Coming straight to Crested Butte after the amazing World Cup season finale, Claudio Caluori sits down with Jonathan Ellsworth in BLISTER HQ to discuss whether this was the best WC DH season ever; Loic Bruni & Amaury Pierron’s epic battle; his biggest takeaways from the men’s and women’s seasons; and what, if anything, could be done to make the series even better.
Like politics and religion, e-bikes are a topic that get people extremely worked up, often result in name calling, and rarely are productive. And this needs to change, because e-Bikes are not going away. So we talked to Dave Wiens, the executive director of the International Mountain Biking Association, to help clarify what all the fuss is about; identify what the biggest issues are with e-mountain bikes; present the concerns that the advocates of — and the opponents of — e-bikes need to understand; and lay out what the best way forward looks like.
For many of us, bikes are primarily fun. But for many others, bikes are major drivers of economic development, educational opportunity, health care, and equality. World Bicycle Relief was started by the founder of SRAM to provide bikes to developing countries, and we talk with WBR’s CEO, Dave Neiswander, about the origins of World Bicycle Relief; its trajectory and challenges; all the product design that goes into their bikes; and what each of us can do to support the WBR mission.
Sometimes “different” is better. Other times, it’s just dumb. So we discuss a number of very unconventional new products: the Trust Message linkage fork; Structure Cycleworks’ SCW1 linkage fork / frame system; high-pivot trail bikes and the Forbidden Druid; Starling Cycles’ ‘Jack Drive’ bikes; and Tannus Armour tire inserts.
Anthill Films’ latest movie, Return to Earth, displays the sick cinematography and sick bike riding that Anthill is known for. But in Return to Earth, they’re going after some bigger stakes. So we talk to Anthill’s Darcy Wittenberg and Ian Dunn about those stakes; the origins & early days of Anthill; some of the locations, riders, and cinematography in Return to Earth; and more.
We talk to Dave Wiens about skiing with Doug Coombs; participating in the early days of mountain biking; winning the Leadville 100 six times in a row — while beating Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong along the way; and we get a fresh update from Dave on the current agenda and plans of the International Mountain Bike Association.
When a small indie bike company with a heavy-metal vibe makes extremely big claims about the cutting-edge materials they are using to manufacture bikes right here in the USA, and doing all of this at a pretty modest price point … are they full of crap, or are they truly onto something here? And if so, how big of a deal is this? Jonathan Ellsworth headed to Guerrilla Gravity HQ in Denver to sit down with their co-founders and their director of composites to find out.
We talk with BLISTER senior bike editor, Noah Bodman, about Guerrilla Gravity’s modular designs; the emerging category of ‘Downcountry’ Bikes; whether ‘mullet bikes’ are just a fad; and whether the lingo used to market and sell bikes is in need of a refresh.
We talk to Bikes & Big Ideas co-host, Claudio Caluori, about the origin story of this podcast; his background in XC & DH racing, how Velosolutions got started, experiments with food & diet; the #pumpforpeace project, and more.
We’re pleased to announce our newest addition to the BLISTER Podcast Network: BIKES & BIG IDEAS, hosted by Jonathan Ellsworth and co-hosted by Claudio Caluori. Check out our trailer to learn more about what we’re up to and why.