The Art of Mountain Biking

If you would like to lend your support and help us navigate this next chapter as this amazing year comes to a close, we’d love it if you’d consider a:

One-time Donation: This would go a long way in sustaining our podcast and allowing us to continue producing valuable content. Name your price. You can send a direct donation via Paypal.

Paid Subscription: By signing up for a paid membership, not only will you be supporting us in a more sustainable manner, but you'll also gain access to ad-free listening.

Additionally, if you’re in it with your year-end holiday shopping, we've got a few ways you can support us indirectly:

Check out Xero Shoes: If you're in the market for new footwear, consider using our link when purchasing Xero Shoes. I wear almost only these. Your purchase through this link will help us earn a commission, without costing you anything extra.

Get a Fezzari Bike: If you're considering a new bike for yourself or someone special, check out Utah’s own Fezzari Bikes. Jamie rides them exclusively, and has for years. They’re awesome. Let them know that The Art of Mountain Biking Podcast sent you.

Once again, our deepest gratitude goes out to you for your continued support throughout the year. With your assistance, we can ensure the longevity of The Art of Mountain Biking Podcast and its ability to positively impact the lives of fellow (and future) enthusiasts.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a fantastic year ahead!

Go deeper in the winter to go wider in the summer.

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! Paid subscribers enjoy ad-free listening! Subscribe to our Substack here. 

Want some awesome shoes? Try Xero Shoes—they’re rad and Danielle’s new favorites are the Denvers (she still loves the Taris tho), and they have several cold-weather options too. Plus, they’re having a mega sale right now, so…

If you're considering a new bike for yourself or someone special (maybe as a holiday gift?), check out Fezzari Bikes. Jamie rides them exclusively, and has for years. They’re awesome. They offer financing options. Let them know that The Art of Mountain Biking Podcast sent you.

Referenced in this episode:

Liam Johnston, who did our cover art and is also doing the art for Danielle’s forthcoming newsletter, It’s Nuanced. He’s great.

The King’s Peak, Fezzari’s fat bike

Seasonality of human sleep: Polysomnographic data of a neuropsychiatric sleep clinic, published in the journal Frontiers of Neuroscience

“The Year of No Grudges” by poet Andrea Gibson

AOMTB Episode 38: Adventure and Mental Health with Cary Judd

The Gaia yoga app, which Jamie uses. Danielle uses Alo Moves. Also, if you live in Salt Lake County, our in-person studios are Rocksteady Bodyworks and Mountain Yoga Sandy. None of these businesses pay us—we just genuinely like them. If you see us there, say hi.

Sender Ramps

Lastly, Jamie recently had a birthday. Let’s send her some love!

Let’s connect!

Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a donation or becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the lights on!

Traction is an underlying factor to many experiences on the mountain bike. Understanding this concept will help keep you safe and make you fast. 

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! Want some awesome shoes? Try Xero Shoes—they’re rad and Danielle wears the Taris every day of her life.

Also, Fezzari Bicycles is offering special financing during their huge Black Friday sale, happening now! You can get the Delano Peak for up to $1100 off and the La Sal Peak for up to $1500 off, and there’s deals on others as well. Make sure to tell them we sent you!

Paid subscribers enjoy ad-free listening! Subscribe at theartofmountainbiking.com. 

Referenced in this episode:

Lake Blanche hiking trail

Canyon Hollow - Rush - Limelight route in Corner Canyon, UT

9k trail

Our Fast is Fun episode with Rhianon Gelsomino

Let’s connect!

Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

Sometimes, the risk of NOT going is higher than the risk of going.

CONTENT NOTICE: This conversation includes depictions of suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling, you can find help at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Visit their website or call/text 988. Please keep going.

Cary Judd is a documentarian, photographer, and adventurist. The film 828, directed by Drew Garcia, follows Cary as he attempts to ride the Iceland Ring Road on an e-skateboard.

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! Want some awesome shoes? Try Xero Shoes—they’re rad and Danielle wears the Taris every day of her life.

Paid subscribers enjoy ad-free listening! Subscribe at https://www.theartofmountainbiking.com/.

Referenced in this episode:

The film 828. You can find it on Instagram (@828documentary), Facebook, and Amazon Prime.

Dr. Gabor Mate

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

If you've ever been on a mountain bike in nature, you get it.

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! Want some awesome shoes? Try Xero Shoes—they’re rad and Danielle wears the Taris every day of her life.

Ad-free listening available to paid Substack subscribers. 

Referenced in this episode:

Danielle’s essay “On Hummingbirds” (which is NOT the title that made it to press)

The Science of Awe white paper

Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization by Scott Barry Kaufman

The poet Andrea Gibson (this one is a fav)

Danielle’s forthcoming newsletter It’s Nuanced

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

Speed isn't found, it's built. 

Rhianon Gelsomino is a professional Rally Co-Driver who has co-driven full time with Travis Pastrana and currently co-drives for Lia Block. Simply put, she knows a thing or two about speed and talks all about it in this episode.

Referenced in this episode:

Rhianon’s documentary on YouTube

Check out Rhianon’s instagram and Facebook

Brandon Semenuk

Red Bull Rampage

Travis Pastrana

Ken and Lia Block

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

Jamie's working title was "What If It Were Easy?" Tomayto tomahto. 

In case you missed it, we’ve moved to Tuesdays!

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! Want some awesome shoes? Try Xero Shoes—they’re rad and Danielle wears the Taris every day of her life.

Referenced in this episode:

The National Parks Service’s instagram account (it’s a good follow)

The trails Mormon Pioneer, Green Pond, and Brim Trail

The book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia talks about Zone 2 cardio.

Our Fall Better and Active and Passive Pressure episodes

Harvard SHINE research on caring work environments

Research from Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program on religious communities

Study linking life expectancy and marriage

The Harvard Study of Adult Development - this one wasn’t referenced directly, but it informed some of what Danielle mentioned. It’s fascinating and has been running since 1938!

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

We're naturally inclined to search for clues with our vision while riding through dynamic environments. Some clues need less of your attention. 

Also, we're on Tuesdays now, folks! Mondays were (are) a whole thing.

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! Want some awesome shoes? Try Xero Shoes—they’re rad and Danielle wears the Taris every day of her life.

We’re still calling for calling for questions for our first AMA (Ask Me Anything) from paid subscribers, so make sure you get those in by today, October 10th!

Referenced in this episode:

Our Vision episode.

Jacob's Ladder and Rush, Corner Canyon, UT

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

Any project, hobby, or avocation carries the opportunity for growth and transformation... if you let it. We chat about what that looks like and how to engage with this process in 33.

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! Want some awesome shoes? Try Xero Shoes—they’re rad and Danielle wears the Taris every day of her life.

We’re still calling for calling for questions for our first AMA (Ask Me Anything) from paid subscribers, so make sure you get those in by October 10th!

Referenced in this episode:

You Need a Thing, Danielle’s project-based personal growth model

Being Well podcast with Rick and Forrest Hanson

We Can Do Hard Things podcast with Glennon Doyle

Our transfer episode

When Danielle mentions Albert at the end of the episode, she’s referring to Albert Flynn DeSilver from episode 24

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

Your core, your center, holds your power. Learning how to generate movement and action from this place keeps you grounded and unlocks your freedom. 

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! 

This episode is a repost. If you listened back then, listen again to focus on or notice something new. If you haven’t listened yet, this one will really help you elevate your experience on the bike.

In the meantime, we’re taking a little fall break from recording and are going to be working on some new perks for paid subscribers, calling for questions for our first AMA (Ask Me Anything), and reaching out to the community more. We want to know you, so watch out for more correspondence!

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

P.S. Sorry for the delay on this one, folks.

So many skills on the bike are built on a foundation of knowing how to stop well. Braking skills buy you stability, safety, and speed. 

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! 

This episode is a repost. If you listened back then, listen again to refocus and take away something new. If you haven’t listened yet, this one will really help you elevate your experience on the bike.

In the meantime, we’re taking a little fall break from recording and are going to be working on some new perks for paid subscribers, calling for questions for our first AMA, and reaching out to the community more. We want to know you, so watch out for more correspondence these next two weeks!

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

Good bike/body separation is key to leveling up as a beginner or even an intermediate rider. When each element of your body, the bike, and the trail work in concert, you achieve dexterity on the bike.

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! 

Referenced in this episode:

Our Braking and Ride Beautifully episodes

Pepe Romero talks about finger independence at about 5:22 of this video. It’s just beautiful.

2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup

Rider Brandon Semenuk (check this out)

Centrifugal force is an outward force that pushes away from an axis of rotation on a revolving object. This is why it would be the force that pushes you into a berm, for example, because your force is moving outward away from the direction you’re turning.

Barrel roll trail in St. George, Utah

Paid subscribers will receive a copy of Jamie’s Bike Anatomy doc!

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

In mountain biking, the reasons you start are often different than the reasons you stay. This episode helps unpack the motivation and deeper 'why' underpinning our mountain biking practice.

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! Maybe you could even make it a Labor Day present…

Note: We spent an exorbitant amount of time talking about the Soldier Hollow Classic International Sheepdog competition. Alas, there is no event this year… and it may be moving away from Labor Day weekend in the future. Danielle will recover, eventually.

Referenced in this episode:

Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke

Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing by Pete Davis

The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm

The Year of No Grudges by Andrea Gibson

Our Active and Passive Pressure episode

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

Enhancing how our bodies move through space and time is a major step toward health and longevity. This episode gives a lot on proprioception, touches on racheting, and gets quite anthropological. 

Like the podcast? Send us a tip, here! Maybe you could even make it a Labor Day present…

We talk about:

Labor Day and sheep [1:49]

Knowing how our bodies move through space [8:03]

Proprioception as critical to meaningfully interact with the environment [12:40]

Different starting lines for body awareness [17:11]

We have way more than 5 senses [20:00]

Racheting [22:32]

How space and place inform the human experience [34:12]

The human body as central to understanding space [39:19]

Referenced in this episode:

A reel about postural sway

Exactly how many senses do we really have?

Industry Nine hubs

Our jumps episode and concepts that relate to our Fall Better episode.

Aymara people from the Andes see the future as behind them.

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here!

Rest is an often underemphasized skill that supports, well, everything... including mountain biking. And, as with any skill, we need a systematized way of approaching it. 

About Scott Moore

Scott has spent the past 20 years studying, practicing, and teaching yoga, Yoga Nidra, and meditation. He’s taught everyone from rock stars to recovering addicts, from young to old, ultra-athletes to the ultra-stressed out. He’s the author of Practical Yoga Nidra: A 10-Step Method to Reduce Stress, Improve Sleep, and Restore Your Spirit and several courses and trainings on yoga nidra and more.

We talk about:

What is yoga nidra? [5:10]

‘Samadhi’ moments in mtb [12:30]

Systematized relaxation [19:28]

Yoga nidra and meditation to access the subconscious [27:47]

Extremity as a doorway to clarity [35:18]

How to start incorporating rest practices [48:44]

The science of rest [53:17]

Referenced in this episode:

Yoga nidra

Recovery in the flow cycle (Steven Kotler has a lot out there about this, but this is a good basic writeup)

Scott’s Sanctuary Meditation Practice and Yoga Nidra For Grief on Insight Timer.

The Bannister Effect

Psychologist Jospeh Wolpe

We referenced this episode with Melissa Gill as well as our Transfer episode and our Wayfinding episode.

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates!

Tips For Tips?

It takes a lot of time and effort to put together this content and offer it, for free, to hopefully enhance your experience on and off the bike. If you appreciate and value the work we do on the podcast, consider sending us a tip here!

There are many technologies and methods to help us navigate the trails, but moving around on a bike is about so much more than getting from point A to point B.

“Maybe wayfinding is an activity that confronts us with the marvelous fact of being in the world, requiring us to look up and take notice, to cognitively and emotionally interact with our surroundings whether we are in the wilderness or a city, even calling us to renew our species’ love affair with freedom, exploration, and place.” - M.R. O’Connor

We talk about:

Planning routes in advance [12:18]

Navigation and a sense of control [15:35]

“Artifacts” and how we use them to navigate [18:32]

What is “wayfinding” [21:57]

Skillfully self regulating through uncharted territory [24:43]

Obstacles to accessing your skills when uncertain [29:38]

Being mutual with your environment [37:31]

Navigation and memory (and London cab drivers) [45:58]

Reading the trail [51:15]

Referenced in this episode:

Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World by M.R. O’Connor

The trails Wasatch Crest (including “puke hill”) and The Whole Enchilada

The tools Trailforks and MTB Project

Transfer: Managing Uncertainty with this Learning Technique

The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter

Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke

Totemic geography

London cab drivers and their hippocampi

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates!

Tips For Tips?

It takes a lot of time and effort to put together this content and offer it, for free, to hopefully enhance your experience on and off the bike. If you appreciate and value the work we do on the podcast, consider sending us a tip here!

There are some basic things that often aren't explicitly addressed. Whether you're a new rider or a self-taught veteran on the bike, here are some things you might not know.

We talk about:

Taking basic things for granted [1:50]

Braking with one finger [12:07]

Setting up your bike [15:28]

Necessary equipment [18:22]

Standing up [34:50]

Trail etiquette [36:21]

Using bells [42:09]

Starting on a hill [44:46]

Moving your bike around [48:29]

If you’re teaching someone how to ride [51:38]

Beginner’s mind [53:40]

Referenced in this episode:

Positioning

Braking

Clips & Flats

Get Up, Stand Up

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates!

Tips For Tips?

It takes a lot of time and effort to put together this content and offer it, for free, to hopefully enhance your experience on and off the bike. If you appreciate and value the work we do on the podcast, consider sending us a tip here!

It's easy to speak about mountain biking on the surface level. But speaking to its potential for transcendence, ecstasy, and yes, art, is another thing entirely--thus, we called in a poet to help. 

Albert Flynn DeSilver has been an obsessive mountain biker for over 30 years. He is a trail advocate and wilderness explorer. Albert is also an internationally published writer, speaker and teacher who has worked with thousands of kids as a California Poet in the Schools, served as a county Poet Laureate, and taught writing workshops throughout North America at places like the Esalen Institute, the Omega Institute, and the British Institute in Paris. He has given a TEDx talk and bombed spectacularly, and then dusted himself off to go on to host and share the stage with writer-luminaries like Elizabeth Gilbert, Cheryl Strayed, Maxine Hong Kingston and many others. Albert writes, rides and resides in Northern California.

We talk about:

Reaching a transcendent state on a bike [6:03]

The taboo of ecstasy [9:33]

Moving meditation [12:45]

How family history/upbringing can inform our practice [14:27]

Using mtb to check in or check out [20:12]

The art of mountain biking [24:36]

The demand of mtb to pay attention [28:20]

The social component of the sport [32:30]

Grief on the trail [37:42]

Dancing and doodling [44:09]

Referenced in this episode:

Singletrack Mind by Albert Flynn DeSilver

Writing as a Path to Awakening, also by Albert

“Miracles” by Walt Whitman

Delores LaChapelle

We also referenced this episode with Melissa Gill

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates!

Tips For Tips?

It takes a lot of time and effort to put together this content and offer it, for free, to hopefully enhance your experience on and off the bike. If you appreciate and value the work we do on the podcast, consider sending us a tip here!

There are many tips out there for how to get air, but tips are different than understanding the theory and physics at play with your bike, body, and the terrain when you leave the ground. Sam Buckmiller, co-owner and Head Coach of SimplyMTB, rejoins the podcast to help flesh out the relationship between the many components at play when jumping or dropping on the bike.

We talk about:

Jumping can be safe [7:45]

Learning to jump as a kid vs. as an adult [8:55]

How a jump works [11:30]

Pedal choice for jumping [12:12]

Front wheel lift [13:30]

Building a relationship with the jump (aww) [15:08]

The physics of a drop [23:39]

The role of fear [26:00]

Understanding the ‘why’ after a fall [30:57]

Angulation and body position for air [39:59]

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates!

Tips For Tips?

It takes a lot of time and effort to put together this content and offer it, for free, to hopefully enhance your experience on and off the bike. If you appreciate and value the work we do on the podcast, consider sending us a tip here!

Sam Buckmiller, co-owner and Head Coach of Simply MTB, joins the podcast to discuss the age-old debate of clips vs flats. Note: In this episode we use the terms clips/clipless interchangeably and flats/platforms interchangeably.

Let’s connect!

Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle’s project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates!