Skids & Giggles Mountain Bike Podcast

We sat down with Colin and Antoine Massart from Massart Biketrails as well as our former guest and fan favourite Greg Jolliffe . Earlier in 2024, the boys were building the “ Dreamline ” for a Kriss Kyle edit in Glassie Bike Park and that video got released later in the summer to much fanfare. The trail itself is part of the bike park now and open to the public for everyone to enjoy! In our chat,...

We sat down with Bram from Essar Cycles to get to know the story and the brain behind his steel creations . Unlike some of our other guests , Bram’s journey starts with the conviction that yes, of course, he can make his own bikes . It’s just a matter of finding out how and the number of different side projects along the way. Over the years, Bram has created some eye-catching frames and we get to...

Pascal sat down with Stefano Nucera for a podcast experiment of sorts, co-hosting each other’s podcasts for a chat about bikes , our stories in the sport so far, cycling communities, gravel, enduro , fixie crit and alleycat racing in Berlin, beers in the broom wagon, losing one’s bike packing virginity and, of course, Stefano’s non-alcoholic beer brand, Zeer . Stefano is the host of the Broomwagon...

We sat down with Reto Aebischer for a journey deep into the Afterlife. However, in this instance, the afterlife is not a promised existence in your favourite spiritual realm. The “ Afterlife ” is the name of Reto’s home-made carbon enduro bike that he also rode at the recent Best Ride Of The Year in Thun ! We get the all-access, behind the scenes look of what it’s like to make your own carbon bike...

For this one, we sit down exactly how we imagined it in the early days of the podcast: Just two good buddies having a chat, talking about bikes and things that could be. After almost 4 years and over 80 episodes , we could finally make it happen! In our chat, we relive the Best Ride Of The Year in Thun with all the ups and downs and the many impressions of the day. But more importantly, we reflect...

We sat down with Arno Galmarini for a deep dive into the simple strategies that every rider can implement to avoid injuries and to add longevity to their riding! With this one, we complete our project to create something positive and useful out of Bryson 's injury and recovery. In the first instalment, we sat down with Dave Spielmann to talk about recovering and coming back from injury . In that c...

We sat down with Dave Tschumi , co-owner and "Director of Figures" at Vast Trails ! We get a behind the scenes look into the business of building trails , the different roles and skillsets in successful digging teams, collaboration, the quality and art in trail building and, of course, Dave’s own journey in mountain biking that took him from instigating his first trail projects as a teenager, to w...

We sat down with Dave Spielmann for a deep dive into helping Bryson on his path back from a double fib fracture, by laying out our own experiences with coming back from injuries, the general principles and protocols as well as the many pitfalls and misconceptions on the way back to a fuller strength. We are very grateful for Dave Spielmann to volunteer his time and the expertise he never wanted fo...

Pascal sat down with Samuel Sommerhalder for a chat about our takeaways from the Swiss Cycling Guide courses, his Freeride Bike Academy in Andermatt and Aarau , his life as an online marketing specialist with the Digital Creators and how all those puzzle pieces come together in his everyday activities on and off the bike. Sämi made the trip to HQ for a rare in-person recording and it was fun to ca...

We sat down with Marco Giarrana for a deep dive into his company, FAIR Bicycle . With FAIR, Marco and his business partner Valentin are trying to rewrite the script of what product design and manufacturing means. It was interesting to hear Marco’s thoughts on sustainability, transparency, and cradle-to-cradle design - principles deeply influenced by his technical background in Zürich&nbs...

We sat down for a chat with Michelle Neuner after Chris Räber dropped her name into the hat as one to watch the other day and to hear her story with the bikes so far. And oh boy, what a story it is! Michelle left us impressed with her energy and passion for riding and we're sure to see a lot more from her in the coming years! With the run-up to the Paris Olympic games ahead of us, there are intere...

We hosted Felix Lüttin of 612 Parts for an in-person demo of the recently introduced 612 "Die Pedale" , his cyber truck brakes and more of his creations , followed by our very first live recording and Q&A at Biroma in Zurich! Felix is a repeat guest on the podcast and made waves with his brakes over the last two years, appearing on a number of show bikes and even scoring a review with the Endu...

We got to catch up with "Swiss" Chris Räber about old dogs and new tricks! If you have been following his socials like us, you will also have noted a surprising increase in clips posted to his Instagram and one thing is certain: those whips don’t lie! Chris completed 30 days of whips at the back end of last year in a mission to bring back the skills – and stoke! – of mastering tricks, and to reign...

We sat down with the Trailforks Ambassador for Switzerland , Andre Trummer , or, as he is known on the platform and on Pinkbike : Jurasick . Crowdsourcing and communities stand at the core of Trailforks and Andre gives us a great overview of the main features, on how the approach works on the platform, what his role is in channeling all that data and what regular users can do to improve the platfo...

Happy new year and welcome to a special episode of the Skids & Giggles Podcast! Our main resolution for 2024 is to connect with our community in new ways and to try and build a bridge between the virtual of the podcast and the real life experience of meeting up , hanging out and playing bikes with our friends , guests and listeners . In this episode, we lay out the basics of our idea, share so...

We sat down to catch up with Anna Newkirk but she was having none of it. Instead of giving us the run down of the season that was with Beyond Racing or laying out her plans for 2024, she decided to turn the tables on us and to ask the questions this time around! And oh boy, did she have questions. From the story of how Bryson and Pascal met and the early days of the podcast , anti cramping strateg...

We sat down with Chris Evers , one of the brand managers working for the Swiss bike brand BIXS . It turns out that amongst many other things that have to get done in that role, a brand manager is also involved in deciding who to sponsor and which race team to support , and it was interesting to get a deep dive into Chris’ process, to hear what he is looking for in a rider and which metrics he is c...

Pascal sat down with Martin Shaperjack Stänz to continue our discussions around trail building and to find out where all the double black diamond tech trails are. Martin is a full-time builder and shaper in Davos , looking after the trails on Parsenn in the summer and the Jatzpark snowpark on Jakobshorn in the winter. He has a great perspective on the current state of affairs in trail building and...

Pascal sat down for a chat with Helena Hlasova to talk about RideRawr and how they are rewriting the rules of what it means to be a cyclist - particularly for women! We get to hear about community-designed female-specific cycling bibs , more inclusive events and about all the laughs that go into creating content that supports the RideRawr mission ! With a background in rowing at the highest levels...

We sat down with Louis Eisenhut and we are stoked to be sharing this episode with you! Most people know Louis as a creator on Instagram , Youtube and TikTok , and of course, we do get to hear about how he got started, what motivates him to continue creating new content and how he tries to stay relevant in the ever changing social media landscape. More importantly though, we also talk about how Lou...

We sat back down with the “Flying Grizzly” Chris Visscher , currently the head shaper at Bikepark Lenzerheide , freerider, enduro racer, massive sender, one of the wildest whips in the game, an all-around good guy and friend of the podcast! We talk a lot about his philosophy and vision for building new trails and cool features in the bike park that suit everyone, from beginner all the way to the p...

Trail Tracker Darren Mace and Pascal sat down to catch-up after a memorable "vintage" of the Grischa Trail Ride . Both Darren and Pascal completed the last two editions of the event with their teams back-to-back and it was a good time to compare notes , discuss strategies and what riders can expect from the experience in the Grison Alps. Of course there is a bit more nuance to the Grischa Trail Ri...

A formidable team consisting of former guest Esteban "Yeti" Zimmermann , Othmar , Bryson and Pascal signed up for the 24 hour race in Schötz and we sat down to debrief shortly after this very unique experience. Naturally, we first had to answer the obvious question of WHY?! (doh, why not?), but we also dive deep into our preparation, our planning, our camp setup as well as the overall format of th...

We sat down with Micha Rudolph to talk about his Trail Building Commuter , a project bike that recently won the Leaf Cycles Klunker Custom Challenge . As the forebears of modern day mountain bikes, Klunkers hold a special place in history and adding the utility of bringing your trail building tools to the spot presents an interesting bridge to the cargo bikes and micromobility solutions of the pre...

We sat down with Luke Fitzpatrick to talk about the Privateer Lounge hosted by his Epic Bikeshop at the recent UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Lenzerheide . With a big change in the racing schedules and format for the 2023 season - certainly for downhill , Luke's initiative comes at an interesting time for the sport and is was great to hear his perspective on the difficulties faced by racers lookin...