big advantage is the rubber flaps are closed at the bottom. That means no sealant gets to the valve core, which means you don't have the, the clock valve cores anymore. The, the, you can release the air reliably, you know, [00:28:05] Craig Dalton: Yeah. That's my other embarrassing situation on one of my wheels right now. I can literally remove the valve core. And no air will come out. I've got a, I've got a, I've got a jam, a very tiny Alan wrench, Alan Key in there to, uh, pop it open, and even then it just trickles out. [00:28:22] Pius Kobler: Yeah. So that, that's basically the three to three major USPS of the valve system. That That, yeah. Summarizes [00:28:30] Craig Dalton: There's a, there's a ton of nuance in this and I definitely encourage people to go to your website cuz you've got detailed videos on how it plays out, but is very thoughtfully designed. And those small benefits add up to what we were talking before. It just means you're going to address your sealant more frequently. You're not gonna have any trepidation. You're gonna know exactly what's going on in those key moments and days when you need to know. [00:28:59] Pius Kobler: Yeah. And then basically having that problem solved, we, we went to, each year we go to fin, famous, famous riding place, uh, by the sea there in Italy and we. Uh, one of us had a, a problem with the tire. We needed to change a tire. So in the evening we are in the shed there trying to change a tire. We have a floor pump, but nothing else. And the tire wouldn't sit, you know, and so we say we we're product developers. We are these. By tech freak. So we say, let's do a, a GTA booster. You know, the one with the big Coke bottle. You take a coke bottle, you drill a hole into the cap, you install a bike valve, and then you drill a second hole and you have a piece of tube and, and you kink it. That's how you hold the air. Then you inflate it and then you hold it on the valve. And that's the GTA booster, you know, and [00:29:49] Craig Dalton: I love talking to engineers. [00:29:52] Pius Kobler: and, and. We, we, we nearly managed to inflate, like we managed to inflate the tire, but it wouldn't hold. So we, we just didn't get there. And so we had to drive through the gas station to use the compressor, and that's how we got the, the tire installed. And that's when we said, said, this is, this is another problem that we have to address. And, and basically we, we could, we professionalized the, the, the ghetto booster. And what it turned out to be is, um, it's, it's now, um, Not a p e t plastic bottle, but it's, uh, it's an. Aluminum drinking bottle that you basically, you have that head that you screw on your bottle. It's a, it's a plastic, a plastic part that you screw on the bottle. You get the bottle with a drinking cap, so you can actually use it as a drinking bottle, which, uh, being in a gravel podcast is very interesting for backpacking. You know, some people going to really remote areas might be interested in. Generally, this isn't the, the story of it being so portable because it's a water bottle. It's a nice story and media love to write about it. But this is a, this is a product that you have in your workshop normally or in your pickup by, by the trail. By the trail head or something like, or going to holiday like we in, in Italy. It's perfectly light, uh, uh, and inexpensive. So it's a good product to have with you. But, and, and the backpacking, like the remote part is for some, an interesting part as well. So basically, It's this plastic part that you screw on the bottle. You have, um, a bicycle valve, uh, core that allows you to inflate the whole thing up to 160 psi, which is a lot, but uh, 120 PSI is just fine. And then, It has a little opening and the slider inside. So you basically push the head onto your valve stem and the slider inside opens and on all the air, um, pushes, rushes into your tire. And, and [00:31:55] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:31:56] Pius Kobler: the, because there is no hose, that's a bit of tech, tech, uh, details here in a hose, you lose a lot of pressure. So because there is no hose, you have all the pressure right by the valves and it that means, It is instant, like it's an explosion. We, we call it the booster effect. When when I do the live presentation and I push that booster on the wheel, I look into the faces of people because it's so funny to see, holy shit, that was really fast. So that's the booster effect. [00:32:28] Craig Dalton: And I think that's, that's the key. And, and again, just to kind of come back in case it's, it's a l it's unclear. You've got kind of this, uh, aluminum water bottle with a, a, a cap that you can screw into it. You then attach your home pump pump up, which pressurizes all the air in that canister. And then much like a, uh, you know, a cartridge. When you're inflating your, your, your tire, you're just putting it onto the valve core, where, where you've removed the tip of the valve core, you're putting it onto the valve, and it's spitting very quickly a burst of air, which for the uninitiated, that's what's required to push the bead out to the side of the tire and get it into that locked and secured position that you need. And that's what you generally cannot achieve just with a floor pump. You need that pressure and that burst. [00:33:15] Pius Kobler: don't have a tube inside and the air is just ex escaping between the tire and the rim. So if you are slowly pumping, the tire is just move is not moving. So you need, you need that fast push of air to push the tire out. Yeah. [00:33:29] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. And I, if you do not have one of these in your garage, go out and get one today. It is like indispensable, in my opinion for. [00:33:39] Pius Kobler: potential is very high to trying to in. Sometimes you're lucky and you can do it with a, with a floor pump, and if you're not lucky, it's very frustrating. [00:33:47] Craig Dalton: and then I used to go to the gas station and I could never get adequate pressure out of those gas station versions. So when I got this product first, I was like, I, I'm now fully capable to change tires, install new tires. [00:34:03] Pius Kobler: cool thing is it's a small bottle, you know, it's, it's, um, 20 ounces and 34 ounces. Uh, the, the sizes we have, this is not a lot of of volume, but because it's so fast flowing, because it makes it very efficient, it doesn't matter how long the air flows, it matters how much air flows in one second, you know, that's when the tire is pushed outside. And that's why we did with this booster, you can. If you can't inflate the uh, tire with this booster, then then you have a problem. Then even the compressor, compressor doesn't deliver as much air in a second, like the booster, you know? [00:34:39] Craig Dalton: so you just mentioned you have two different sizes for, you know, a typical gravel cyclist, maybe a 700 by 40. Is there a a product size that you'd recommend? [00:34:48] Pius Kobler: Uh, basically talking about the us we only have the big, the, the, the, the 34 version available over there. The, the, the older, smaller version is, is basically not gonna be continued. There are some, some still available in Europe, but yeah, the, the, the, the, the, the 32, uh, 34, 32, um, version is, is just fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [00:35:11] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Cool. Yeah, I think it's a, it to, in my mind, the bigger, the better, right? If you've got that pressure, it's just gonna make sure you, you, you only need to do it once, and you get the tire seated the way you want. [00:35:21] Pius Kobler: Mm-hmm. Yeah, the, there is an interesting story about that, uh, that booster effect. Um, I was at sea other, some four years ago or so, and I was doing that booster live presentation and a guy from Bike Magazine comes, comes to, to, to see, and I, I, I do the presentation. I look into his face when I present the booster and he goes literally, Holy shit. This was so cool. Can you do this again? I need to shoot the video. So he takes his mobile phone, shoots the video of me screwing the thing together, inflating it, pushing it on, pulling it off. And because our valves played together nicely with the booster, because you pushed the booster on without the valve core, you pull it off and the air stays inside because of the rubber flaps. You can use it with any press, the valve with, with ours, you have that advantage. And so he does a video of that sequence. He puts it on. On their Facebook. And now, what would you say, what would you impress you as if view count of that video a year later? [00:36:23] Craig Dalton: Uh, a million. [00:36:25] Pius Kobler: That would be pretty impressive. You are good because many people say, oh, hundred thousand would be really much. It was 3.2 million a year later, and now it's at 8.6 million views. [00:36:37] Craig Dalton: Amazing. [00:36:38] Pius Kobler: And I'm, I'm telling, I'm telling that story because. The, the whole tubeless story as we were talking, it's something that you don't really wanna touch. You don't really wanna look into it, you don't really want to be talking about, but then there is a lot of interest around it. You know, people, many, many people realize that the topic is there and it's kind of, they have to look into it. So, so reaching that number is kind of a sign how, how important that that topic is. [00:37:07] Craig Dalton: I think it's just a huge unlock. And to your point, like there's countless people who leave the bike shop with tubeless installed already and don't think about it, don't understand it, don't know about it, and you know, the minute they have to deal with their tire, they're completely ill-equipped to address it. [00:37:24] Pius Kobler: Oh, that's, that's another, another good point. I, I mean, the reason why we met is because we were at sea o you know, we, we, we basically go to to sea other, and then we go a bit of riding once we are over there, um, at sea. Other, this year my key learning was I was talking to many brand managers of, of Mike brands and. They love our system. They know what it does, and, and, and I say, okay, let's, let's, let's look into how we can equip this with your bags. And they say, yeah. The thing is, especially us customers, and that's interesting in the US things even more than in Europe, they have to be easy. It has to be easy and, and simple. And, and, and, and when, when, when, when, when they sell a bike, they want to make the, the sale quick and easy and nice. It has to be a nice experience, you know? So what they don't wanna do is talk about some tech things, tubeless, when they sell a bank. Quite understandably, but that also means they send the customer home with a hundred percent sure problem. That, that, that they're gonna have, you know, if they, if they convert it to tubeless. So it's a paradox really. They don't want to talk about it, but they should absolutely somehow talk about it. [00:38:41] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that's why I'm, I'm sort of pleased to do this episode with you and just dig in a little bit deeper because again, it's easy for most riders to just forget and not think about it. But when you get to a product that's really thoughtfully designed around a solution, like it's, it's a really nice thing to have on your bike and a really nice thing to have in your garage. [00:39:00] Pius Kobler: And I mean, that's exactly you, you can literally, if you are the right kind of person, let, let's say you can. It can be fun. Maintaining your tubeless after a while. Like I, I'm so used to it. I, I like doing it because it's so quick and so easy. It's, it's satisfying of, of doing it so quickly. But then obviously still even with our products, tubeless is not for everyone. You know that there is people who just. Won't ever do that, which is fine. And for them it's, it's, it's good for the, for the mechanic, you know, for the shop where they bring it in. The shop can install the valves and then can do a, a much quicker job. When the, when the customer brings the bike in, in, in a minute, they have the, the tubes checked. Done. [00:39:43] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that makes sense. So continuing on the kind of product journey chronologically, where are you at now? Are there additional products in the product line? [00:39:51] Pius Kobler: Yeah, so the, the plan was from the beginning to, to the, the booster and the valve cord and the valve system. That's basically what we call our, our backbone products. That's, that's also what we have patented. And, and, and the, the idea was to build the brand on these unique products and then be able to sell consumables like a rim tape and sealant. Which, which we do, I, I, I don't have to go too much into the rim tape, even though rim tape is one of the, Biggest, um, factor of frustration in, in tubeless. Everybody who has, uh, installed a rim tape and it wasn't tight, and then take the whole thing apart again. Monster frustration, you know, so, so our rim tape does a really good job because it has a, a pressure activated glue. It, it, it feels reli more reliably. It's, it's very strong. But let's not go into too much detail here. The, the, the more interesting part is, is the sealant where the idea was to, to, with the brand, be able to sell a sealant, but now the sealant has become its own sales driver because we, we have a different approach to the sealant where, oops. I'm I'm saying. It fulfills all the, all it checks, all the boxes that a modern ceiling has to fulfill, like white temperature range. Um, Environmental friendly. It's water based. Um, it, it comes in a hundred percent recycled CO2 bottles. It's a natural, uh, it's, it's synthetic. Latex doesn't contain ammonia. It doesn't contain aggressive ingredients, so it, it's CO2 proof. That's, uh, a big plus as well. It checks all these boxes. Uh, But then what, what makes it really different is, as you can see here, or the ones who don't see it, it, it, there is no particles at the bottom of the bottle. When you turn the bottle around that, uh, that accumulation, and then you have to shake it to, to get these particles, the, the, these crystals into solution that. You don't have to do that with anymore. It just is in solution. So you just take with the syringe, you push it into your tire without the hurry, like shaking the bottle, and then really quickly fill it in because you might not get the right amount of, of particle in there. That's not a thing anymore. But then more importantly, It stays homogenous also in the tire, which means you don't have this separation where you have these rubbery leftovers, rubber balls. It's, it's cold. Sometimes you don't have this separation into rubbery leftovers and watery leftovers, but it stays constant. It stays homogenous over time, so that leads to a, a, a longer, more reliable function. We, [00:42:49] Craig Dalton: I've seen those, those rubber balls in certain tires when I've taken them off. Uh, so I know that effectively they're, that's dried up material, so it's not gonna act as a sealant, presumably. And if, if I'm hearing you correctly, by the way, your product is blended and stays consistent, doesn't need shaking, like as long as there's solution in the tire. It will function as designed versus something that's separated into elements that need to be combined in order to work. [00:43:19] Pius Kobler: Oh some. Some of the well-known sealants, if you wait a bit too long and you open the tire, you have basically a puddle of water like brownish, greenish, watery. Thing leftover, which is not sealant at all anymore. It's none. It has, has not been working for quite a while. And, and, and our sealant remains homogenous. And it covers like the tire looks the same one day or, or, or a year after, after installing it. It's just covered like wet from the sealant, which is important. Uh, but then it doesn't accumulate, it doesn't leave these, add these robbery leftovers and, and. We, we have it nicely printed on our bottle here on our ceiling, but we, we won the, the seal test in, in this larger bike magazine here. I, I always say we, we won by a, by a bit, uh, just a bit better than the other from function, you know, ceiling function. But I say if, if they's done the test two months later, we would've won by, by big margin. You know, because it's still working more constantly. And that's, that's a, that's a big advantage. And the third, the third advantage of, of it's staying homogenous, and that's very important for, for users, is it doesn't go bad in the bottle because it stays stable, homogenous. You don't have to throw the bottle away after. Half a year or two a year, something like that, because it goes bad in the bottles. So there, there is no separation in the bottle as well, which in the end is, uh, quite, uh, an environmental impact. You know, a lot of seal being thrown away and it's a financial aspect as well. You, you, you can buy a bigger bottle and use next year. [00:45:06] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. No, that is nice. [00:45:08] Pius Kobler: So that being said, the the sealant is not just a sealant that we also sell with, with our, with our brand like we planned originally. It's really, it's really a game changer. And, and talking about gravel, we, we, this is. This is originally we come from the mountain bike sector. You know, the whole tubus comes from the mountain bike sector or originally, but now with gravel and road coming, the, the challenges are different for, for sealants and, and there is two major differences. One with the higher pressures, you have a lot more water loss ceilings dry up because, Tires are porous and tires are never perfectly tight. So you, you, you lose water through any tire and, and in a gravel or roads bike, because it's, the pressure is higher, you lose water faster, so it dries up faster than, than a mountain bike tire. And that's why we, we, we are gonna actually now in May, we are gonna release our road and gravel sealant, which is a bit thinner and, and, and it's longer lasting. So, so that's the. One thing we adjusted. And the other thing is it seals cuts better at high pressures. So that's the be because sealing at high pressures is obviously a big challenge for sealants. It's the higher the pressure, the the more difficult. So we, we, we've adjusted our formula to, to cover these two important factors for, for travelers and roadies. [00:46:39] Craig Dalton: Interesting. I'm excited to see that as it's tested out, but I, I love that you're thinking kind of from first principles and thinking about the tire pressure differences and how they'll play out and affect the product. [00:46:52] Pius Kobler: Yeah. [00:46:53] Craig Dalton: And, and now going to the, your latest product that I think you just released at Sea Otter and I was able to see last weekend when we rode. Tell me about the journey to creating a multi-tool. And obviously it's a category everybody's familiar with. Everybody has had one or many over the years. Like what may, what was the design perspective that you came to, to achieve this product? And then we can get into. How cleverly it was executed and the multitude of functions you have built into it. [00:47:26] Pius Kobler: Basically the, the, the approach is the same as, as with any of the products that we brought. Um, there is still some, some, some trouble left, you know, some things to solve. And, and what's, what was missing for us is there are cuts in the tire that are too big to be sealed by the sealant, and that's when you need a block solution, you need to push something through that hole or slit from the outside. To, to mechanically close that, that hole and then the ceiling can do the job to, to close off the rest. And so we, we knew, we, we've been, we, we've known for, for a long time that we have to bring some kind of a pl plug solution. We just never really knew where to put it and how to store it. You know, you can go into the handlebar, you can go into the stem, you can go somewhere. What's. What's really popular now, and this is a really hot topic in, in, in any bike segment, is. Having it quickly accessible, you know, having a solution for in the backpacker or somewhere that's not really a solution that you wanna offer today. So it has to be quickly accessible. You might still hold, have your finger on the hole because what you can do is you're losing air your hold the finger on your hole. So, so you can stop the, the, the air leak and then you have one hand left and you have to grab that tool with one hand very quickly. And so it has to be somewhere. We, we didn't wanna go into the handle bar or in the stem because you have a lot of compatibility, compatibility issues. So what we decided to do is we, we, we want to go to that formerly bottle cage interface. We call it standard interface now, because there is sometimes like three or four on a bike or at least two. So we, we basically have a small box that you can screw onto your frame using this screw interface. And the, the original idea of having these plugs is you have, you have, um, rubber cover that you can open on the side and then you can pull out that handle with the plug right there. So, Literally with one hand, you can open the thing and pull the plug out and then push it in. [00:49:42] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:49:43] Pius Kobler: And we, we have, that's maybe a bit too detailed, but we have a side loading fork that makes it easier to load the, the plug into your fork tool. We have a twist shape of the fork tool because when the plug is twisted, when you push it into the tire, when you pu pull the tool out, the plug sticks better in the, in the tire. Some, some details about using that plug. So this was, this was basically the tool that we had to bring, that we wanted to bring out. But then we said, now that we have this presence on the bike frame, now that we have this box anyway, we are adding something that anybody needs anyway. And that's, that, it's a, it's a little multi tool. And what I'm holding into the camera now, for the ones who don't see it, it's, it's, it's, uh, like an L and key. It's a L-shaped L key, and it has on the side, it has a bit in bit technology, so the small bits are stored in the larger bits, and you can magnetically remove them, flip them around. And put them back. So, and on both sides, on the long side and on the short side, you can exchange these bits. And this makes from one a key that is, Um, super lightweight, let's say compared to a folding tool. With all these functions, you have a proper tool that you have a lot of torque and, and good accessibility, and you have eight functions. You have from two to eight millimeter, all Alan Keys, plus you have a Torque 25 all in one tool, and that's, that's a very attractive solution that you have, right? At the front, you know, you open that rubber cover, you pull that tool out, and you are ready to go. You, you need that often. I, I, I, I just went riding for four days over Easter. I used it nine times in four days, and I didn't use it because I wanted to count higher. So literally to, to tighten the axle of the wheel, the handlebar was twisted. I had to put my seat post a bit higher. You need. Very often you need to, to adjust or tighten something. So this is very handy to have it quickly available. And then, [00:51:54] Craig Dalton: Yeah, go ahead. [00:51:54] Pius Kobler: sorry. This is basically level one usability. Use that tool often, but then this tool clips. Magnetically into, into a tire lever. This is like people have to go online to see, to see the form factor. This is the impressive part. You know how that L-shaped tool is clipping into the tire lever where you have a chain link storage, and then you have a chain breaker that clips into the chain breaker, into the tire lever, so it's all compactly stored together. And then the, the last thing that we added is there was some more space. So we added a little cutter tool, a little Swiss army knife, scissors tool that you can open. And then it has this, this, this cutting function. This is, this is pretty fun tool as well. And it, it, it, it's also the storage for your replacement plugs. So, In, in short, it's a very compact, um, way of having many, many solutions. The, the, the main solutions that you need, the tools in a, in a small box that's, um, super light to 835 grams, which is, let me check how many ounce Ansys [00:53:07] Craig Dalton: think even in the US we think about grams when we think about bike parts. [00:53:11] Pius Kobler: we say lighter than your phone. It's, it's lighter than your mobile phone, so yeah. [00:53:18] Craig Dalton: that makes sense. And, and you mentioned this, I mean, and, and calling it like a, the shape of a deck of cards is not completely accurate because it's thinner than that. Um, and a lot less weight as you said. So you, you mentioned you've got the ability to both mount it to where any water bottles would've been mounted, and if I'm correct, you also have a way of strapping it to the bike. [00:53:43] Pius Kobler: Exactly that. That's that. That's basically now. Now we have that box and. You screw that box onto your frame with two screws and basically with the two screws, we also screw this interface on top. It's a, it's like an aluminum bar. It's a sliding interface that's also on the side of the kit. So you have two of these interfaces and now you have what we call a strap clip. It's a plastic part that you can slide onto onto that interface, and then you have a Velcro wrap where you can. Attach your pump, your CO2 cartridge, your tube, your banana, whatever you wanna bring along. And the idea is to have one clip on each of these items. So before you write, you decide, oh, today I need a pump. You slide it on today, I need to bring my tube. And you slide it on. And sometimes you go without anything. So you have a modular system with these interfaces around your base box. [00:54:41] Craig Dalton: yeah, yeah. It's super slickly designed and as you articulated, like everything kind of nestles into one another, and I like the thoughtfulness around. The plug is the thing you wanna access quickly, fast, and ideally with one hand, and making that kind of first and foremost in the design. And then if you need to dig out some of the other tools, they're all right there, but they're not as quickly accessible because you've aired towards what you need on the go fast. [00:55:12] Pius Kobler: Yeah, and maybe to f to finish that, the top interface that is held in place by the two screws, you can leave the interface away and just put your bottle cage on top of, of the whole kit. And that's actually the. Primary idea you have that it's, it's so small, it's only half an inch thick, you know, so you have half an inch under your bottle cage and, uh, and it, it basically disappears under your bottle cage, but you can still acc accesses for access it from the side, and you can still slide your pump or whatever to the side with your bottle being on top. That's the, the core idea of that, of that kit. [00:55:51] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Thanks for clarifying that because when I saw it on your bike over the weekend, you did not have a bottle cage on top of [00:55:58] Pius Kobler: Because then nobody would see it. You know, [00:56:02] Craig Dalton: I love it. Good gorilla marketing. [00:56:05] Pius Kobler: it worked. I'm here. [00:56:07] Craig Dalton: Exactly. Well, this was amazing. I'm so glad that I, I met you and ran into you. Like I said, I've been familiar with the brand. You guys have been doing it for a, uh, quite some time now and great to kind of just dig into both your history as a product designer. How you always design from a writer first perspective and just hearing the totality of the systems you've built and the thought behind it. It was a real pleasure to get to know you and I, I hope for the listeners they, they hit up milk it bike. I'll include that link in the show notes so everybody can see some of the videos and cool graphics that you have on the site to understand everything you've been describing. [00:56:47] Pius Kobler: Thank you very much for having me. It was a pleasure. [00:56:50] Craig Dalton: Yeah, great to talk to you. [00:56:52] Pius Kobler: Yeah, thanks. Bye. [00:56:54] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with PS. As much as I did, how fortunate was it that I was able to run into him on the trail and how interesting a journey he had to creating the milk at brand and the valve core system and the entire system that he described super happy to have made his acquaintance and get to know those products. A big, thank you. Goes out to our friends at hammerhead and the hammerhead crew to, to crew. And the hammer had crew to computer. Remember, if you visit hammerhead.io and use the code, the gravel ride. You can get a free heart rate, monitor strap with your purchase of that career, to your computer. If you're interested in giving me any feedback on the show or connecting with other gravel cyclists around the world. I encourage you to join the ridership. That's www.theridership.com. Everything's for free and it's simply a forum that allows you to connect with. Other athletes around the world. If you're able to support the show. Please visit, buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride or ratings and reviews are hugely helpful in getting this podcast in front of new listeners. Until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels.      

I have know Jordan for about 5 years now and his recent buy back of the Iconic Hot Bike Magazine is exciting!  Jordan is young and connected to our community in ways we need to have a great publication! there is a link to the kickstarter campaign to bring back the print version of hot bike down below!  and hear all about the details in this episode! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supporthotbike/hot-bike-2023-print-magazine-relaunch Support the podcast by joining our Patreon community where you can gain access to unreleased episodes!  https://Www.patreon.com/fastlifegarage   @simpson_motorcycle_helmets For me personally I have logged thousands of miles in Simpson's and the fit and quality is perfect for me from how I ride and how I wanna look rolling down the highway!  Head on over to  https://www.simpsonmotorcyclehelmets.com    @Thundermaxefi I have ran these computers for years on my bikes, thundermax is the shit at keeping my bike running it's best and keeping my M8 cool with their electric fan! https://www.thunder-max.com Use Offer code “fastlife” for 10% off    @arlennessmotorcycles From complete design collections that can take your bike from stock to custom. Or their parts can be the finishing touches to your custom build.  Their performance line of parts give you the custom look we all want while maintaining functionality head on over to https://www.arlenness.com to check out all the amazing products for your build drop the FASTLIFE10 offer code to save yourself 10% on your purchases    @lexinmoto I listen to everything from music and podcasts to even audio books as I smash miles across the country with lexin! Also don't sleep on their Gen 2 air pumps a must have for motorcycle travel to have incase of a tire issue https://www.lexin-moto.com Offer code “fastlife” for 15% off     @lucky_daves One of the most frequently asked questions I get is “what Bars are those” and the answer is Lucky Daves Peace Makers.  Dave has provided us with a modular bar and riser setup that you can customize to your taste and needs!  Pair those with the Lucky Daves seat and your golden for long open roads or aggressive fun!  Check it all out at https://www.luckydaves.com  

David Lillywhite is the founder and Editorial Director of Magneto Magazine, a quarterly printed magazine for the discerning motorist. This week, he's our podcast guest in conversation with Amy Shore and John Marcar.Before Magneto, David was involved in launching other publications and websites such as Octane Magazine, Bike Magazine, and Auto Classics. In this conversation, David talks us through his career in publishing, from the early days when he worked for publishing companies to what led him to found his very own publications and businesses.In this chat, David shares his love for cars, with details of some of the wonderful cars he's owned, memorable cars he has driven, and some of the exceptional stand out stories from his career so far.Find the episode in all the usual podcast places and see the entire back catalogue at DrivenChat.com. Get in touch with the show via email - podcast@drivenchat.com or slip into our DM's on your preferred social feed, and don't forget to check out our youtube channel via YouTube.com/DrivenChat, so see some premium visual car content!The Driven Chat podcast is brought to you by Paramex Digital - for more information on Driven Chat, please visit www.drivenchat.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Here's part one of my conversation with Mike, where he talks about growing up barefoot in New Zealand, learning to fix motorcycles and bikes, moving to America, racing bikes and motos, working in shops, beginning to write about mountain biking, and getting his start at Bike Magazine.

Já estava passando da hora. né? Há tantos anos comprando medidores de potência importados.. Pagando preços altos... e ainda sofrendo com as manutenções fora do país.. Pois é.. o Brasil agora tem um fabricante de medidor de potência!!! Com preços competitivos e qualidade garantida!!! O episódio desta semana foi com o Hermano da @u2e_power_meter, o idealizador da 1ª fábrica de medidores de potência no Brasil. O Hermano além de ser ciclista há muitos anos.. apaixonado pela bike e seus componentes.. ainda sabe tudo do mercado de medidores e nós aproveitamos para saber como está o mercado atual.. pra entender um pouquinho como funciona esse equipamento e quais são os principais concorrentes do mercado com suas vantagens e desvantagens. Para nos acompanhar neste papo, convidamos o powercaster por 1 dia, Gabriel Vargas que fez uma review bem interessante deste equipamento para a revista Bike Magazine: https://www.bikemagazine.com.br/2021/11/review-teste-avaliacao-testamos-o-u2e-o-medidor-de-potencia-nacional/ Compartilha com seus amigos que possuem medidores de potência e com aqueles que ainda não adquiriram mas estão a procura de um bom equipamento a um preço mais acessível! Acompanhe as novidades pelo nosso instagram, @powercast.ciclismo e se liga nos episódios na íntegra pelo nosso canal do Youtube! Vem de roda!

My guest today on the Mile after Mile podcast is Jason Bahamundi.  Jason along with his business partner, Angela Naeth have just brought a brand new Magazine to market. It's called Run Tri Bike.  In this episode we learn more about Jason himself as an athlete, what he did professionally before he started this magazine project. He shares where the idea for Run-Tri-Bike came from. We talk about what makes it unique and special. And of course, Jason shares where we can find this new magazine and how we can support this project.  They are looking to partner with Race Directors. Run Tri Mag is looking to feature Triathlon Clubs, and they are looking to hear and share your getting started stories and your stories and photos of training with your pets. You can subscribe to the Magazine today and if you use the code MM20 - you get a 20% discount.  You can find the magazine online at www.runtrimag.com  You can also find it on social media @runtrimag Thank you Jason for being a guest on the Mile after Mile Podcast.  _____________________ The Mile after Mile Podcast has a website you can find it at www.mileaftermilepodcast.com  Keep up with the host Amy Stone at www.amysaysso.com Looking for Podcasting Gear? Here's what I use to record the Mile after Mile Podcast. These are affiliate links.  Audio Technica microphone Adjustable Mic Stand Headphones Editing Software from Audacity (it's free) Zoom video conferencing software (not free) Desktop ring light so people can see me. Webcam - so my guests can see me Scheduling software from Acuity Scheduling (not free but super helpful) I use podcast hosting from Libsyn. Not free but very reliable.

We have a packed show today, and we're going to talk about everything endurance sports. We're going to be specifically talking about a new magazine for swim bike run, called Run•Tri•Bike. I'm Hilary Topper. And this is Hilary Topper on air. Today, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Jason Bahamundi president and CEO and Angela Nath, senior vice-president of Run•Tri•Bike, a multimedia platform designed to help beginner athletes navigate the world of endurance sports, which includes running, cycling and swimming. Welcome guys to the show. First you, Jason, can you tell us a little bit about Run•Tri•Bike Magazine, why you decided to launch the magazine and who is the intended audience is? Jason - Sure. Hilary, thank you very much for having me on. So Run•Tri•Bike Magazine was started by Angela and me because, during conversations amongst friends and acquaintances and people involved in the sports world, we found that there was a need for tips and tricks and stories and inspiration and motivation for beginners. And we're just coming off or still involved in the pandemic. Right. And people are working from home and deciding to buy running shoes for the first time or buying a bike for the first time and not really knowing where to turn and where to go for those ideas and tips. And so we started the business with that as our focus, it's focused on beginners. And then I would say a second-tier level, underneath that beginner athlete demographic would be looking to help women looking to help people of color, looking to help physically challenged, disabled and LGBTQ plus athletes have a platform to talk about their stories and to inspire others, representation matters to us. And so if you see somebody that looks like you or is from your part of the world, you might get inspired and motivated to get out there and participate in the sports that we love as well. And so that's the premise for starting this business when you say multimedia platform, you're a hundred percent correct. We print a magazine on a bimonthly basis and we run our website and social media platforms which get updated daily. And then just so listeners understand the content that your consuming online is different than the content that is in the magazine and we want to bring stories in all forms to different people because people process information differently and that's kind of why we're doing it that way. Hilary - So, Jason, um, just give me a brief overview of your background. Jason - Sure. I've been involved in endurance sports for about 14 years. I got into it similar to the way other people do, which is, this sounds like fun, let's try it out. Um, and in those 14 years I've been able to, been fortunate enough to cross the finish line of eight iron man races, there’s an eight hundred-mile race coming up in about three weeks as I was notified yesterday that I will be taking on the Cocodona 250, which is a 250-mile foot race from black Canyon city in Arizona to Flagstaff, Arizona. Thank you very much for that enthusiasm. I'm kind of really nervous right now about it. I need all the hype I can get from others. Hilary - That's really cool. Really, really cool. So how did you and Angela meet? Jason - I have been, um, I guess I would say a supporter of women's sports for a very long time. And I was a Patreon member of I race like a girl. And one day at the start of run tri bike, social media I saw that I race like a girl platform liked three of my own personal stories on Instagram. So I quickly flipped over being an entrepreneur and said, you know what, we're going to reach out to Angela directly, tell our story and see what happens. My goal at the time was to get IRAs, like a girl involved in run tri bike as an advertiser and as a content provider, one conversation led to the next and, before I knew it, Angela was a partner in the business, which is endurance sports investment group, under which RTB operates. And it's been fantastic, the ability to have a partner who obviously is female, and be able to provide you with insight into how women are thinking about these sports and just things of that nature has been great. But yeah, I've been a fan of hers for years, the year she won Iron man Chattanooga, I participated in the race too. So I don't know. Maybe the stars were aligned since way back in 2018. Hilary - That's awesome. All right. Well, before we move on, I just have to say I'm so appreciative of our sponsors and I must take the time out to thank them. Please support our sponsors and tell them that you heard about them on Hilary topper on air special thanks to The Pegalis Law Group, The Profit Express, The Russo Law Group, Pop International Galleries and Gold Benes LLP. So Angela, tell me a little bit about yourself and your professional background as a triathlete. Angela - Yeah, I started competing in triathlon shortly after college, it was something that I just wanted to stay active in. I was a track and field runner for college and just really loved all sports. And so I wanted to stay active. And so I jumped into a local pool triathlon and fell in love with it. And from there forward, I was just all about triathlon, and about a year later, I was actually, I qualified for my professional card in Canada and, it's been a good decade about training and racing and traveling the world. So it's, it's been really, really fun. Hilary - That's so awesome. So tell me, what was your favorite race? Angela - My favorite race is probably St. Croix they do a race there and it's just such a beautiful Island. The whole Island basically jumps in into the race for spectators and, just the vibe there is nice, It’s a very challenging course and I'm someone who loves hot weather. So of course, St. Croix is going to be up on the list. Hilary - I was there too, that there was some, some Hills up there, huh?  So, um, so talk to me a little bit about, so I heard that you got Lyme disease. Can you talk a little bit about how that happened and, what you actually did about that? Angela - Yeah, it's a, it's kind of an ongoing process. So in 2018, I was finally diagnosed with Lyme. It was very difficult to really diagnose itself because I went to a number of doctors, world-renowned doctors at Boston Children's no one could figure it out because the CDC guidelines for Lyme are not necessarily accurate in terms of actually having it. So finally I found a doctor and did some other testing, and we found that I had Lyme and Bartonella, which is the co-infection of bacteria, and how you treat it is pretty, it's been a learning curve because you, I kinda treated it with antibiotics. Got better, got off the antibiotics relapsed. And you do that a couple of times and you continue trying to like, get there. Get the layers of the onion away, basically. So during COVID actually, I did a lot of treatment for it. And so I'm just kind of rebounding from that right now because I mean, any type of medication you take really does fall to the body, so you have to kind of process that as well. So it's something that very difficult to go through quite honestly. It's kind of changed my life a little bit in that sense. But really I've learned so much and the education I have for it I try to help as many people as I can that may have unusual symptoms or just a current diagnosis. Anything that I can do to return the favor of the support I've received from others? Hilary - Well, it seems like that's something that a lot of triathletes get because we go into areas that are sometimes, lots of, lots of grass and trees and, and that type of thing. And, so it's, it's something that I think is pretty unfortunately common among triathletes. So I heard that one of the things that you've been doing is you've been using hydro mag, which is a Moxie life product. Can you tell me about that experience? Angela - Yeah, I've been with MOXiLIFE for a couple of years now. Theresa, the founder and CEO is just a fantastic lady. Love her to death. I met her at a race in California and she was providing samples of her hydro Mag and hydro Mag is basically a magnesium supplement drink. That is really, really easy to digest. And It tastes great. And so magnesium is something that I lose a lot of, especially even with a Lyme or Bartonella diagnosis as well. It's, it's kind of a common known fact that the magnesium you lose is even more so, and as athletes, you'd be surprised how much magnesium we actually need. And so I've been using her product for two years and I swear by it, it's something I drank two or three times a day. I sometimes add it to my sports drink for training, and it's really helped me in the process throughout this whole timeframe and really be able to train consistently and just try to get the best I can out of my body. So I really do love the product. Hilary - A lot of triathletes also, and runners find that they cramp up a lot. Is this something that you would tell your athletes to try, as to, take magnesium or to try to… Angela - Oh, definitely. Yeah. Like, there's, I mean, you obviously want to make sure that your electrolytes in terms of your sodium content is really well done in your sports drink and also your fueling and race nutrition. But another whole process of that is the magnesium. And so sometimes when I have athletes that I coach come to me and say, they're cramping, we kind of do an overhaul of exactly what they're doing in nutrition. So I really like to make sure that they have the sodium content, because I definitely need that throughout training and racing. And then I always add and let them try the magnesium supplement because I really find that it does so much for the body. Like if you were to do a Google search of what magnesium does for the body, I mean, it's something that's used in basically every cell of the body and every process of the body. So we really do go through a lot as athletes as we push ourselves. And so part of that is cramping. And, I've noticed actually I teach a master's group and we had a guy that would continually cramp in his calves. And so I suggested Moxie life. He bought some and, he's been taking it religiously for the last two weeks and we have not had cramps, so I'm actually glad you brought that up. Hilary - Wow. That's awesome. That's awesome. And lastly, could you just, talk a little bit about the new magazine, Run•Tri•Bike, and your hopes and ambitions for it? Angela - Yeah. I started with Jason. He actually reached out to me, kind of in the light of seeing if there was some type of relationship that we could create with run tri bike and right away when he explained his goal with it, the aim of really just providing insights of swim bike, run, triathlon, and bringing stories about athletes from all walks of life and, and that they were all female. I mean, everything I do is really about bringing females into the spotlight of triathlon. And so that's why I have my team. I race like a girl I have my own sites for a lot of educational components. So the run tri bike was just a fantastic opportunity. And so I just asked him, I'm like, well, how can I be more involved? Because this is something that is right up my alley. I'm inspired by people's stories and really trying to share it and make triathlon a little bit less intimidating, all of it just came together. And so we kind of talked a little bit and,  I partnered with him and it's just been fantastic. We're really just starting from grassroots and building it up as we go. And I think it's a niche in the sport because there's not a lot for beginner triathlons and I mean, triathletes, for magazine wise and really getting some education out there and like being able to support with a lot of different types of sponsors that come on board, it's just a platform that I'm really excited to continue to grow. And the stories behind it that we've already had this far are just... Just so fun to read. And the educational component is fantastic. I mean, for anyone that starting triathlon, whether you are a female or male, if you're looking for clubs, if you're looking to kind of be in triathlon where you find it a little bit intimidating and want to learn more, it's a fantastic platform. I mean, I'm biased. I love it. Hilary - Jason, could you tell us a little bit about the first issue of Run•Tri•Bike Magazine and what was your favorite story so far? Jason - Oh, those are great questions. Thank you very much. Um, there's nothing like I like talking about more than the product we put out. So our first issue covers swimming, biking, and running from, tips for beginners, such as how to pick the right shoe for running, gear you might need for swimming and then how to pick the right bike because it's not just rode bikes you've got triathlon bikes, cross bikes, things like that. In there also we have coaches tips. One is from Angela and one is from Maria Simone of no limits, endurance coaching. We've got health tips in there. We've got nutrition tips in there as well. And so to answer the second question, which was my favorite article, that's like picking your favorite child, right? It's very difficult to do, but for me being a quasi foodie, the article written by Stevie Smith about seven posts, nutrition foods for recovery was fascinating to me and phenomenal, to help give you that reminder of what you need to do post-race or post-workout. But then we have a couple of features in there called how it all started.  and it's, again, it goes back to the representation matters in there. So we have athletes telling their stories of how they got started and they don't look like they were models clipped out of another magazine. They're your everyday Jane's participating in our endurance sports. And I just love reading those stories. Hilary - That's awesome. Any sneak peeks of Run•Tri•Bike Magazine that you'd like to share with us? Something that our listeners should keep an eye out for. Jason - Of course. I will tell you that there are two, three actual, um, components of the upcoming issue that we're excited about. Um, one is most endurance athletes don't think about going to the gym and, and doing strength training. We've got some great tips in that. About that coming up. But, um, bigger than that is how it all started feature and our club's spotlight feature are going to be circling around the same person. And her name is Melissa Stockwell. She is a war veteran who is an above-the-knee amputee who participates in triathlons. She has been to the Paralympic games twice and won a bronze medal. And part of her story is that she founded dare to try, which is a triathlon club nationally to help physically challenge disabled athletes. navigate, like we like to use that phrase, swim, bike, run triathlon. So I'm really excited about those three pieces that'll be coming out in our next issue of Run•Tri•Bike Magazine. Hilary - So as you know the listeners of this podcast are mostly CEOs who may be into a swim bike, run triathlons, and so forth. Any words of advice that you would like to share with our listeners? Just thinking about getting into the sport. Jason - I'd hate to steal from Nike, but a Phil Knight listens to your podcast, I would say, just do it. I mean, we all started somewhere, and a lot of times we were there at, into this, or we found a story that inspired us and we probably spent days, weeks, months thinking about doing it instead of just doing it, but go out there, find a club that is welcoming to beginners because again, we've all been there. You're going to show up in a cotton t-shirt and a Nike's air Jordans instead of LAN, spandex and Lycra it's okay. Just go out there. These people will support you and put their arms around you and show you the way you don't have to be perfect on day one, just go, just get out there and get active. Even if it's walking, even if it's, um, sitting on a spin bike in a gym, get active, it's as simple as that, you'll figure your way out after that. Hilary - That's awesome. Thank you for that advice. I love that. Talk to us a little bit about how people can buy Run•Tri•Bike Magazine or subscribe, or, what have you like, how does that work? Jason - Oh, I love... anytime I can talk about and market our business. I'm happy to do that. So if you go to, for all your listeners, if you go to Run•Tri•Bike Magazine, we have a store on the site that you can click and go to subscriptions to purchase a one or a two-year subscription. If you happen to be in a club and you want to get the club highlighted in our clubs spotlight feature, whether in print or online, nominate your club, we will send you a discount code for 20% off of your club members for all the subscriptions, all of our social profiles have links to the subscriptions. If you are, near a running store, a cycling shop, ask them for a copy. We have distributed about 1500 copies nationwide to endurance specialty stores. And then another way to get your hands on a copy is we are working with races all across the country to have our magazine in the swag bags that you get. So if you show up to a race and you don't have it, ask the race director for it and that'll help us with the distribution side of it all. But yeah, Run•Tri•Bike on all social media platforms, as well as www.trisportmag.com. and you'll be pointed in the right direction for getting your hands on the magazine. Hilary - Awesome. That's great. I love that. Thank you so much, Jason and Angela for being on the show. I also want to thank our sponsors, the Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop international galleries, gold Benes, and The Pegalis law group. And last but not least, I want to thank you our listeners for tuning in each week. If you want more information on this show or any other show, you can visit us at hilarytopperonair.com or you can find us on Spotify, iTunes, or Google Play. Have a great week, and we'll see you next time.

Mountain biker Lydia Tanner has won two collegiate national championships and raced internationally with Team USA. She is a long-time coach at Boulder Junior Cycling and content strategist at TrainingPeaks. You may have read some of her gear reviews in Bike magazine. Colby once coached Lydia, and in this interview, she recalls her apathy toward training and riding during that period of her racing career. Lydia reveals why she was struggling so much at the time: Sadly, she was dealing with the all-too-common issue of an eating disorder. That, in combination with a myriad of serious injuries and concussions, eventually took its toll; she got to a point where she didn't touch a bike for years. Now, the bike is all about adventure for Lydia. She and Colby talk about some of their epic rides in the past, including Lydia's 500-kilometer, 40-hour ride. They emphasize the importance and struggle of finding and understanding one's identity outside of sport and career. As coaches, they discuss the issues with training young girls to be aggressive with their teammates and training partners. This and much more on today's episode of Cycling in Alignment. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lydlovesmud/ Lydia on Bike Magazine https://www.bikemag.com/author/lydia-tanner/

Today we are taking a bit of a trip down memory lane with Rob Story as we look back at the golden era of Bike Magazine and the beginning of the iconic magazine that Rob helped to launch. More than any other publication, Bike managed to capture the spirit of a particular time and ethos present in mountain biking. Irreverent, funny, and dedicated to adventure and great journalism, Bike opposed some of the more sanitized versions of sports magazines of the day. Launched in 1993, the magazine grew out of the same garden as Powder, adopting certain similarities while fearlessly plotting its own course through new territories, types of stories, and amazing features and photography! In our conversation, we hear from our guest about the period leading up to his appointment at Bike, and how the first few issues came together. Rob shares some stories about the important cast of characters that gave the magazine its signature blend of humor and inspiration as we talk about themed issues, the connection between mountain biking and marijuana, and how the style and content were decided upon before landmark changes around the turn of the century. For this fascinating conversation, and likely the first of many with Rob Story, listen in with us today on Cycology.FM!

After a look at commuter eBikes and Campagnolo, you mountain bike tech heads must be wanting some action? Well, I hope this was worth the wait? We have a stunning show with Jarno Hoogland. He is not only a former downhill racer from the Netherlands (!) but also has a long career in the mountain bike trade as is now editor of the excellent imbikemag.comIn this pod we discuss what bikes and components will actually reach the consumers and trade this year, eMTB and acoustic MTB innovation and tech goodness, why downgrading your MTB is sometimes a good idea and of course, why Jarno chose to live in Switzerland over anywhere else in the world. (I think Slough was a close second.)Once you’ve heard the show, check out the latest IMB online, it’s a cracking read and makes us yearn for a Europe wide road trip with the mountain bikes before a blat over to Whistler for a pilgrimage.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Dirt Action, Australian Dirt Bike magazine, and Transmoto were and still are a major part of Australia's motorcycle scene. In this episode we catch up with one of the founding members of these magazines, Andy Wigan's. He shares his story on what got him into motorcycles, how our magazines most of us grew up with started and how the renowned Transmoto events came about.

Sven, JK and Tony shoot the schmack at the Everyday Cycles Studio for Show # 81 Tony out testing the Surface 604 Boar Talkin' Schmack Rumour that Fatboy is done?No more Bike Magazine - https://www.bikemag.com/news/goodbye-for-now/ Sure are a lot of sites posting press releases about a new Bike Box from BikeFlights at $149.95 for cardboard. They say it will last 10 shipments. I got a customer bike shipped in one the other day and it had holes punched in it and 2 of the 8 plastic looking pieces were missing. - https://shop.bikeflights.com/new-bikeflights-large-box.html Shipping bikes sUx! Show Beer - 3 Sheeps Sampler Pack 3 Sheeps PilsWaterslidesFresh Coast IPA Things we dig… Greg - My Yeti Rambler 20oz Thermos-style drinky cup - https://www.yeti.com/en_US/drinkware/rambler-20-oz-tumbler/21070060029.html   Shit Worth Doin' 12/5/20 - Santa Rampage Day -  Milwaukee and Rochester and probably othersSanta Rampage Milwaukee SurveyCheck out Chris Daisy's Poster Design - https://fat-bike.com/2020/09/global-fat-bike-day-2020/ 12/5/20 - Global Fatbike Day ORP combo light and horn. Bikes we have (or coming!) Surly Wednesday fat-bikes in the new All-Natural Grape color!Limited numbers, reserve early!Teesdale Road Frame and Fork - 56cm - Currently bare frame ready for paint or powderRoll C:1 British Racing Green - LargeRoll A:1 Step Thru Gulf Porsche Blue - SmallA bunch of Schlick Growler (Zen Bicycle Fabrications AR 45) frames for custom builds29+ Schlick Cycles frames for custom buildsContact info@everydaycycles.com Next week on the show we will be harassing…??? Call-in to 717-727-2453 and leave us a message about how cycling is making your life better!

Sven, JK and Tony shoot the schmack at the Everyday Cycles Studio for Show # 81 Tony out testing the Surface 604 Boar Talkin’ Schmack Rumour that Fatboy is done?No more Bike Magazine – https://www.bikemag.com/news/goodbye-for-now/ Sure are a lot of sites posting press releases about a new Bike Box from BikeFlights at $149.95 for cardboard. They […]

Mountain biker Lydia Tanner has won two collegiate national championships and raced internationally with Team USA. She is a long time coach at Boulder Junior Cycling and content strategist at TrainingPeaks. You may have read some of her gear reviews in Bike Magazine. Colby once coached Lydia, and in this interview, she recalls her apathy toward training and riding during that period of her racing career. Lydia reveals why she was struggling so much at the time: Sadly, she was dealing with the all-too-common issue of an eating disorder. That, in combination with a myriad of serious injuries and concussions, eventually took its toll; she got to a point where she didn’t touch a bike for years.  Now, the bike is all about adventure for Lydia. She and Colby talk about some of their epic rides in the past, including Lydia’s 500-kilometer, 40-hour ride.  They emphasize the importance and struggle of finding and understanding one’s identity outside of sport and career. As coaches, they discuss the issues with training young girls to be aggressive with their teammates and training partners.  This and much more on today’s episode of “Cycling in Alignment.”  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lydlovesmud/ Lydia on Bike Magazine https://www.bikemag.com/author/lydia-tanner/ Colby’s Site: http://www.colbypearce.com/ Email: cyclinginalignment@fastlabs.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyclinginalignment/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CyclinginAlign_ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cyclinginalignment-110271017351743

Rachel Olzer is an activist, evolutionary biologist, and mountain biker, who has become a leading voice in the current wave of racial justice advocacy taking place across the world. As a transracial adoptee growing up in an all white family, she had to navigate the cognitive dissonance of a grandmother who vocalized deep-seated racism and a family whose conservative politics were directly at odds with her own experiences as a person of color. It wasn't until she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota for college, however, that she encountered systemic racism and segregation on a large scale, in spite of the city's reputation for being a liberal stronghold. Her Instagram post detailing her observations of moving from the south to the supposedly radical north went viral, and she is currently writing a series for Bike Magazine about elevating the voices of the BIPOC community within cycling and the outdoor industry. In this interview, Rachel talks about internalizing racism from an early age, the recent conversations she's had with her brother that bring her hope, and why we should shouldn't stop talking to our friends and family who express racist opinions. She also talks about her work in evolutionary biology and how the mating behavior of male crickets relates human immorality, why she feels conflicted about virtue signaling, and why her experience living in a mostly white neighborhood in Minneapolis caused her to move across town. She also shares her quarantine must-haves, and explains why you should approach your social justice work like bike racing. 

For many of us, it will soon be time to dust off our bikes and get back to riding. So what are some of the most important things you can do to your bike if you haven’t been riding it?To answer this, we talked to Simon Stewart, who has a wealth of knowledge about servicing bikes that comes from his experience working at bike shops; being a mountain bike guide; writing and reviewing for Bike Magazine and Dirt Rag magazine; working for SRAM as a technical ambassador and a SRAM Technical University Instructor; and from currently owning and running the bike shop, Boneshaker Cycles, in Buena Vista, Colorado.TOPICS & TIMES:Simon’s background: Ireland, Tanks, & Harleys (4:59)Bike Prep: Avoid Catastrophe / Best ‘Bang for the Bother’ (28:15)Tires (30:58)Brakes (33:14)Critical Fasteners (33:59)Drivetrain (35:52)Suspension (42:58)Tire Sealant (48:51) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

(At La Costa Roasting in Carlsbad.) New Podcast posted with Director/Photographer Justin Kosman. We chat about Justin’s history, making his way from Illinois to California freelancing and working at Bike Magazine, ESPN, Ride, Transword, DC,...

On this week's show, my guest is Mike Ferrentino. In the early 1990s Ferrentino rose to national prominence with the launch of Bike Magazine and his column the Grimy Handshake. Since then, Ferrentino has gone on to help found the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship and directed marketing for Santa Cruz Bicycles. These days he's in […]

On this week's show, my guest is Mike Ferrentino. In the early 1990s Ferrentino rose to national prominence with the launch of Bike Magazine and his column the Grimy Handshake. Since then, Ferrentino has gone on to help found the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship and directed marketing for Santa Cruz Bicycles. These days he's in […]

In this episode, we talk to Jamie Finch-Penninger,  a Journalist who mostly covers Australian  Cycling and Cyclists. He works as a freelancer and works with SBS Cycling Central, and has published articles for Ride Magazine, Cyclist UK, Cycling Tips, Ella, Peloton Café and Bike Magazine.   In this episode we cover: The story of how Jamie started his journalist work in the cycling industry His unique perspective on the article he wrote about Racing the Tour de France in the fashion of the world cup What keeps people tuning in to the sport The interesting things about joining races, especially Tour de France His thoughts on GreenEdge ad transitioning to a GC team with less Australian riders and what he thinks influenced this decision Preparations and requirements for joining races How cycling is different from other sports Jamie’s thoughts on the surprise packets and who will be on it this year His thoughts on the NRS and who will be the next big thing A discussion on the commonality of rookie riders’ mistakes or common problems The most interesting Jamie has seen in cycling Jamie’s thoughts on Richie and BMC and how they will go this year   Links: Tour Tracker SBS Cycling Central article

December 19, 2017 The Path Podcast Show Page ABOUT THIS EPISODE Welcome back to The Path Podcast! This is a SPECIAL episode. Nathan, Tani, and Auk are joined by semi-regular guest host Megan and two special guests - Nicole Formosa, Bike Magazine Editor in Chief, and Val Vanderpool, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN). This is an interesting and wide ranging discussion with some great perspective from two experienced industry pros. You can expect to hear some of the following: - What makes a big news story - Inside writing, stories, and details - What is it like to work at Bike and BRAIN - Ebikes, including the future of them, trail access, and user conflicts in Europe vs the US - Women's specific products - where the industry going and what's it about - ROAM Events and other women-specific gatherings - Tips for men to not be that guy - Turbo the Three-Legged Dog - A day in the life of a bike demo driver - Coroner stories - Booth babes, Pinarello Gate, and other current gender issues within the industry - Many more experiences The Path guys welcome all of your questions and encourage you to send them an email with the subject "Podcast Question" to podcast@thepathbikeshop.com.  -------------- RELATED SHOW LINKS Shop via our Amazon Affiliate Link Shop the Mountain Bike Radio Store Get on The Path Newsletter Email List About Nicole Formosa About Val Vanderpool Lines in the Dirt series on Bikemag.comBRAIN’s story about podcasts (The Path and Mountain Bike Radio are included) Non Dot Adventures ROAM Events Juliana Bicycling Liv Cycling Norco Bicycles Bionicon Turbo the Three-Legged Dog on Instagram Turbo the Three-Legged Dog on FacebookVal's Instagram #ThePathPodcast Follow Auk on Instagram The Path Bike Shop Website The Path Bike Shop Facebook Page The Path Bike Shop on Instagram The Path Bike Shop on Twitter The Path Bike Shop on Google+ The Path Bike Shop on Pinterest The Path Bike Shop on Vimeo Like what you are getting from Mountain Bike Radio? Support it and get something in exchange.

Show Notes for Lee McCormack Lee Likes Bikes Coaching, Books and much more Lee McCormack on Youtube Lee Likes Bikes on Facebook Lee Like Bikes on Instagram 1:00 Realities of self employment as a parent 3:00 Lee's beginnings with biking 4:19 1988 Nishiki Pueblo. Mtb'ing for weight loss and fitness 6:30 Overcoming childhood obesity 7:10 Mountain biking community acceptance (vs road riding) 7:19 David Weens. six consecutive winner of the Leadville Trail 100 MTB 9:38 Mountain biking as an individual sport, unique challenges 12:30 “Gravel riding” 14:00 Brian Lopes 16:07 Kurtis Keene 16:14 Lee McCormack's beginnings as a downhill/progressive mtb'er 16:20 Sacramento Bee 16:40 Mammoth Nationals 16:56 Kamikaze Downhill. Ridiculous Kamikaze Downhill edit from “Tread, the movie” 21:00 Lee's Career change 24:46 Bike Magazine 25:00 Watching the film, Whale Rider and realizing his purpose 29:15 Seeds of ‘Mastering Mountain Bike Skills' book 31:48 Ned Overend, author of ‘Mountain Bike Like a Champion' 32:56 Lee McCormack beginnings as mountain biking skills teacher 32:50 SMBA Mountain Biking Club 36:00 Joseph Campbell and the hero's journey 36:15 How to find your purpose 37:31 How Lee McCormack landed a desirable, high paying job with a cutting-edge tech firm with no experience 40:47 The roles of Brian and Lee in ‘Mastering Mountain Bike Skills' 44:27 Lee McCormack talks about the Rip Row beginnings, how it works and how it builds mountain biking skills 100:12 Understanding fear, tension and body energy when facing a new jump or other scary feature 105:00 Understanding what you're feeling in the moment and how to set and adjust internal goals accordingly 110:57 Aaron Gwin Chainless Win in Leogang 2015 World Cup DH Video 115:09 How dead lifts help with progressive mountain biking 117:10 Brandon Semenuk Does It Again | Raw 100, Version 3 118:32 Pro BMX Skills by Lee McCormack 118:39 Chris Powell demonstrates how to case a jump

Welcome to episode 40 of the Mountain Nature and Culture Podcast. I'm your host, Ward Cameron, and I record this on August 16, 2017, we've finally received a bit of rain in the Canadian Rockies. Every drop is a gift at this point and hopefully it will reduce our explosive fire hazard and let us stop worrying about unplanned fires. This week, I take a look at the fire fears in Jasper as an increase in pine beetle killed pines has added vast amounts of fuel to an already tinder dry forest. I also continue the story of Major A.B. Rogers, the surveyor responsible for designing the route that the Canadian Pacific Railway follows as it traverses the Rocky and Selkirk Mountains of western Canada. Pine Beetles Wreak Havoc on Jasper's Forests I just returned from 4-days of hiking in Jasper National Park, and I was horrified by the damage being done by mountain pine beetle in the park. In a summer plagued by an almost endless drought, thousands of dead pine trees simply adds fuel to the potential for a huge fire in the park. Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) is a natural pest of the mountain forests of western Canada and the U.S. but historically they were only found in very low numbers in the park. The beetles create tunnels behind the bark in the layer of cells called the phloem, the thin layer of cells that transmit sugars within the plant. As they mine this layer, they may end up killing the tree, but they also carry with them a blue stain fungus. This fungus finishes the job by interrupting the ability of nutrients to move up and down the tree trunk. It also stains the wood blue, destroying any potential commercial value that it might have. If you have any doubt about the impact of a warming climate, just take a drive towards the town of Jasper. Warmer temperatures have allowed the beetles to explode in numbers and infest enormous numbers of lodgepole pine as well as western white pine. The lack of sufficiently cold winters is coupled with decades of fire suppression to provide plenty of food for them to take advantage of. The beetle is now expanding its range eastward out of the Rockies while also affecting trees at higher and higher elevation. As populations grow, the beetles disperse in one of two ways. In the first, dispersal within stands, they usually just travel a short distance, up to 30 metres or so, but when they move above the canopy into a long-distance dispersal, they can travel hundreds of kilometres. Long-distance dispersals are difficult to stop, so many of the management decisions are based on stopping dispersal within stands as the infestation spreads from tree to tree. Prior to fire suppression, many of the valleys in the mountains would have had far fewer trees as the flames would kiss the forests every 15 years or so. Today, we've created a massive monoculture of huge stands of lodgepole pine and the beetles are loving them. The simplest solution to this problem is to bring more fire, much more fire to the landscape to try to restore some of that balance. Back in episode 35, I talked about how fire is an integral part of the mountain landscape. The wildlife benefit from fire, the plant communities are refreshed and the mosaic of forest stands of different ages also helps to challenge insect pests. These regular fires, also help to protect communities like Jasper from the potential for large conflagrations like the one that the town is currently afraid could occur. Because of the huge amount of fuel that has built up over time, these fires may need to be tempered by some selective logging in areas that are too sensitive to burn. In some areas, the beetles have killed 70% of the lodgepole pine trees and the infection is spreading quickly. Experts believe that the number of infected trees could increase exponentially over the next few years, continually increasing the fire risk to communities like Jasper. Surprisingly, at a meeting in Jasper recently CAO Mark Fercho talked about his experience fighting the pine beetle when he worked in Prince George, B.C. He was quoted in the Fitzhugh newspaper as saying: “It’s the green trees that are full of beetles, not the red ones,” Each one of those live trees can infect a dozen or more additional trees. The area of infected trees has tripled since 2014 to some 21,500 ha. Back in the day, when we had proper winters, it was the cold that helped keep the beetles at bay. On average, mid-winter temperatures in the range of -37 C are sufficient to kill 50% of the beetle larvae. Earlier in the season, temperatures as low as -20 C can also be effective. Communities like Prince George were forced to cut down thousands of trees in order to reduce the fire hazard in and around the community. They followed that by a replanting program to help replace the lost trees. Standing dead trees, like those left behind by pine beetles are capable of sending sparks high into the sky allowing fires to spread. Natural fires are not quite as explosive simply because they lack the tinder dry, standing, dead wood. Jasper has a lot of work ahead of it, and the character of the place will also change. If Parks is able to combine increased prescribed burns along with selective clearing of standing dead trees, the future may not be as bleak as it seems at the moment. Across North America, fire experts are beginning to realize that the biggest challenges faced by most forests is NOT forest fires, but the lack of them. More and more fire ecologists are suggesting that fires be simply left to burn themselves out - at least those that don't threaten human lives or property. These same scientists suggest that if some of the money being spent on suppression were actually devoted to fireproofing homes in communities then these towns may actually be much safer than they currently are. With changing climates and increased beetle expansion, fires are coming. I applaud the work Parks Canada is doing in recognizing the growing challenges that our western forests are experiencing and, for Jasper, I hope that they have received some of the rainfall that finally soaked my hiking group over the past few days. I'm happy to walk in the rain, and even the snow that we had yesterday, if it helps to reduce the fire hazard that we have all been worried about in the mountain west. A.B. Roger's Line Last week I talked about Major A.B. Rogers and his quest to find a route through the Bow Valley and the Selkirk Mountains in B.C. Well, by the end of the 1882 season he'd found a route…or had he? Unfortunately for the Major, his unlikeable personality meant that he had a long line of rivals that considered him to be all bluster and no substance…and then there was the fact that he was…oh, what's that word? Oh, yah…American! Even back then, there was that inherent rivalry, although we would see more American involvement in this line before the last spike would be driven home. By the start of the 1883 season, nobody BUT Rogers had actually traversed his route through the Selkirks, the Kicking Horse Pass route was far from finished, and finally, there was the matter of some inconvenient tunnels to be corrected. All in all, it was just another frantic year of exploring, confirming, and changing the slowly coalescing line on a map that would, just a few years down the road, become the tie that binds this nation together. In addition, Rogers was acting as a pathfinder as opposed to a proper surveyor. The fact that he forced his way through some mad wilderness, that didn't mean a train could follow his trail of tobacco stains. Any potential route still needed axe men, transit men, and the levelers before a real route could be confirmed. It really needed more than that. It needed a sober investigation to prove that the route down the Bow River, through the Kicking Horse Pass, and across the Selkirks was indeed possible. Too much money and time were being invested in this commitment to risk any chance of error. Rogers had his detractors. Perhaps it was his gruff nature, or his penny-pinching way of economizing on supplies, leading many of his expeditions to retreat on the verge of starvation. One of those was Jon Egan, the western Superintendent of the railway. He was unwavering in his assessment of the route through the Selkirks: "I want to tell you positively that there is no pass in the Selkirk Range...It has to be crossed in the same manner as any other mountain. The track must go up one side and down the other." At the same time, the Governor General of Canada, the Marquis of Lorne, the husband of Princess Louise (after whom Lake Louise is named), also was concerned about the potentially steep gradients that might be involved, but he was more concerned with the time constraints. As he put it: "It would be better to have them than further delay, with the N. Pacific gaining Traffic." Any fan of TV shows like Hell on Wheels, coincidentally filmed along the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway, can understand the focus on time and money. This was the biggest investment this young nation had embarked upon and, quite frankly, we couldn't afford it. Time was money and every dollar spent was not easily replaced down the road. While some may have underestimated Rogers because of his American birth, there was one American that nobody dared underestimate, the General Manager of the line, William Cornelius Van Horne. Van Horne is the star of the show, and I'll devote an entire episode to sharing his story but at this point, he pondered: "we must take no chances on this season's work because any failure to reach the desired results and have the line ready to put under contract will be serious if not disastrous. I think it important that you should take an extra engineer, who is fully competent, to take charge of a party in case of sickness or failure of any of your regular men." Van Horne was also concerned about the fact that Rogers often pushed his workers in difficult conditions with few rations. He added: "It is also exceedingly important that an ample supply of food be provided and that the quantity be beyond a possibility of a doubt. "Very serious reports have been made to the Government and in other quarters about the inadequacy of the supplies provided last year and a good many other reports have been made tending to discredit our work. The officials in Ottawa, as a consequence look upon our reports with a good deal of suspicion... "We cannot expect to get good men for that work at as low or lower rates than are paid further East and we must feed the men properly in order to get good service. It will be cheaper for the Company to pay for twice the amount of supplies actually necessary than to lose a day's work for lack of any." To understand his caution, we need to remember that the ribbon of steel that was the Canadian Pacific was winding westward day after day after day, mile after mile, creeping ever closer to this question mark on the map. Every rail cost money. Every railroad tie cost money. The further west the line progressed, the more committed they were to a route for which some still harbored doubt. Despite this dispatch, Van Horne fully trusted Rogers, he just came from a very different point of view. He defended Rogers to a businessman in New York: "There has been a good deal of feeling among some of the Canadian Engineers particularly those who have been accustomed to the Government Service against Major Rogers, partly from natural jealousy of one who is looked upon as an outsider, partly from his lively treatment of those whom he looks upon as shirkers or 'tender feet' and partly from his somewhat peculiar methods of securing economy, but more that all perhaps from his having succeeded, as is supposed, in doing what was unsuccessfully attempted by the Gov't Engineers, namely, in getting through the Rocky and Selkirk Mountains by a direct line. "I believe him to be capable and I know him to be thoroughly honest. He is something of an enthusiast and is disposed to undertake himself and put upon his men more severe duties than most engineers are accustomed to and I have reason to believe that in his anxiety to economize in every possible way he has gone too far in some cases and that a good deal of unnecessary discomfort, although no suffering, has resulted from it." The route was to be scrutinized from east to west, beginning with the area closest to the westward moving rails, the Bow Valley, beginning at Fort Calgary and extending westward. Charles Shaw was asked by James Ross, the western division manager to look at Rogers line covering the first 60 miles to the west of Calgary. He was unimpressed. He stated: "It's a nightmare to me and I'm afraid it will hold us back a year." Shaw felt he could improve on the line when Roger's who was present at the time leaped to his feet and blurted: "That's the best line that can be got through the country. Who in hell are you, anyway?" Undeterred, Shaw claimed that if he could not only find a better line, but: "If I don't save at least half a million dollars over the estimated cost of construction, I won't ask for pay for my season's work." There was another tunnel to the west, around a mountain in Banff. Van Horne knew it would delay work so Van Horne demanded: "Look at that," the general manager exclaimed. "Some infernal idiot has put a tunnel in there. I want you to go up and take it out." He was talking to his locating engineer J.H.A. Secretan, never a fan of Rogers, yet Secretan responded: "Mr. Van Horne, those mountains are in the way, and the rivers don't all run right for us. While we are at it we might as well fix them, too" In the end, Roger's nemesis Shaw, found a way to just go around the mountain which still bears the name 'Tunnel Mountain" in Banff although the tunnel was never actually built. Shaw was very critical for Rogers because he missed this option. He stated: "Roger's location here was the most extraordinary blunder I have ever known in the way of engineering" To make matters worse, Shaw was now sent to examine Rogers route through the Selkirks. This was easier said than done. To get to the Selkirks, you first needed to cross the Kicking Horse…and it held its own special brand of challenges. One did not just stroll, down the Kicking Horse, no more than Albert Rogers strolled, er crawled up. To traverse the Kicking Horse, you had to survive the Golden Staircase. Essentially, you had to survive a two-foot wide trail carved into the cliffs several hundred feet above the raging waters of the Kicking Horse River. The surveyors that plied these mountains were some of the toughest men these mountains have ever seen, but some were so terrified by the Golden Staircase that they would literally shut their eyes and hold on to the tail of their horse for guidance. As Shaw descended, he encountered a packer with a single horse ascending the staircase while he had an entire packtrain. As they mentally went through the arithmetic, one horse, several horses, one horse, several horses. In the end, they had no other option than to push the one horse off the cliff to its death. You simply can't turn a horse around on a 24 inch ledge. To attempt it risked spooking the entire pack train and risking much more dire consequences. So Shaw gets to the bottom and he bumps into the old man. I know, what are the odds. An entire mountain range and…oops, what brings you here. Rogers, in his usual congenial manner offered up a pleasant greeting that went something like: "Who the hell are you, and where the hell do you think you're going?" Thankfully, Shaw was a more reasonable man…or maybe not. The exchange continued. "It's none of your damned business to either question. Who the hell are you, anyway?" "I am Major Rogers." "My name is Shaw. I've been sent by Van Horne to examine and report on the pass through the Selkirks." That was a name that Rogers knew. Rogers was not a man to forgive a slight and he virtually exploded: "You're the…Prairie Gopher that has come into the mountains and ruined my reputation as an Engineer" Shaw was a big man, a much bigger man than Rogers and so he wasted no time jumping off his horse and grabbed Rogers  by the throat, shaking him and threatening? "Another word out of you and I'll throw you in the river and drown you" Rogers, not a big fan of water since his incident in Bath Creek in last week's episode, decided to back down. He claimed that he had been let down by an engineer and agreed to show him the route through the Selkirks. Rogers dragged Shaw up the Beaver River to the divide and then down to the Illecillewaet River. Shaw constantly criticized the route. At every turn, Shaw was there to dismiss Rogers and demean his progress. Simple things could add fuel to the fire…even former fires. As the story goes, Rogers gestured to the great Illecillewaet Glacier and exclaimed: "Shaw, I was the first white man to ever set eyes on this pass and this panorama." Shortly after this happened, Shaw found the remains of a campfire along with some rotted tent poles and asked Rogers where they had come from. The hatred continued in the exchange. Rogers replied: "How strange! I never noticed those things before. I wonder who could have camped here." To which Shaw countered: "These things were left here years ago by Moberly when he found this pass!" This was a world of egos and it usually seemed that one surveyor could never praise commend or support the work of another. Rogers was an easy man to hate and it brought him great grief. Stories like this sowed doubt in the Canadian Pacific and this pass had to be carefully scrutinized before the line could continue. After Shaw departed Rogers, heading eastward towards the Kicking Horse Pass, they encountered a second party dispatched to check up on Roger's route, led by none other than Sandford Fleming himself. Fleming had been dispatched by George Stephen, one of the two main financiers of the railroad; and if Stephen suggested an outing, you kitted up and headed for the hills. Shaw enjoyed telling Fleming that the route was impassable and that Rogers was a charlatan. As it turned out, Fleming ignored most of Shaw's stories because he had just descended the Kicking Horse and it had been the most horrifying experience of his many years in the wilderness. Nothing could possibly be worse…or could it? Descending the 'golden staircase, he later stated that he could not look down. If you did: "gives one an uncontrollable dizziness, to make the head swim and the view unsteady, even with men of tried nerve. I do not think that I can ever forget that terrible walk; it was the greatest trial I ever experienced." It was also a scorching hot summer, much like this one, and he added:  "I, myself, felt as if I had been dragged through a brook, for I was without a dry shred on me," Now let's back this up a little. All this happened before they met Rogers. As they continued on, Shaw's allegations faded and they began to recover from the terror of the Kicking Horse Pass. After connecting with Rogers, he dragged them up to the pass and Fleming, happy to see a way over the ramparts pulled out a box of cigars and toasted Rogers accomplishments and proposed that a Canadian Alpine Club be formed. Fleming was immediately voted in as president. The concept did not really take shape though until 1906 when former railroad surveyor A.O. Wheeler and reporter Elizabeth Parker took this spark and created the Alpine Club of Canada on March 27, 1906. Of course, this is a story for another episode. Things took a turn for the worse when they began the descent down the western side, into the dense interior rainforest of the Columbia Mountains. Along with Fleming was his former Minister George Grant and the experience was so harrowing that Grant would never return to such a wilderness again. As he described it: "It rained almost every day. Every night the thunder rattled over the hills with terrific reverberations, and fierce flashes lit up weirdly [sic] tall trees covered with wreaths of moss, and the forms of tired men sleeping by smoldering camp fires." In the following 5 days, they travelled only 27 km. How bad could it be? According to Grant, they pushed their way: "through acres of densest underbrush where you cannot see a yard ahead, wading through swamps and beaver dams, getting scratched from eyes to ankles with prickly thorns, scaling precipices, falling over moss- covered rocks into pitfalls, your packs almost strangling you, losing the rest of the party while you halt to feel all over whether any bones are broken, and then experiencing in your inmost soul the unutterable loneliness of savage mountains." Essentially, a good time was had by all. In this time of catered tourism with 5 million visitors a year swarming over routes that caused terror, hardship, privation, and death. It's important at times to stop, step back and wonder…if these forbearers could see what we have done with their legacy what would they think? As they see the landscape trampled and the wildlife sequestered, what would people like Rogers and Fleming say? They saw the landscape in its rawest form when even the idea of a national railway was simply a fanciful idea. Today, we don't have room for a single grizzly. We think it's more important for our dog to pee than it is for black and grizzly bears to be able to feed on the single food that allows them to exist on the landscape. Rogers was a miserable curmudgeon. He loved neither man nor beast, but he loved one thing…wilderness. As a guide, I spend a great deal of time relating the stories of those that came before. At the same time, I've written three books on the trails of western Canada and designed a 7-day mountain bike race that both Bike Magazine and Mountain Bike Magazine called 'North America's Toughest Race'. This meant that I had to explore thousands of kilometres alone in the wilderness. During this time, I often reflected on the experiences of these explorers and pioneers…the men that came before. To them, the wilderness was not something to be appreciated, it was something to be conquered…or was it? People often ask me about these men. I reply that" "Lots of people want to know what these men thought when they tore through that last tangle of wilderness and encountered an emerald green lake that had a glacier capped peak at the far end. To the left was a sheer vertical wall, and to the right was a matching vertical wall. What did they really think? Damn, another dead end!" These mountains were not something to be appreciated, they were something to be survived. Yet today, we see them with an eye of entitlement. The journals of these explorers describe a landscape of hardship and terror, but also one full of wonder and opportunity. As I look at the decisions being made just on local levels when it comes to preserving these landscapes and the ecosystems and animals that call them home. I fear that I may be one of the storytellers writing the last chapter… chroniclers of the end of our local wilderness and the animals that define it.  And with that said, it's time to wrap this episode up. I want to thank you for sharing your time with me and if you like the stories, please share the episodes with your friends. Stories are always best when shared. At Ward Cameron Enterprises, we sell wow! As a tour operator for the last 30 years, we can make sure your visit to the mountain west is one that you'll never forget. We specialize in hiking and step-on guides as well as speaking programs, nature and culture workshops and guide training. Drop us a line at info@wardcameron.com if you'd like to book your mountain experience. Today I took clients up to Mirror Lake and along the Highline Trail in Lake Louise. It's a classic trail that offers the option to crest the Big Beehive and offer panoramic views for miles. I'll post a picture in the show notes at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep040.

Steve’s Wild Idea: To share deeper stories about travel and adventure by creating an online and print media company, Adventure Journal. Steve Casimiro is the founder of Adventure Journal, an online magazine with a beautiful quarterly book that covers the deeper side of adventure. Steve has worked in journalism for years. He got his start in newspapers, then worked at Powder Magazine, helped start Snowboarder Magazine, was the founding editor of Bike Magazine, and then the west coast editor of National Geographic, before he jumped into the world as a media entrepreneur.  Becoming an entrepreneur, and starting a media company, especially at the height of the recession wasn’t easy, but Steve had the experience and the willingness to do every single job necessary, even packing and delivering magazines, to make it happen. He shares tips about starting your own business, why failure is important, and how art and adventure go hand in hand.  Listen to this episode if:  You love adventure. You love old school journalism, great stories and beautiful magazines. You are a photographer.  You want to start a business. You want to know what it really takes to start a thriving adventure magazine. For full show notes, including guest links and books mentioned during the episode, visit: http://wildideasworthliving.com/34

This episode we have an impromptu chat with Mike Ferrentino, a journalist for Bike Magazine and the popular column, The Grimy Handshake.  Go check it out! 

Mattias Fredriksson är en av världens absolut största MTB- och skidfotografer. Hans bilder har varit en starkt bidragande orsak till att sätta Sverige och många svenska åkare på kartan. På grund av hans jobb befinner han sig på resande fot under stora delar av året och det har stundtals varit svårt att få fatt på honom, därför var det superkul att vi kunde träffas då jag var på inspelningsturné i Åre. Jag satte upp mikrofonerna i Holiday Clubs nya yogastudio med utsikt över Åresjön och med två koppar kaffe och vi började prata om hans extremt långa karriär med oräkneliga bilder och omslag för Åka Skidor, Fri Flyt och internationella magasin som Bike Magazine och Powder Magazine. Vi lyckas spela in ett extremt långt avsnitt då vi pratar om sin uppväxt i Småland långt från höga berg, om att börja med skidåkning och att som liten bygga om cykeln för skogsåkning. Om att göra egna tidningar och fanzines, börja jobba på den lokala tidningen och att tjata till sig ett reportage om den svenske skidfotografen Lars Thulin. Om Riksgränsen, om jobbet på Åka Skidor, om Åre, om döden i bergen och om skillnaden mellan att plåta skidor och cykel. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We hear from Devon O’Neil, writer for BIKE Magazine about his four part article “Lines in the Dirt”. The piece explores trail access issues in three very different communities. In addition, we hear some feedback about last episode from Brannon Pack of the Ozark Off-Road Cyclists and learn a cool way for reporting on wet … Continue reading "Ep 18 – Lines in the Dirt: Exploring the BIKE Magazine Article with Writer Devon O’Neil"

The internet has done some great things for us. Especially as entrepreneurs, being involved in the digital community of outdoor sports aficionados and companies is an amazing way to build contacts and stay connected. But my guest today is taking using his internet platform to launch. . . . a print magazine! As Steve says, there are some things that just don't work as well online. Over seven years ago, Steve Casmiro started Adventure-Journal.com, an online magazine devoted to outdoor adventure. Using his experience editing Bike Magazine and Powder Magazine, he was planning to start this project in print. But, as we all know, 2008 was right when the recession hit and it was hard to get support for a new paper magazine.   Today, Adventure-Journal is a super exciting, inspiring and successful online journal. Steve's here for his second visit to the Intrepid Entrepreneur Podcast to talk about finally coming back to his original dream: a print Adventure Journal Magazine. The amazing first issue just came out this Spring!   Steve says that starting Adventure Journal online was great when he got ready to consider print again, because he already had a community of people interested in his product. Unlike when he started out in journalism, he wasn't stuck using mailings to drum up subscribers! And, he already knew what his readers would be interested in! He's spent years getting to know them.   Steve also knows how he wants the print magazine to be different from Adventure-Journal.com. He calls it a “luxurious reading experience”: lots of large pictures and plenty of room for the reader to engage with the story. Reading in ink and paper is a special experience, it should take you away from all of your devices and into an adventure. Steve is so passionate about this, he's not offering the magazine in any electronic forms. Starting a print magazine is a risky step but hearing Steve's excitement is inspirational. His vision for this magazine is so clear, and he's spent so many years honing in on it online. This episode is a must-listen for any of you with a dream project.     Bravery in Business Quote “I don't have to be that big, if I don't have to get to 10,000 circulation in the first year, I can just do the stories that I know are going to be the best stories” - Steve Casimiro (click to tweet)   Cliff Notes   AJ's slogan: The Deeper You Get, The Deeper You Get Online Adventure Journal publications mean that he  has spent the last 7 years building up a consumer base/ audience for sales of the print editions, as well as having a dialogue with readers about what they're interested in The website itself has evolved over the years and in relationship to the readers. Having an online publication/website gives you the chance to really get to know your readers and dialogue with them, but there are some stories that just don't work online. Also gives you time to prove to advertisers that your product is marketable, so they will come with you into print. Having a consumer base already means they don't have to count on losing money in the launch process, and have more editorial freedom, because there is no big publisher saying they have to hit 10,000 in circulation in the first year or go belly up. Using print to publish deeper, more thoughtful stories that require the reader to sit down away from their devices and experience them in paper & ink.  Printed stories will not be available in pdf online or in ereader editions. Only in print. Giving lots of space to the stories in print, so they have room to “breathe”. Most stories will get twice the pagination as in other magazines so its a “luxury reading experience” with lots of pictures. Going back to print is a big risk, but when Steve gets worried, he asks himself what the worst thing to happen could be, and it's failure. And he knows he's failed at many things before, and still survived. Some things work, some things don't.   “It would be kind of hypocritical if I spent all day every day writing and talking about adventure and I didn't take risks in my own business.” - Steve Casimiro (click to tweet) Resources Adventure Journal: Adventure-Journal.comPrint Subscription: Adventure-Journal.com/product/adventure-journal-quarterly-subscription/   Show Notes: IntrepidEntrepreneur.net/Adventure-Journal