The Inside Line Podcast - Vital MTB

Welcome Mountain Bikers! Thanks for tuning in to Vital MTB’s The Inside Line podcast. I’m your host, Shawn Spomer. Today we have a treat! Charlie Sponsel, sometimes known as Team Robot is on the show. Charlie was a professional mountain bike racer, has a hilarious and informative presence on the internet, and is a down-to-earth, straight shooter when it comes to both bikes and, more importantly, l...

Welcome Mountain Bikers! Did you know that Santa Cruz had shipping delays this year because they couldn’t get cardboard for their bike boxes? That is the kind of world we’re living in right now, and on today’s show, we talk with CEO of Santa Cruz, Joe Graney, about the current state of the bike industry and bike availability. This episode is also available as a video on VitalMTB.com and our YouTub...

Sven Martin, renowned mountain bike photographer, answers some of your questions in the second installment of #AskSvenAnything. Whether he’s giving a photography tutorial or describing how getting certain photographs was "probably-legal", his answers are inspiring and document the history of our great sport. Take your time, enjoy the audio responses and get lost in the tiny sampling of p...

Welcome mountain bikers, happy 2021! What happens when the kids ask you for the mic so they can record their own Inside Line? Well, today happens and it warms my cold, black heart to no end. The #USDH gravity-loving crew from Rooted MTB take over the show to discuss their experiences as American downhill racers. Their honest, fun, self-deprecating look at what it takes to chase World Cup downhill...

Welcome Mountain Bikers. This is Vital MTB’s The Inside Line podcast, I’m gordo, and I hope you had a good holiday season. With 2021 just a moment away, I’m stoked to be sitting with a local bike shop owner for our show today. Ryan Cowling is the owner of Kore North Bike Shop in Meridian, Idaho. If I ever had a dream shop setup, it would be this…mountain bikes and skateboards! We discuss his histo...

Welcome Mountain Bikers, we’re stoked to start a new monthly feature with our best photo friend and trackside heckler, Sven Martin. A week ago, using Instagram, we challenged you to #AskSvenAnything. Sven has chosen a good handful of questions out of the many that came in and dives deep into the answers. Whether he’s giving a masterclass in his photographic process or trolling Rachel Atherton to r...

Welcome mountain bikers! We're lucky as a four-leaf clover to have John Lawlor on the show! John is a long-time mountain bike rider and racer-turned videographer and filmmaker. He’s been responsible for Vital RAW videos from World Cup downhill races the last few years and is a staple on the race scene. We talk team rumors, VHS tapes, his career as a former Elite-level bike racer, and the futu...

Welcome mountain bikers! Thanks for tuning in to Vital MTB’s The Inside Line podcast. Today we're joined by MTB Marketing Manager for Maxxis Tires, Aaron Chamberlain. Maxxis has been behind The Inside Line since day one, almost four years now, and it's all thanks to Aaron. We're honored to have such a top-shelf brand getting behind something we believe in here at Vital. Aaron discus...

Welcome mountain bikers! We're proud to have a trail-building, bike-shredding guest on The Inside Line podcast today. Steve Wentz of Momentum Trail Concepts joins us in Boise, Idaho, in between excavator sessions, as he carves out a new trail here in town. The trail is part of a SWIMBA project that has been in the works for some time, and it offers up some new, exciting riding in our region....

Welcome Mountain Bikers! Thanks for tuning in to this special race-edition of The Inside Line mountain bike podcast. Today we feature racer interviews from the final World Cup Downhill of 2020. Race winners and others discuss the challenging double-header weekend. Loic Bruni, Greg Minnaar, Marine Cabirou, Matt Walker are just a few on the mic with @maddogboris and Dan Hearn, who covered the race f...

Picture this: You move from Florida to the West Coast, only to hear the siren song of mountain biking. In a matter of years, it takes over your life. You move to a small, mountain bike-centric town and the house you move to is strategically located a short pedal from the local trail network. You make your passion your job, you write about riding, and dedicate your livelihood to sharing the lives o...

In this Tech Talk episode, Vital MTB's Brandon Turman calls up Giant Bicycles Category Manager, JC Schellenbach, and retired Professional mountain bike rider, Adam Craig, to discuss one of Giant's most exciting new bikes – the just-introduced Trance X Advanced Pro 29. Featuring 135mm rear travel, 150mm up front, progressive geometry, and a clever flip chip, this one is ready for anything...

Welcome mountain bikers! Thanks for tuning in to Vital MTB’s The Inside Line. I’ve been missing the face-to-face interviews that have become less frequent due to the Covid restrictions. It’s hard to believe that almost two years ago, we ran this two-part interview with mountain bike legend, Kirt Voreis and Cam McCaul as co-host. I wanted to run it again because, 1. you can never get too much Vorei...

Welcome mountain bikers! Thanks for tuning in to Vital MTB’s The Inside Line podcast. We have a great show today with guest, Chris Mandell of SRAM. He has a long history in the mountain biking industry. We get into all kinds of suspension discussion thanks to his experience at RockShox, and we learn about his penchant for big, suffering rides. We hope you're getting on the trails and staying...

Welcome mountain bikers, this is a pre-game E-Bike Test Sessions edition of The Inside Line podcast. I’m Shawn Spomer and I’m stoked to be social distancing, in-person, with Vital’s very own Brandon *huck-n-slap-it-to-flat* Turman, Brad, *B3z-Bullet-Head* Howell, and our secret weapon tester, Sean *Griz* McClendon, who, when he’s not slinging the bling at Deity, likes to pretend he’s Kovarik doing...

Welcome mountain bikers. This is the inside line podcast. I’m gordo and I’m honored to have co-host, Sean "Griz" McClendon, with me as we grill the one, the only, Kyle Strait. There’s no box to put Kyle in. He’s been a successful World Cup DH mountain bike racer, he's a king of style at the dirt jumps, he owns the Dual Slalom track, is a two-time Red Bull Rampage winner and one of t...

In this Tech Talk episode, Vital MTB's Brandon Turman calls up RockShox Product Manager, Jon Cancellier, to discuss one of the biggest, burliest forks in years – the just introduced RockShox ZEB. Featuring 38mm stanchions and travel lengths up to 190mm, you know this one is ready for business. The two cover everything from stiffness considerations to Pro rider feedback, where it shines on the...

Clear down to the smallest details, Ibis bikes are known for their incredibly clean design. Roxy Lo has played a major role in making those bikes look and function in a phenomenal way. Her experience and role merge analytical and creative worlds. She's a bad-ass industrial designer with experience in a wide variety of fields and isn't afraid to bust out the sketchbook or virtual reality...

Ryan Cleek has been one of mountain biking's storytellers for over 20 years. He's played many roles in the industry as a photographer, writer, videographer and product tester for media outlets and bike brands alike. Along the way, he has made two feature-length films about mountain bikers and their journey in our sport. We had a chance to sit down and get the story of the storyteller, an...

The Big Mountain Enduro is the premier enduro mountain bike race series in North America. Brandon Ontiveros, founder of the BME, took his love for bikes, adventure and racing to make it his full-time job. When pro rider friends told him about European-based enduro mountain bike racing in the early 2000s, Brandon saw the writing on the wall, embraced the format, and began the successful and fun, Or...

Welcome Mountain Bikers, we're trying something a little unique today with our guest Patrik Zuest of FSA. He builds a brand new wheel from start to finish during our interview. He filmed the process and we have the video on Vital MTB and our YouTube channel , so you can watch and listen at the same time if you'd like. Patrik is a long-time mountain bike rider and mechanic. Starting as a...

Welcome mountain bikers! We are stoked to present an interview with Andrew Neethling. He's a man known for his style and fluidity on a bike with a consistent and decorated downhill race career. Since retiring from the race scene, Andrew remains involved in mountain biking as a rider for Scott Sports and a commentator for Crankworx live webcasts. He's also started his own MTB podcast call...

Welcome mountain bikers! In this special Tech Talk episode of The Inside Line podcast, we dive deep into the world of carbon composites used in mountain biking. Vital MTB's Brandon Turman is joined remotely by Nic McCrae, the R&D Manager and Senior Composites Engineer at Santa Cruz Bicycles. Nic's insightful words will help you learn the basics of how a carbon frame gets made, dispel...

We are pleased as punch to sit down with a man who's own personal history is so interwoven with the history of our sport. Howie Zink has a deep and rich relationship with mountain biking. Beyond being the older brother to freeride icon, Cameron Zink, Howie has his own stories of globe-trotting exploits, brushes with greatness and heartbreak. Listen in as Howie walks us through his journey fro...

The current Downhill Mountain Bike World Champion and World Cup DH overall winner, Loic Bruni, continues his Outspoken interview series in 2020. Despite the disruption to the racing schedule due to Coronavirus, Loic gets the last World Cup DH race winner, Danny Hart, on the line. Danny won the World Cup Downhill race at Snowshoe, West Virginia, last season and has a string of other strong performa...