Skids & Giggles Mountain Bike Podcast Skids & Giggles MTB Podcast

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 working with brands and some of the biggest companies in the business, all the way to co-owning Vast Trails and putting his vision into dirt.



Mentions




Greg Jolliffe



Claudio "Schnurri" Schnurrenberger



Martin "Shaperjack" Stänz



Chris "Flying Grizzly" Visscher

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 for this episode and for sharing many of his painful and challenging experiences, both from the perspective of a professional mountain biker, but – more importantly – also as a fellow human struggling with pain, discomfort and uncertainty. We are also very grateful for the many inputs and voice messages through or SpeakPipe! It really helped us bring this episode together and to talk about a topic that no one really likes to talk about.



Mentions




Philipp Bosshard



Arno Galmarini

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 catch up and relive some of the good times, but also to get some "trail intel" on his chosen home in Andermatt and to hear more about his goals with the Freeride Bike Academy as well as the Freeride Bike Shop. You can sign up to Sämi's RiderReport Newsletter on his website

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 and it was interesting to hear Marco’s thoughts on sustainability, transparency, cradle to cradle design, innovation, working with suppliers and how all those puzzle pieces come together in FAIR Bicycle. With the Drop Best dropper clamp for mountain bikes and the Daily Hook cargo strap for cargo bikes, FAIR has two products out in the wild to illustrate what their approach actually means in practice and we are sure that are many more to come! To find out more about FAIR and their principles, check out their website or reach out to Marco and Valentin directly.

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 interesting possibilities to ponder and we do get to hear her take on competition, progression, freeride and her own goals in the sport. Michelle has also recently been invited to be the first female rider on the Züritrails roster and that platform should open up even more opportunities and potential for progression.

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 Enduro magazine. It was great having Felix on hand to present his designs and talk about the pedals with our guests at the shop. And we just had a blast meeting so many of our friends and listeners!



You can find the video of the session over on our Youtube channel.



Check out the 612 Parts website for all details of "Die Pedale"!



Big thank you to Greg Kowner for sharing the space at Biroma Bike & Parts in Zurich with us! We are sure we will be back for another one!