Talk Gnarly To Me

🚵‍♀️ Riding Through Pregnancy: Bikes, Babies & Finding Your Limits Pregnancy doesn't automatically mean hanging up your helmet, but it does mean learning to listen to your body, adjust your expectations, and figure out what works for YOU. We're sitting down with Heidi to talk about her mountain biking journey through pregnancy, from finding the sport when she was broke and cashing in airline...

😭 Trailside Tears | When Mountain Biking Gets Emotional 🚵‍♀️ Crying on the trail? You’re not alone. Steph and Julia get real about trailside tears and what happens when fear, frustration, exposure, and life all come crashing into one ride. 😭 What Are Trailside Tears? Why frustration, fear, and overwhelm can bring you to tears mid-ride. 😳 Exposure Is a Mind Game When all you can focus on is the...

🚵‍♂️ Mountain biking is about more than bikes and trails. Sometimes, it’s about finding your people, getting through the hard stuff, and discovering that the community you build can carry you when life gets heavy. In this bonus episode, Mark joins Steph and Julia to share his journey through depression, a midlife reset, and a heart attack that led to triple bypass surgery. He opens up about how m...

💀 Crashes, injuries, and those inevitable “oh shit” moments—we’re diving into the scary side of mountain biking for this Halloween edition of Talk Gnarly To Me ! Steph and Julia talk about how crashing changes as you gain experience, the wrecks that stick with you, protective gear, crash videos, and whether mountain biking is really as dangerous as we make it out to be. From hilarious tip-overs t...

🚵‍♀️ Don’t Be Scared: Taking Up Space on the Trail 😬 It’s Not Always the Trail That Scares You — Sometimes the real fear is slowing everyone down, getting left behind, or feeling like you don’t belong. Turns out, the mental game off the bike can be just as gnarly as the one on it. 🧠 Imposter Syndrome Is Real — Julia gets into feeling out of place around stronger riders and at bike parks. Just b...

EP16: Racing Can Be Scary | Sunrise Enduro, 1st Place & a Gnarly Crash | MTB Race Recap 🚵‍♀️ Pre-Riding Sunrise Enduro — We break down the Sunrise Enduro course, scope out the technical stages, and try to figure out what we're getting ourselves into before race day. 🧠 Confidence vs. Saving Energy — How do you push yourself on technical features without blowing all your energy before the race...

🚵‍♀️ TOP TAKEAWAYS 🚲 E-Bikes Aren’t Cheating — They’re an Access Layer E-bikes can remove the fitness bottleneck so you can spend more time riding, learning, and progressing. More laps = more practice = more skills. Math we can get behind. 😂 💪 More Laps = More Progress When you're not completely cooked after one climb, you can session features, follow faster riders, and get more repetitions. S...

*BUY A JERSEY HERE* 🚵‍♀️ TOP TAKEAWAYS 🌵 We escaped the Arizona desert for a weekend of new trails. We swapped our usual terrain for unfamiliar trails, a change of scenery, and a much-needed reminder that sometimes the best thing you can do for your riding is go somewhere new. 🌲 Three stops, three very different flavors of gnarly. We’re recapping our rides at Military Sinkhole on the Mogollon R...

*BUY A TGTM JERSEY HERE * When Your Ride Is Trash… But Maybe It’s Not Your Bike Some rides are epic. Some rides are humbling. And some rides have you sitting in the parking lot afterward wondering if you have ever actually known how to ride a bike. 😂 In This Episode We Talk About: 🚲 Failing doesn’t mean you’re getting worse. Because apparently mountain biking requires us to repeatedly throw ours...

Would You Rather: Mountain Biking Edition Julia and Steph keep things light in this playful mountain biking conversation, trading trail updates, crash recovery context, and a long run of ridiculous "would you rather" scenarios. It is a casual, funny episode built more for laughs than instruction, with both hosts clearly leaning into the absurdity. In this episode, Julia and Steph also recap recent...

Fear, intuition, and how to tell the difference on the trail Steph and Julia break down how fear shows up in mountain biking, why it changes as your skills grow, and how intuition can feel a lot like fear in the moment. They get specific about the kinds of features that trigger each feeling, from exposure and steep slabs to drops, OTB risk, and night riding. This episode is especially useful for n...

Motivation, mountain biking, and staying consistent Steph and Julia sit down with archaeologist and postdoc researcher Jayde Hirniak for their first interview episode, and the conversation turns into a real talk on motivation, confidence, and what keeps riders showing up. Jayde shares how mountain biking became the outlet that carried her through graduate school, and how the same mindset that help...

Talk Gnarly to Me: What’s in our mountain biking bags Steph and Julia do a full bag dump of their mountain biking gear, comparing what actually lives in their ride bags, what’s purely emergency backup, and what they keep carrying even though they barely use it. The conversation turns into a practical, funny inventory of trail essentials, desert-specific gear, and the real-world mistakes that shape...

Showdown Bikes for Kids with Shawn Stenmark This mini episode of Talk Gnarly to Me introduces Shawn Stenmark and the upcoming Showdown Bikes 4 Kids race at Usery Park in Mesa AZ. Shawn explains how the event supports FE Racing and Bikes 4 Kids, with funds going directly toward getting local kids quality bikes, helmets, and safety gear. We also cover what makes this year different: the “I wanna roc...

Mountain Biking Trip Favorites, Bucket List Destinations, and a Few Geography Detours Julia Biddle and Steph compare favorite mountain biking trips, the kinds of terrain they love most, and the destinations they still want to ride. They also swap stories from van life, bike parks, and a few memorable crashes that made certain trips unforgettable. In this episode, they talk through the logistics an...

Things We Wish We Knew When We Started Mountain Biking Julia and Steph look back on their first rides, early crashes, and the hard lessons that shaped how they ride now. This episode is equal parts beginner advice and real talk about mindset, coaching, fueling, gear, and trail etiquette, with plenty of stories from the messy early days that every new rider can learn from this episode: Julia and St...

Starting NEXT WEEK, all of our episodes will be recorded with our brand new, super fancy (and kind of hard to figure out how to use) microphones!! 🎙️ Thank you for being patient with us as we learn how to make sound work! Your continues support means more to us than you know. Balancing Mountain Biking and Real Life: Tips for Juggling a Busy Schedule In this episode, we explore practical strategies...

*We want to thank everyone that has supported our show so far, it means more to us than you know! And we want you to know that we have heard your kind and constructive feedback about our sound, and we officially have new microphones! We are still getting them dialed in, so this episode and the episode we're releasing next Friday will still have our old mics, since they were recorded before we got...

Discover how group rides foster growth, camaraderie, and discovery in mountain biking. Join Julia and Steph as they share personal stories, safety tips, and insights into building a vibrant biking community. In this episode: 🚵 The significance of group rides for skill development and community building 📋 Differences between formal and informal group rides, including leadership and safety conside...

In this episode, Julia and Steph share practical insights and funny stories about trail etiquette, emphasizing the importance of respectful riding to preserve access and harmony among trail users. Whether you're new or experienced, understanding these principles helps foster community and protects the trails we love. Key topics: 🌲 The significance of trail etiquette in maintaining access and posi...

Join us for another Episode of Talk Gnarly to Me, today we are talking about all things confidence related. We hope you love listening to this episode, if so please leave us a rating and a review! 🎙️ Confidence grows through intentional skill practice, not just time on the bike. 💪 Practicing specific moves in controlled settings builds real trust in your abilities. 🧠 Overcoming fear creates a me...

In this episode, Julia and Steph explore how mountain biking fosters a vibrant sense of community, supports confidence, and bridges social gaps. They share personal stories, practical tips, and insights into the supportive mountain biking culture that extends beyond the trails. How mountain biking shapes friendship networks, especially in new environments like Phoenix and Indiana. The balancing ac...

Talk Gnarly to Me: Intro Episode- Welcome to the Mountain Biking Community Kick off with us as we introduce ourselves, share our mountain biking journeys, and discuss what makes mountain biking such a gnarly and community-driven sport. Whether you're a seasoned rider or just curious, this episode sets the tone for authentic conversations about bikes, trails, and the lifestyle. Main Topics: Persona...