The Art of Mountain Biking Jamie Bangerter & Danielle LeCourt

Rebroadcasting our intimate conversation with backcountry skier Melissa Gill about loss, grief, nature, and the beauty of life.
May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, a time that calls for reflecting, learning, and engaging in meaningful dialogues about the complex world of mental health. To honor this month, we're reaching into our podcast archives to bring back a conversation that beautifully intertwines grief, mental wellbeing, and the healing power of outdoor pursuits. This is an older conversation that’s worth a re-listen.
Since we last published this episode last May, the Patagonia film The Meaningless Pursuit of Snow, which Mel references in this conversation, is now available. And it’s really beautiful, y’all. Worth a watch.
Content notice: This episode contains real and honest depictions of grief and death.
If you are reading this and you're grieving, know that your pain is valid, irrespective of what prompted it—be it the death of a loved one, a relationship at its end, or the loss of employment. It's a journey without a map, and what works for one person may prove futile for another. Einstein once said, "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." That certainly has been the case for us.
Melissa Gill is a woodworker, meditation teacher, Head of Operations for SimplyMTB and a lover of anything outdoors. She sees backcountry skiing as a playground for adventure and self development and in the summer months, can be found trail running or sleeping in a hammock in the middle of a forest. Of all things in life, she is most is passionate about mental health and creating safe spaces for healing for both her and her community. As a mindfulness meditation teacher, she believes most things in life can be solved, healed and made more beautiful with a heavy dose of self compassion. 
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Resources mentioned in this episode: Meditation teachers Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach.
Danielle has written about the loss she describes in this episode for the Medium publication Age of Empathy.
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MTB Fitness' Matt Mooney joins to discuss how fitness, nutrition, and mindset combine to create a positive upward spiral of health and performance. 
A singular focus on peak bike performance makes sense for the pros—but most riders must fit their biking practice into demanding lives. Matt Mooney of MTB Fitness provides advice on incorporating training into daily routines and harnessing the transformative power of discipline. This guidance is beneficial for riders seeking to enhance their experience on the bike as well as their mental and physical health.
Matt Mooney is a personal trainer and founder of MTB Fitness. MTB Fitness social accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers, and the MTB Fit app helps riders in over 60 countries climb easier, descend stronger, and ride further.
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Referenced in this episode: MTB Fitness
EMDR Therapy (the one where you move your eyes a certain way)
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*CK: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
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Episode 2 on positioning was our most popular of all time. In this episode, we're digging deeper into all the nitty gritty details of proper body positioning on the bike, as well as some philosophical musings on positioning for success both on the trails and off.
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Referenced in this episode: Episode 2 on Positioning
Episode 4 on Holding Center
Episode 44 with Lennard Zinn
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
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Because how many of us are truly industry standard, you know? 
Six-foot-six former national team cyclist Lennard Zinn joins the podcast to discuss how different bodies interact differently with different bikes and give some recommendations for those looking to start customizing their bikes to their own bodies, styles, and experiences. 
LENNARD ZINN is a bike racer, frame builder, and technical writer. After receiving his physics degree from Colorado College, he became a member of the U.S. Olympic Development (road) Cycling Team.He has been producing Zinn custom road, gravel, mountain, cyclocross triathlon, and e-bike frames and complete bicycles, as well as custom forks, cranks and stems, at Zinn Cycles since 1982.
Books by Zinn include: Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, The Haywire Heart, Zinn & the Art of Triathlon Bikes, Zinn’s Cycling Primer, Mountain Bike Performance Handbook, and Mountain Bike Owner’s Manual. 
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Referenced in this episode: Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens by Andrea Wulf
Kokopelli Trail
Leadville 100 race
The Haywire Heart: How Too Much Exercise Can Kill You, and What You Can Do to Protect Your Heart by Lennard Zinn
Fraser Island
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Don't let your defaults go unexamined—the affects of our holding patterns compound over time.
Holding patterns, the unconscious positions in the body (and the mind) can develop from stress, injury, or repetitive actions over time. They can also surface as a default response to our own individual structure. Identifying and addressing these holding patterns through mindfulness, play, and feedback can help improve alignment, stability, flexibility, and performance.
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Referenced in this episode: Our Fall Better episode
Antelope Island (which emerges out of the Great Salt Lake)
Holding pattern definition in aviation
Kyphotic curve, which is an exaggerated, forward rounding of the upper back (so when you slouch, your spine is in this position)
Knees over toes guy
Rocksteady Bodyworks (whom we love and recommend to everyone—tell them we sent you!)
If you’re wondering what Jamie’s “ums” look like in my editing software, they look like this:
 


You’re welcome.
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How we approach the trail matters, especially when climbing and turning. Sometimes, you gotta come in sideways, you know? 
Considering the angle of approach is important in technical climbing. It can also be applied to communication and relationships. Danielle and Jamie talk about how considering different angles of approach, both physically and verbally, can make difficult situations and obstacles easier to navigate.
Like the podcast? Send us a tip here or consider a recurring paid subscription. Your support helps us cover the time and resources it takes to create free long-form content. Also, if you’re in the market for a new bike, consider an Ari (formerly Fezzari) bike, and tell them we sent you.
Referenced in this episode: Moab’s Klonzo network.
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg
“No” energy, as discussed in our Fall Better episode
A note on happiness research: These weren’t mentioned explicitly in the episode, but when Danielle talks about approaching happiness at an angle, she’s drawing on research about some indirect things that bring about wellbeing, like nurturing good relationships and experiencing other people’s joy, and other research that is leery of what they (yes, the royal “they’) call toxic positivity—when people take the goal of happiness a little too far.
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Please don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates, and you can DM Danielle now directly on Substack! If you’ve found value in the podcast, consider sending us a tip, here.