Vital Mtb - Speaking Of Mountain Biking

It was another day of incredible racing at the Leogang World Cup Downhill. Times were incredibly close and there was no room for error. Sven, Boris and Dan deliver the intimate post-race interviews with the winners and the heart-broken.

See the full report on www.vitalmtb.com - The fastest riders respond to changes made to the once-boring Leogang, Austria, World Cup DH track.

Sven Martin and Boris Beyer talk with the racers at the Fort William World Cup DH today where Amaury Pierron, Tahnee Seagrave, Kye A'hern and Vali Holl took victories. Also interviewed are riders like Aaron Gwin, Loris Vergier, Rachel Atherton, Greg Minnaar, Troy Brosnan, Martin Maes, Reece Wilson and Loic Bruni. Martin Whiteley wraps up the interviews with some exciting news about potential future World Cup DH venues.

One of mountain bike racing's most important and influential men is our guest on The Inside Line this week. Martin Whiteley, owner of the YT Mob, has been involved in World Cup MTB racing since the very beginning. From racer to UCI delegate to team owner, he is a veritable encyclopedia of race knowledge. Lee Trumpore sits down with Martin to discuss the health of World Cup mountain bike racing now compared to the past, the talents of riders like Greg Minnaar and Aaron Gwin as well as the future of racing. Dig in, it's full of incredible history and facts of our sport. 

There's an Outkast song with a quote describing Teddy Pendergrass as cooler than Freddie Jackson sipping a milkshake in a snowstorm. That quote could easily be attached to the one and only, John Hall, mechanic for Aaron Gwin and the YT Mob. From his South Dakota roots racing BMX to New World Disorder-inspired hucking, John landed in Southern California when he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Not wanting to return home after his service, he worked construction and eventually landed a job as a bike mechanic at a shop in Hemet, California. Combine a willingness to work with a little bit of timing, luck and friendships and eventually John found his way to working with Aaron. Fast-forward to today and he's helped earn boatload of World Cup DH wins and provided design input on the new YT TUES. Get inspired by a steady demeanor and strong work ethic and enjoy this Inside Line with Mr. Cool John Hall. 

Have you ever climbed 1,000,000 vertical feet in a year on your mountain bike, let alone a VP-Free? Have you ever coughed so hard your jaw locked open? The legendary Sergeant of Suffering, Mark Weir has. Weir is a NorCal MTB legend who has given us Hell Ride, helped blaze the pumptrack trail and taught us that epic adventure is what getting into the mountains is all about. Marco Osborne is a young, upstart American enduro racing pinner who learned all he needs to know from Mark Weir. At the TDS (The Dirty Sanchez) Enduro a couple weeks ago, Vital's Brandon Turman sat down with Weir and Osborne to see talk enduro racing, suffering for your trails in Marin county and putting your wheels where your heart is.

It is with great pleasure to share this week's Inside Line podcast with you. The incredibly funny, energetic and honest Leigh Donovan, American mountain bike racing legend and World Champion, gets on the mic to talk race history, sponsorship highs and lows, dealing with anxiety and how important it is that we get more people safely on mountain bikes. I've always been a fan of hers but have a new respect for all that she accomplished and achieved throughout her career after this interview. I hope you enjoy it and learn as much as I did. -gordo

@maddogboris gets a post-race interview with Laurie Greenland, winner of the iXS Downhill Cup in Maribor, Slovenia. It was like a mini-World Cup with Croatia right around the corner.

Enjoy this informal, fun interview with Greg Callaghan and Gee Atherton. The two were training together in Southern California and we thought it would be fun to have the racers ask each other the questions.

I believe that Rob Warner is a significant part of the success of today's World Cup Downhill mountain biking. As a winning DH racer, he turned his passion and knowledge into a career as the voice of our sport. Starting as commentator for the first World Cup DH race webcasts with Freecaster.tv, he made the transition when Red Bull TV took over the webcast and has honed his narrative skills ever since. I'm honored to have had the chance to meet and interview Rob as he visited California for some other bike-related projects. Learning about the behind-the-scenes effort that goes into what we hear on race day was eye-opening. I enjoyed every minute in his presence with this interview and hope that you enjoy it too. Bring on Croatia!

Chris Cocalis has a deeply rooted history in the sport of mountain biking. Coming from a BMX background, he combined his love of riding bikes and improving on broken parts into a lifelong career in MTB. From days as a racer and shop employee, he learned how to weld and started making bikes at an early age out of pure passion. That passion led Chris to create Titus cycles in the 90's and ultimately lead him on the journey to start Pivot Cycles ten years ago. Enjoy his inspiring story as we talk about his past as well as the present and future of Pivot Cycles and our sport in general.

The Inside Line podcast sits down with Jack Moir, Charlie Harrison and Dean Luca, the athletes of Intense Factory Racing. These successful downhillers have been progressing and climbing through the ranks and are anxious to kick off the 2018 World Cup DH season. This fun and serious interview is full of insight and some incredible stories about keeping their prototype Intense M29 bikes rolling in 2017. Team Manager, Bernat Guardia, Technical Director, Chappy Fiene and team photographer, Nathan Hughes all weigh in during this podcast. Enjoy!

Gee Atherton needs very little in the way of an introduction. As one of the fastest humans on a mountain bike, he's always been a personal favorite of mine on World Cup race day. His 2017 season was impacted by a severe hip dislocation at a local Fort William race and he was off the bike for months. He eventually returned to racing at the Lenzerheide World Cup DH, significantly earlier than expected. With the 2018 World Cup downhill season just a few weeks a way, I was stoked to get Gee on The Inside Line to discuss the upcoming season, racing in general and what makes him tick. -gordo

Welcome mountain bikers. Mike Ferrentino, today's guest, has been a mentor and inspiration of mine and is one of my favorite humans. Whenever we cross paths, I always feel lucky that mountain biking has given me the chance to meet people like him. He's passionate, funny, crusty, opinionated but transparent and real. I hope you enjoy his stories and insight on bikes and life as much as I did. -gordo

It's incredible to think that the Enduro World Series is just over five years old. While the format of enduro mountain bike racing has existed for years, the EWS, still in its infancy, has become the global force by which all other enduro events are now measured. One of the hearts and brains behind the Enduro World Series is Chris Ball. A former downhill racer and UCI official, Chris and some close peers decided mountain bike racing needed a change, and the rest is history. Vital friend and contributor, Lee Trumpore, met with Chris in Scotland a few weeks back. What was supposed to be a 10-minute interview turned a passionate and enlightening conversation about all things enduro. After all, that's what happens when mountain biking superfans get together.

It's an honor and a pleasure to kick off our 2018 Inside line podcast with one of America's most dedicated gravity racers, Curtis Keene. This Northern California native turned a passion for riding bikes into a full-time racing career. While working as an electrician, he raced downhill for a decade, working his way up to the Elite World Cup ranks before finding himself as a podium contender on the Enduro World Series stage. We discuss his love for bikes and racing, his strong work ethic, the ups and downs of competing in the EWS and hit on some of his bike set-up preferences. Enjoy our interview with Curtis Keene, who we lovingly call, the American Dream.

When the Santa Cruz Syndicate gives you a couple hours of their time during an off-season evening, you jump on the chance to meet them. Greg Minnaar, Loris Vergier and Luca Shaw were in Southern California making the rounds, visiting sponsors and enjoying weather. Thankfully, they agreed to sit down for a fun and candid interview for The Inside Line. Enjoy some quality time with one of downhilling's most fun and exciting teams.

Nope, it's not Wednesday. This week we're dropping the podcast early to coincide with the big news around Intense and today's guest, Jeff Steber. Intense has made the decision to offer their bikes directly to the rider through online sales. They have a unique sales model, however, that keeps their dealers involved in the process. I had a great time speaking with Jeff the other day about his history, the changing faces of Intense over the years and this new direction they've decided to take. Here's to some great discussion with one of mountain biking's most influential, inspirational and creative men, Jeff Steber of Intense.

I'm extremely honored to introduce today's guest of The Inside Line, Kathy Sessler. The first thing I want to say is that I feel like I was way off in our interview intro when I call her the "Den Mother" of the Santa Cruz Syndicate. While I meant that to be endearing, I realized, after our interview, that the term doesn't convey the complexity and responsibility that comes with being Syndicate team manager. My perceptions of what she does with arguably downhilling's most exciting team were completely changed after the interview. I hope the conversation we had gets you get stoked on Kathy's extremely deep history with bikes and racing, as well as with what she does for our sport today. Enjoy the show! -gordo

Matt Thompson may be the biggest reason for the existence of Vital MTB. As one of my best friends, back in 2009, he suggested I contact Vital Media Network to see if they were interested in starting a mountain bike website. They had Vital MX and Vital BMX running successfully and I ran Littermag at the time. The rest is history. Matt is a staple fixture of the Colorado mountain biking community and has taken a life dedicated to downhill racing and turned it into a career as a trail builder with his company, Momentum Trail Concepts. We talk about his personal history, the Colorado race scene, developing municipal trail systems, head injury and DH superfandom in this special interview. -gordo