Singletracks Mountain Bike News

Ryan Gaul is the Trek Factory Racing DH team manager and technical director. He’s been at Trek for about 10 years and is based in Madison, WI. How close to stock do DH and enduro riders run their bikes? Which aspects of a bike are modified to suit track conditions, and what stays the same for every race? Do World Cup racers take many risks when it comes to equipment, or are they pretty conservative? Is it common to run test parts, or prototypes in races? Is it difficult to convince athletes to try new components on their bikes? What type of race information is useful for product designers at the brand? How do you collect and communicate that information? How many spare parts/bikes do you bring to a World Cup race for each athlete? Are most athletes pretty involved in working on their own bikes? What’s the most stressful part of a World Cup weekend for you? Keep up with the Trek Factory Racing team at racing.trekbikes.com. The Singletracks podcast is brought to you by TPC -- The Pro’s Closet.

Matt Shriver is the General Manager and technical director for the Trek Factory Racing cross country team and is based in Durango Colorado. He’s a former pro rider himself and previously served as the technical director for the Trek WorldTour road team for seven years. How did you make the transition from professional racing to managing race teams? What are the responsibilities of a pro team liaison? Does Trek Factory Racing provide coaching resources to athletes, or do athletes tend to bring their own training team? Some pro teams are organized as collectives, while others like Trek Factory Racing seem to lean on more of a team model. Are there different philosophies among the different racing groups in MTB? Is mountain biking a team sport? Is there a lot of strategy in MTB racing? How does recovery work between races? Is there much downtime for the staff and athletes in between events? How are team athletes selected? What is the most stressful part of being a team liaison? How intrusive are a

Dr. Kristin E. Keim is a sports psychologist and a member of the US Olympic Committee Sport Psychology and Mental Training Registry. She has helped countless individual athletes and teams achieve their goals using a holistic, strength-based approach to sports psychology. (Click here or see the link below for Dr. Keim's complete bio). In this interview, we ask Dr. Keim: What are some of the areas where athletes like mountain bikers face mental challenges? Is it common for athletes to incorporate mental skills training into their preparations? Do you have any tips for helping folks get through a tough workout, or even just a really tough part of a ride? Is positive visualization an important part of developing a winning mindset? What are some things that make it tough to stay motivated? Are there any shortcuts to developing confidence? How do we get it back after a crash? Is happiness connected to athletic performance? Do you get nervous before a race or competition? How do you calm your nerves?

Karlos Bernart is the Founder, Off Road Architect, & Event Mastermind at Singletrack Samurai. His group organizes and plans a number of rides and bike routes in Florida including the Huracan 300, CFITT, and the Florida Divide. How did you get into mountain biking and route planning? Is your goal to include as much singletrack as possible when you design bikepacking routes like the Huracan 300? How has the route evolved over the years, and why? Is it difficult coordinating access with land managers along the route for a long, 100+ mile rides? How do you know when you’ve added the right number of challenges to a route? Do you try to balance difficulty with enjoyability? What is the right size for an race like the Huracan? How much time do you spend scouting new routes, and verifying that existing ones still work? Of all the Florida off-road routes you’ve assembled, which one is your favorite? Which one do you recommend for folks who want the full Florida off-road experience? Which bikepacking

Lennard Zinn is a bike designer and frame builder with a shop  in Louisville, Colorado. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic cycling team and worked with Tom Ritchey on some of the earliest mountain bikes. He’s also the author of Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, one of the world’s best selling guides to mountain bike repair. In this episode we ask: How did you get into designing and building bikes? Zinn and the Art of MTB Maintenance was first published in 1996, and it’s now in its 6th edition. What’s changed over the years? Are today’s bikes easier to work on than bikes were 10, or 20 years ago? Why? What are the challenges involved in fitting taller riders? What have you learned about crank lengths over the years? Do tall cyclists have any particular advantages when it comes to power or bike handling? What are the considerations in terms of frame design for bigger and heavier riders? Is any of this applicable to more aggressive mountain bike designs, and vice versa? What are t

Mike Repyak is the Director of Planning and Design at Trail Solutions, the trail development arm of the International Mountain Biking Association. He’s been involved in recreation planning and trail network design for many years and is currently based in Madison, Wisconsin. In this episode we ask: How is Trail Solutions related to IMBA, and what does it do? What are some ways designers can influence trail riders' experience? Would you say we generally have the right mix of green, blue, and black trails in most places in the US? How does the cost to build a new trail today compare to 10 years ago? Are there enough experienced, quality MTB trail builders in the US? How do maintenance considerations play into trail planning? Is chipseal something that is helpful in building low-maintenance trails? What are some current mountain bike trail projects you’re stoked about? From your perspective, is there a connection between the growth of MTB participation with the growth in trail building? Does a gr

Jason Williams is the Senior Sports Scientist in the Human Performance division at Specialized and a bike fitter at Retul, a Specialized brand that’s focused on delivering technically advanced bike fitting and product matching technology. Retul works with top level athletes and uses collected data to help inform product design, notably the Specialized Body Geometry line. In this episode we ask: Is bike fitting today different than it was 10 or 20 years ago? Have bike fits always been so data-driven? Has bike fit data traditionally been fed back into bike design? How are current trends in mountain bike frame geometry like steeper seat tube angles and longer reach affecting bike fit? Is there tension between a good bike fit, and the idea of a “normal-looking” bike setup? How do ride dynamics play into bike fitting? Are you able to optimize a rider’s weight distribution on the mountain bike? Is there an easy way to tell if you are running the proper bar width for your body? What are the consideratio

In this episode Matt and Jeff discuss the results from a recent survey that asked, "What is the least useful mountain bike innovation?". For those who missed our survey, the top five answers among nearly 10,000 votes were: Electronic suspension control (22%) Electronic shifting (17%) Flip chips (14%) Internal cable routing (12%) Hip packs (7%) Commenters pointed a few choices we didn't include in the survey, so we talked about those as well. Steering stabilizers and limiters Tire inserts 20mm thru axles --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/singletracks/support

Aaron Chamberlain is the Bicycle Sales and Marketing Manager at Maxxis, one of the largest bicycle tire manufacturers in the world known for producing high quality products. In this episode we ask: Where are we at with bike tire widths? Clearly fat and plus tire adoption have peaked so are things looking pretty stable these days in terms of widths? What are the considerations when choosing the right tire width, especially when there are so many choices? Will a tenth of an inch in width make a noticeable difference to anyone? Do you think bike brands do a good job speccing tires on bikes? Do price and weight get prioritized over performance in some cases? Which MTB tire features are a good fit for gravel? Is it more difficult to design a gravel tire that’s both lightweight and fast and also durable? Do any of the innovations in gravel tires have the potential to filter to MTB? With access to pretty much any and every MTB tire you could want, how often do you change your tires: Seasonally? Every ri

Calvin Jones is the Director of Education at Park Tool company, a position he’s held for more than 15 years. He’s the author of the Big Blue Book Bicycle Repair and his repair videos on YouTube have been viewed by millions. We ask Calvin: How did you learn how to work on bikes? What type of riding do you like to do? Do mountain bikes require more or less repair and maintenance than other types of bikes? Are today’s bikes easier to work on than the bikes 10 or 20 years ago? Do bike manufacturers do a good job considering maintenance and repair when they design new products? Are Torx bolts taking over hex bolts? Which repairs are your least favorite? Will future bike mechanics need electrical skills, or is diagnosing and repairing electronic components something manufacturers will want to control? What’s the effect of YouTube videos like yours that help folks make repairs themselves at home? Check out the Park Tool YouTube channel and parktool.com. Programming note: For 2023 the Singletracks p

After a year of testing and covering the latest mountain bike releases, Matt and Jeff discuss their favorites and talk about trends for 2022 and beyond. Our favorite mountain bikes tested Bikes released and updated in 2022 2022 mountain bike trends Predictions for 2023 mountain bikes A full transcript is available for free at Singletracks.com. Cover photo Hannah Morvay. --Keep up with the latest in mountain biking at Singletracks.com and on Instagram @singletracks --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/singletracks/support

Tom Place is the co-owner and head of Product Development for Outbound Lighting (outboundlighting.com). He’s a former Cree LED manager and holds multiple LED chip design patents. In this episode, we ask Tom to fill us in on how bike lights work, and how we can get the most out of our setup for night riding. What is the ideal beam shape for trail riding? Are certain beam patterns better than others depending on where you ride (eg. wide open desert vs. thick forest)? How does light placement affect the beam shape? What’s the theory behind helmet vs. bar mounted lights? If you only have one light, is it better to be on the bars or the helmet? Can brightness make up for an inefficient or poor beam shape? Why shouldn’t buyers focus on lumen numbers? Which features can buyers look at to compare bike lights? How do you determine the optimal battery size for a bike light? Why do LED lights produce so much waste heat? Is there better tech on the horizon? What could cause a poorly designed or manufacture

Hannah Otto is a World Cup mountain bike racer, FKT record holder, and Leadville 100 winner who has been racing since the age of 9 years old. Last month she set the fastest known time for riding the Whole Enchilada from bottom to top, and top to bottom in a time of 5:50:38. You can watch a short film about her FKT attempt here (https://youtu.be/oErEWLGdPlI) and follow Hannah on Instagram @hannah_finchamp In this episode we ask: How did you first get into mountain bike racing? How do FKT attempts compare to races like the Leadville 100 or even a World Cup XC race? Is one more stressful than the other? Tell us about your Whole Enchilada FKT attempt. Why that route? Was this your first time riding this exact route? Had you ridden the Whole Enchilada descent before? According to Strava all the fastest times on the Whole Enchilada were posted by men. How did it feel to best all of them by nearly an hour? Which was more challenging: the climb or the descent? Was the weather a factor when you made your

Jonathan Hagerman and his wife Alexandra co-founded The Dirt Therapy Project, a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to helping military veterans heal through riding. Jonathan served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2009-2013 and deployed to Afghanistan as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom. With Veterans Day just around the corner, Matt and Jeff, also both veterans, speak with Jonathan about his experience serving and learn how The Dirt Therapy Project is connecting veterans with mountain biking. Learn more about The Dirt Therapy Project and find out how you can get involved at tdtp.org. ✏️ A written transcript of this conversation is available at singletracks.com. --Keep up with the latest in mountain biking at Singletracks.com and on Instagram @singletracks --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/singletracks/support

Tony Boone has been building mountain bike trails for more than 30 years, and literally helped write the book on the subject, contributing to IMBA’s Guides to Building Sweet Singletrack and Providing Great Riding. He established the first bike patrol in Colorado in 1989 and has been an active member of the Professional Trail Builders Association since 1995. In this episode we ask: What was it like working as a Boulder open space employee? How do the early trails compare to the ones you’re involved in creating today? How do you learn and establish best practices for trail building? What are some of the most common mistakes new trail builders make? How did you get involved working with IMBA, and building trails overseas? What was it like seeing the development of mountain biking in places like China? What are some of the trail projects you’re most proud of? What led you to create a community college trail building course? How do trail builders benefit from a more formal education? What is life

In 2006 Goat and two friends set out to ride mountain bikes from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, and after three and a half years of travel, the trio completed the mother of all bikepacking trips. Riding the Spine is just one of many adventures Goat has experienced over the years, including living in a tree house and building and working on countless bikes. In this episode we ask: How did you upbringing influence your adventure-based lifestyle? How did you get into cycling, and particularly long-distance riding? What was it like living in a treehouse for 4 years during college? How did the idea of Riding the Spine come about? Who was in the group? What was your bike setup at the start, and how did it evolve during the ride? Why did you and the crew get arrested in Arizona? Which sections were your favorites to ride? Have you been on any bike adventures since the trip? Do you have any planned for the future? Get more stories from Riding the Spine at ridingthes

Joe McEwan is a career aerospace engineer and carbon composites expert who founded Starling Cycles in 2014. The brand’s bikes are developed, engineered and handmade for the demands of UK trails, and the bikes have been well received among both the media and athletes. In this episode we ask: What first piqued your interest in building steel bikes? Have you tried building bikes with other materials? Is it true that that steel absorbs road and trail vibration better than other materials, and if so, can the average rider feel a difference? Do fat tires and suspension have more of an affect on ride feel than frame material? How do you go about making a steel tube stiffer in one direction than the other? Are there any design considerations that are unique to steel full-suspension frames? Why are most steel frames single-pivot? Why do some bikes like the Murmur Trail need a brace between the top tube and seat tube? Some Starling products are made in the UK, while others are welded in Taiwan. How do you

Scott Morris is a self-described “lifelong mountain biker, trail mapper and programmer.” He’s the creator of Track Leaders, a live tracking website for bikepacking races, and TopoFusion mapping software. In this episode we ask: How did first make the connection between mountain biking and computer programming? Why did you and your brother decide to create TopoFusion? Have there been growing pains as bikepacking races like the Arizona Trail Race become more popular? Will some of the unofficial races need to become more official and organized as they get larger? Are you able to keep the list of ultra endurance records for races like the Tour Divide and Huracan 300 up to date? Do you think there’s a value in keeping official records for races like this, and for FKTs? What are the challenges involved in maintaining an official list like this? What led you to create Track Leaders, and how does it work? Are SPOT devices still the best way to track outdoor races? Do you see other devices like smartphone

Dr. Kate Leeming is an explorer and adventurer who has biked tens of thousands of miles around the world, including 15,000 miles around the Australian continent in 2004 and 2005 and 22,000km across Africa from Sengal to Somalia. In 2019 she became the first person to cycle 1600km through the sands of the Namibian coast and is working toward the first-ever Antarctic bicycle crossing via the South Pole for her educational outreach organization, Breaking the Cycle. In May of this year Leeming completed her latest expedition, The Andes, the Altiplano & the Atacama. The 4,400km adventure began just as Covid-19 hit, forcing her to end her trip after 1,100km of riding. She returned earlier this year to successfully complete the trip. In this episode, we ask: What is your first memory of going on an adventure? Were you a good student in school? Did you enjoy learning? Have you always considered yourself an explorer? How does Breaking the Cycle: Education connect with your expeditions? What is the goal? W

Ned Overend is a mountain bike Hall of Famer and highly accomplished racer, winning the first ever UCI mountain bike World championship in 1990, the XTERRA world champion in 1998 and 1999, and the UCI Masters World Cyclocross Champion in 2012. Today he’s the Specialized XC mountain bike Team Captain and lives in Durango, Colorado. In this episode we ask: How did you end up settling in tiny, out-of-the-way Durango? When did you first hear the term “mountain biking”? What was your initial impression of the sport? How do you train for bicycle hill climb races? What are the keys to building endurance in general? Do genetics help? Does fat bike racing require a specialized skill set, or is it pretty similar to XC racing? Tell us a bit about the local cycling community in Durango. How has it grown and changed over the years?  What was it like last year seeing hometown rider Christopher Blevins become the first American to win a WC mountain bike race since 1994? What are some of your fondest