Bikes & Big Ideas

Matthew Fairbrother’s wild effort to bikepack through the entire 2022 EWS season was an incredible accomplishment, and he’s just kept stacking up bonkers feats of endurance on a mountain bike in the years since. So we once again sat down with Matthew to talk about what he’s been up to of late, including winning the NZ Rally despite forgoing all the assisted transfers; kayaking one of them with minimal experience in a kayak; more animal encounters (check out our earlier episode with Matthew for a real all-timer there); how he manages to switch between race mode and getting in the right mindset to just grind out massive miles and elevation; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:Matthew’s 2022 EWS Tour (Ep.139)BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Taking on the NZ Rally (2:23)Transferring by… kayak? (12:35)Animal encounters (15:56)Toggling between a focused race mindset and gutting out massive miles and elevation between stages (20:14)Winning the NZ Rally despite forgoing all the assisted transfers (17:49)The North Shore Triple Triple Crown (22:50)The Triple Triple Crown ride (29:28)Matthew’s bike setup (30:11)Ranking the difficulty of Matthew’s exploits (38:10)Food & planning (39:19)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Red Bull Rampage finally included a women’s category this year, with Casey Brown doing a whole lot to spearhead it, and the event was spectacular. If you haven’t watched it yet, well, you should. Casey’s run starts at 29:25, but do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing.We sat down with Casey to hear how it felt to finally have the door opened to women; talk about what goes into getting yourself to Rampage as an athlete, and everything it takes to actually be there and put a run together; the process of scouting, building, and testing her line; the competition day and what all went down; how to make the event even better next year; and what’s next for women’s freeride beyond Rampage.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Learning that the women’s event was finally on (2:07)Casey’s training & prep, and the logistics that go into competing (6:48)The new venue & building a line (7:46)Scouting a line & coordinating with other riders (14:28)The format of the women’s event (18:28)Casey’s line (20:21)The crux (25:45)Potential changes for next year(31:55)The next frontier in women’s freeride (36:57)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Ethan Eggert is hard at work refining his Arid Cycles Spade Enduro bike, which has gone through three different suspension layouts, numerous geometry and kinematic tweaks, and one catastrophically broken frame — and he’s just 19 years old. We sat down with Ethan to get the whole story — including his plans to eventually offer bikes for sale — and it’s a good one.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Ethan’s background & the inspiration behind Arid (1:30)The Spade V1 & learning how to design a frame (7:02)Geometry, suspension kinematics, & radical experimentation (13:37)The Spade V2 & refining the recipe (21:53)Frame failure (24:46)The Spade V3 (28:56)Commercialization & next steps (37:27)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

A lot of mountain bike hip packs are pretty cheaply made, and/or lightly tweaked versions of basic casual designs. High Above does things differently, from focusing on MTB-specific designs to making all their packs in the US from top-quality materials. So we went down to High Above HQ to chat about all of it, get the rundown on some upcoming High Above products — including some non-hip-pack models — and see how they go about designing, testing, and making their bags and other gear.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Kyle and Spencer (1:46)High Above’s history (2:36)Kyle and Spencer taking the reigns & their backgrounds (4:23)The pros and cons of US manufacturing (10:26)Designing, testing, and refining packs (15:49)High Above’s current product lineup (23:13)Upcoming High Above products (35:48)Potential future offerings (39:29)High Above’s mission and company ethos (43:02)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Enve’s new fifth-generation M-Series wheels are a big departure from earlier iterations, with dramatically different rim profiles — and some very wild claims about improved compliance — new, Enve-built hubs, and a whole lot more. So we sat down with Enve’s VP of Product, Jake Pantone, to pull back the curtain on their long development process, the goals for the new wheels, the athlete feedback that drove those changes, and get the full story of Enve’s new MTB wheel lineup.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Design goals for the new wheels (2:15)Prototyping carbon wheels (5:43)Testing & development with the Commencal Muc-Off team (7:40)Bike changes & the evolution of wheel designs to match (20:18)The M-Series lineup (25:56)Rim profiles & ride quality (36:23)Impact testing (42:40)Enve’s Innerdrive hubs (53:15)

September was an interesting month in the bike industry with one the biggest retail bike stores in the country announcing its closing; Motion Instrument’s future looking grim; and news of Rad Power Bikes’ bizarre plan to sell eBikes in Best Buy stores. Simon and Mike have plenty to talk about on the industry side alone, not to mention all the exciting bike racing like the inaugural Lake Placid UCI XC World Cup; the US Cup DH; and the mind-blowing win by Tadej Pogacar at the UCI Road World Championships; plus a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Asheville’s Hurricane Aftermath (2:39)The Pro’s Closet Closing (4:29)Rad Power Bikes in Best Buy (16:11)Motion Instruments Out of Business (28:17)Road World Championships (34:35)Tadej Pogacar’s Dominance (39:27)Lake Placid World Cup XC (44:09)US Cup DH (49:57)Bosch Updates CX Motor (53:44)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Dylan Wood and Simon Stewart have been busy testing bikes and filming head-to-head comparisons, which means they’ve also been spending a lot of time on the same bikes. So, they got together to go over everything from longer-travel eMTBs like the Cannondale Moterra SL and Mondraker Dune XR to XC race bikes like the Yeti ASR and Cannondale Scalpel, then went down some geometry rabbit holes and a few other tangents.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Cannondale Moterra SL (2:43)Mondraker Dune XR (14:02)Yeti ASR (22:29)Cannondale Scalpel (32:22)Specialized Stumpjumper (39:51)Spot Mayhem 140 (45:12)Slack Head Angles (51:54)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicOff The CouchGEAR:30Blister PodcastCRAFTED

Alex Showerman’s new short film ‘Coming Home’ tells her story of doing just that — both in literally returning to her hometown in Vermont, and in finding community and acceptance in the women’s freeride scene after coming out as trans. You can, and should, stream the film for free now.We sat down with Alex to dive deeper into her story and hear more about some of the themes that the short-film format didn’t leave time for. Alex’s retelling is touching, funny, and full of insights about what it really means to be at home in your own skin, the women’s freeride scene, and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Alex’s childhood in Vermont (1:25)Getting into MTB (4:19)Finding & building community in the freeride world (6:28)Coming out as trans (10:52)The women’s freeride scene (16:50)Alex’s three-year road trip out West & back injury (18:28)Navigating the pressure to perform, and finding joy in riding again (55:53)Coming home (26:12)Foundation (30:06)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch