Vital Mtb - Speaking Of Mountain Biking

One of America's fastest downhillers is also one of America's greatest hopes for the survival and growth of #USDH

Jeff Lenosky is a household name for any long-time mountain biker. The diversely talented rider started skating and riding BMX as a youngster and pointed those skills at a mountain bike in high school. At 6'4", the BMX bikes were always small for him, so mountain bikes were a perfect fit. Finding his way into a cross country race, he realized that trials existed and was a progression of the street riding he was doing at home. While working at a machine shop, he built his own triple clamp trials fork, created his own pre-V-brakes and chased his passion to become a professional mountain biker using every opportunity he could. Once he had 75 sponsors on his jersey because he thought the more the better, but Jeff, who has plenty of natural business sense, quickly learned the best strategies and angles for being a long-time professional mountain biker. Enjoy the stories and experiences of one of mountain biking's finest. 

All of your questions answered! We discuss one of the hottest tech topics in mountain biking with the guys making rear shocks for a living. See the full story at http://www.vitalmtb.com/features/TECH-TALK-Air-Shocks-Versus-Coil-Shocks-Whats-Better,2065

Welcome mountain bikers! We have an extremely special guest on The Inside Line. Few in out sport have such a storied career as Toby Henderson. He began racing BMX bikes some 40 years ago and turned that desire to race bikes and avoid "a real job" into one of the most varied and successful careers in both BMX and mountain biking. I remember seeing Toby in BMX magazines as a kid and then in mountain bike magazines when I first caught wind of the sport and knew he was a good rider, but didn't realize he had such a passion for product development. I thought the success of the infamous T.H.E. fender was a fluke, but it clearly wasn't. Toby is determined, focused and driven to succeed with his product business, despite the challenges that arise. Through BOX components he's challenging the two monsters of drivetrain with an alternative. Why would anyone take on that fight? Learn why in our interview. 

Cesar Rojo of Cero Design and the man behind UNNO bikes dropped in on us at Whistler during Crankworx. He was riding and showing off his exotic carbon downhill bike to the droves of curious, drooling on-lookers. The talented Spaniard has a World Cup DH pedigree as he was part of the original Global Racing squad in the early 2000's. Combining his riding skill with a passion for engineering, Cesar, through his company Cero Design, is likely the reason that your head angle is comfortably slack and your reach measurements are roomy. Enjoy some history and philosophy as we discuss the past, present and future of mountain biking and his exotic UNNO bikes.

Arguably the gnarliest downhill race on the planet, Red Bull Hardline whittles down a heavy field of riders to a select few. Enjoy interviews with the race winner, Craig Evans and his fellow competitors.

As one of mountain biking's greatest photographers and storytellers, Sven Martin's name should ring out to anyone who's been on Vital MTB or picked up a magazine in the last 10 years. His images and interviews capture the atmosphere and emotion of the World Cup and Enduro World Series in a way that only those of a true mountain biking superfan can. The South African's immersion and investment in our sport started by chance after his wife Anka picked up a bike while they were living in Southern California. Through riding, racing and photography, he has carved out the dream life; traveling the world, riding bikes and taking photos of his adventures. His success, however, comes from passion, hustle and hard work that many don't get to see. Sven is a friend of mine, but I still look at him as the greatest storyteller in mountain biking right now, and he's a huge reason for Vital's success throughout the years. Our interview is long, but it's full of inspiration, information

The 2017 UCI Mountain Bike DH World Championships are in the books with Loic Bruni and Miranda Miller earning the rainbow stripes in Cairns, Australia. Vital's main man on the ground, Sven Martin, speaks with the winners, their mechanics and also Myriam Nicole and Mick and Tracey Hannah in this special for our podcast channel. Stay tuned for the race day slideshow and the return of The Inside Line podcast this week.

You may know him as Fitzy, but Mark Fitzsimmons took a passion for two-wheeled thrills combined with disassembling things and turned it into a career. As Race Program Director for FOX, he's involved in product development for the consumer market which can only get there through the rigors of world-class racing and competition. Besides being a slayer on two wheels (with or without motors), Fitzy has worked with the best riders on the planet and knows what it takes to get the highest performing suspension products in to the hands of every-day mountain bikers. He speaks on his history, his career with FOX, collaborating with world's fastest racers, 29er DH fork development, what racers and average riders need, as well as the future of mountain bike suspension. It was a privilege to be able to pick his brain for an hour and I hope you enjoy the podcast. -spomer

Corner the best downhill mountain biker of all time, force him into his car and see what kind of questions he'll answer.

The journey of today's Inside Line guest is inspiring. Joe Graney just happens to be CEO of Santa Cruz Bicycles, but he never had the goal of being the man in charge of such a highly influential bike brand. The Bostonian followed his passion for riding bikes, tinkering with bikes, machining and engineering. Mix in a little RV life and low and behold, after designing some of mountain biking's most popular rigs, he's running the show at Santa Cruz. Not surprising, however, he's as down to earth as the first time I met him, some 7 or 8 years ago. I enjoyed getting to know more of Joe's story, hearing about the struggles and success of Santa Cruz, discussing the Syndicate and what the future holds for MTB. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Josh Carlson popped onto the world enduro scene unknown, but he left his mark early on. Always ready to go for it, Josh had some big tumbles and serious injuries before figuring out how to channel his inner sender and develop the kind of consistency required to feature on page one of the results sheet. We had the opportunity to meet Josh at the recent launch of the new Giant Reign, and we sat down with the affable Aussie for an informal but very informative chat about all things enduro. Hit play and join the party!

If it weren't for Hans Rey's VHS videos, I'm not sure I would have found the same love for mountain biking that I have now. Without that love for mountain biking found in the mid-90's, there's a great chance that I would not be where I am in mountain bike media today. My story about the impact, direct or indirect, that Hans Rey has had on my mountain biking experience is just one of thousands out there. Exposed to the first days of the new sport of bicycle trials, Hans rose through the competitive trials ranks to earn multiple World Championship victories. His trials skills took him to California where he was introduced to mountain biking and the rest is history. From VHS videos to riding Kilimanjaro to his wheels4life.org charity, Hans wrote the book on what it means to be a professional mountain biker through competition or non-competitive adventures. It was a pleasure and honor to interview one of my early MTB heroes and I hope you enjoy the interview. Visit www.wheels4life.org to

It's hard to believe that NSMB.com is almost 20 years old. Cam McRae and two friends saw a void in mountain biking content that reflected their aggressive riding styles and instead of starting a print magazine, decided that the internet was the most effective way of sharing the gospel of MTB. Fast-forward to today and NSMB is a highly respected editorial outlet sharing the authentic mountain biking experience. Cam trusts his instincts and follows his soul with the content that he and NSMB produces. From Dangerous Dan to Digger to the modern enduro bike, Cam has seen it all. Learn more about his history and his passion for our great sport. -spomer

Eliot Jackson is a professional downhill racer on the Giant Factory Off-Road Racing team. The long-time American pinner has roots in motocross and is no stranger to high-performance racing. He discusses how telemetry and data acquisition has impacted his mountain bike race training and preparation with some eye-opening results.Visit http://www.vitalmtb.com/features/TECH-TALK-Giant-Factory-Off-Roads-Eliot-Jackson-on-Data-Acquisition-and-Bike-Set-Up,1852 for photos and more details about this high-tech data gatherting system.

Dave Garland is a bike wizard. The Giant Factory Off-Road mechanic uses his latest piece of tech to help refine his World Cup DH racers' set-ups and bring to light feel versus reality on course. Bike nerds rejoice!

Brandon Sloan is a long-time Specialized employee who has worked his way up through the ranks, landing as the director in charge of all things bike. While he avoids disclosing an official title and says he's never had a "real job," Brandon is responsible for the development of some influential products over the years like the Big Hit with 24-inch rear wheel, the Demo, the Enduro, including the Enduro 29, and plenty more. We discuss a fondness for Dr. Pepper, working with Sam Hill and Aaron Gwin on the Demo's development, Specialized's product testing procedures, direct-to-consumer sales and what the future may look like for mountain biking. I had a great time learning about this legend of modern mountain bike development and I hope you do to.

We put Brendog on the spot to talk about movies, racing, and where you should travel to ride your bike next. Uncut and straight off the cuff!

Chris Hilton, a long-time mountain bike industry figure, left his Alabama home in the 90's to pursue mountain bike racing. When he realized he wasn't cut out for competitive XC racing, he found his way into the business side of our sport, eventually landing at SRAM some 10 years ago. Getting his feet wet with SRAM XX 2x10 drivetrain development, he's a big reason why 1x drivetrains are so successful today. Chris would dig through the boxes of random products that SRAM engineers had collected over the years, questioning if these unused technologies could be used on mountain bikes. Chris and his team pushed the development of wide-range 1x drivetrains into production as riders and racers were already running cobbled-together 1x drivetrains on their own. From XX1 through Eagle (which he originally didn't embrace), Chris has been there for some MTB's most important drivetrain refinements. Enjoy the past, the present and the future of drivetrains and bike development with a passionate ride

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.