EP19: Don't Be Scurred | Trailside Tears, Frustrations and MTB Emotions

🚵‍♂️ Mountain biking is about more than bikes and trails. Sometimes, it’s about finding your people, getting through the hard stuff, and discovering that the community you build can carry you when life gets heavy. In this bonus episode, Mark joins Steph and Julia to share his journey through depression, a midlife reset, and a heart attack that led to triple bypass surgery. He opens up about how mountain biking and the community surrounding it have helped him navigate life’s challenges, why he created Nova MTB and Ride the Heavy, and how simply showing up can make a difference in someone’s life. Mark also shares all the details about Cranksgiving, Nova MTB’s annual food drive happening November 21! Learn how you can donate food, water, hygiene products, and pet supplies to support people in need while connecting with the local riding community. 🎙️ In This Episode🚵‍♂️ Mark’s MTB Origin Story — How he discovered mountain biking in the ’90s and where his riding journey has taken him. 🤝 Building Community Through Nova MTB — How a small group of riders grew into a welcoming community and why showing up matters. ❤️ Finding Connection Through Riding — Why people of all ages and backgrounds are looking for friendship, belonging, and a place to fit in. 🖤 Ride the Heavy — Mark’s personal project exploring the heavier side of life and how riding can help us work through difficult emotions. 🫀 A Heart Attack That Changed Everything — Mark shares his experience with a heart attack, triple bypass surgery, recovery, and the importance of having people in your corner. 💪 The Power of Showing Up — How the community Mark helped create became a source of support when he needed it most. 🦃 Cranksgiving Is Back! — Get the details on Nova MTB’s annual food drive, how to participate, and how you can help reach this year’s goal of 2,500 pounds of donations. 🦃 Cranksgiving: How to Get Involved📅 When: Saturday, November 21, approximately 8:30 AM–1:00 PM 📍 Where: Paloma Park, Peoria, AZ — Ramada 11 🎁 What to Bring: 🥫 Nonperishable food 💧 Water 🧼 Personal hygiene items, including toothbrushes, soap, and shampoo 🐾 Pet food

💀 Crashes, injuries, and those inevitable “oh shit” moments—we’re diving into the scary side of mountain biking for this Halloween edition of Talk Gnarly To Me! Steph and Julia talk about how crashing changes as you gain experience, the wrecks that stick with you, protective gear, crash videos, and whether mountain biking is really as dangerous as we make it out to be. From hilarious tip-overs to injuries that lead to surgery, this episode gets into the reality of taking risks on two wheels. 💥 Crashing Is a Skill — Crashing might never be fun, but experience can change how you respond when things go sideways. We talk about learning from falls, reacting with less panic, and becoming more aware of how you and your bike respond when you lose control. 😬 Fear Changes With Experience — Your first few crashes can leave you questioning everything, but surviving those moments can also build confidence. We discuss how experience changes the way we think about falling, assess risk, and decide when to push ourselves versus when to back off. 🧿 Don’t Say “One More Run!” — Every mountain biker knows there are certain things you just don't say out loud. We get into MTB superstitions, why riders hesitate to call a run their last, and the funny ways we try to avoid tempting fate before a ride goes completely off the rails. 🧠 The Crashes You Never Forget — Sometimes the most memorable crashes aren't even your own. We talk about witnessing serious injuries, how those moments can stick with you, and how seeing someone else get hurt can change your confidence and the way you approach certain trails. 🤦‍♀️ Funny Falls vs. Serious Wrecks — Not every crash is a dramatic trip to the emergency room. From slow-motion tip-overs and clipless pedal mishaps to falls that could have ended much worse, we compare the ridiculous moments with the genuinely scary ones—and why knowing the difference matters. 📹 Crash Videos: Helpful or Horrifying? — Watching crash footage can be a useful way to learn about line choice, technique, and what went wrong. But it can also make you overthink a trail you were perfectly happy riding before the internet showed you someone else's worst day. We discuss when crash videos help and when they just feed the fear. 🚵‍♀️ How Risky Is Mountain Biking, Really? — A gnarly crash video doesn't tell the whole story of mountain biking. We talk about how trail difficulty, speed, experience, and decision-making all play a role in risk, and why it's important to separate the reality of riding from the most dramatic wipeouts online. 🧊 Is Biking More Dangerous Than Walking on Ice? — We put mountain biking risks into perspective by comparing them with everyday accidents, winter ice, and other sports like dodgeball. It's a reminder that risk exists in plenty of places, even when we're not doing something that looks extreme—and a teaser for a deeper conversation about injuries and recovery.

🚵‍♀️ Don’t Be Scared: Taking Up Space on the Trail 😬 It’s Not Always the Trail That Scares You — Sometimes the real fear is slowing everyone down, getting left behind, or feeling like you don’t belong. Turns out, the mental game off the bike can be just as gnarly as the one on it. 🧠 Imposter Syndrome Is Real — Julia gets into feeling out of place around stronger riders and at bike parks. Just because someone else makes it look easy doesn't mean you haven't earned your spot. 🐢 Nobody Wants to Be the Slow One — Steph shares how worrying about holding up the group kept her from joining rides early on. Spoiler: you don't have to be the fastest rider to deserve a spot in the pack. 🗣️ Ask for What You Need — More water, a snack, a breather, a slower pace, or another attempt at a feature. You’re allowed to speak up. Your riding buddies aren't mind readers. 😂 🗺️ Getting Lost Is Not Our Love Language — Julia talks about her need to know where the group is going at every turn. Because a fun ride hits differently when you're secretly wondering if you're ever getting home. 🚩 No-Drop Means NO DROP — If you advertise a no-drop ride and then ditch the slower riders, congratulations: you played yourself. Good group-ride etiquette means looking out for the whole crew. 🚲 You Don't Have to Earn Your Place — Not through speed, skill, expensive gear, or pretending you're more confident than you are. The trail isn't an exclusive club, and nobody appointed you the gatekeeper. 📱 Imposter Syndrome Is Everywhere — Bike shops, group rides, events, bike parks, and social media can all make you feel like you don't belong. We're calling BS on the idea that you have to look or ride a certain way to be part of the community. 🙄 Stop Apologizing for Existing — Sorry for being slow. Sorry for needing a break. Sorry for asking a question. What if we tried “thanks for waiting” or simply “I need a minute” instead? Revolutionary, we know. 🔥 Stop Performing. Start Riding. — You don't have to prove yourself to everyone on the trail. Ride your ride, speak up, take up space, and stop letting other people's opinions dictate how much fun you're allowed to have. The takeaway: You don't have to be the fastest, bravest, or most experienced rider in the group to belong. Get out there, take up space, and don't be scurred. 🤘

EP16: Racing Can Be Scary | Sunrise Enduro, 1st Place & a Gnarly Crash | MTB Race Recap 🚵‍♀️ Pre-Riding Sunrise Enduro — We break down the Sunrise Enduro course, scope out the technical stages, and try to figure out what we're getting ourselves into before race day. 🧠 Confidence vs. Saving Energy — How do you push yourself on technical features without blowing all your energy before the race even starts? Turns out, sometimes not sending it is the smarter move. 🪨 Line Choice Matters — We talk through choosing lines on East Ridge, Technical, Project, and the eternal question: Which line looks fast… and which line is actually going to keep us upright? 😬 Race-Day Nerves — Managing the nerves, finding a rhythm, and getting your brain to stop screaming long enough to actually ride your bike. 🥇 A First-Place Finish… — Julia takes first in her category in a tight race where every second mattered. Pretty great, right? 💥 …And Then Things Got Gnarly — Stage two had other plans. Steph went down hard and walked away with a grade 5 AC separation. 🏥 The Aftermath Nobody Plans For — We talk about the immediate aftermath: medical care, pain, the drive home, and the moment it became clear that surgery was going to be part of the story. 🤝 Still Part of the Crew — An injury might keep you off the bike, but it doesn't have to kick you out of the mountain-bike community. We talk about staying connected while recovering. 🚦 Race Etiquette Matters — Holding your line, passing respectfully, and remembering that we're all out there trying to have a good time—not an audition for the Tour de France. 🧠 Getting Out of Your Own Head — We wrap up with encouragement for injured riders and a listener story about overcoming mental blocks. Sometimes the biggest obstacle on the trail isn't the rock—it's the six inches between your ears. *Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors. Instagram: TGTM Steph Julia Sound Design: Loui Strum Our website: tgtmpod.com Our email: [email protected]

🚵‍♀️ TOP TAKEAWAYS 🚲 E-Bikes Aren’t Cheating — They’re an Access Layer E-bikes can remove the fitness bottleneck so you can spend more time riding, learning, and progressing. More laps = more practice = more skills. Math we can get behind. 😂 💪 More Laps = More Progress When you're not completely cooked after one climb, you can session features, follow faster riders, and get more repetitions. Sometimes getting better really is just about doing the thing more. 🧠 Confidence Comes From Proof Confidence isn't built by pep talks alone. It's built by actually doing the thing and giving your brain proof that you can handle it. Once you've survived a feature, it suddenly looks a whole lot less terrifying. 🌉 E-Bikes Can Be a Confidence Bridge Jen found that conquering features on an e-bike helped her visualize doing them on her analog bike. It wasn't about taking the easy way out—it was about creating a bridge between “absolutely not” and “wait… maybe I can.” 👯‍♀️ Ride With People Better Than You Sometimes you don't need another YouTube tutorial. You need a faster rider to hit the line first and make you think, “Well… if she just did it…” 😂 The right riding crew can make terrain feel possible before you believe it's possible. 👀 Borrow Someone Else's Vision Following a stronger rider lets you see lines, pacing, body position, and commitment in real time. Sometimes you don't need more skill—you just need someone to show your brain what the move is supposed to look like. 😬 Sometimes It's the Consequences You're Afraid Of The feature itself isn't always the problem. Sometimes it's the margin for error. A jump with a terrible landing can trigger a completely different kind of fear than a steep technical section. 🏋️‍♀️ A Heavier Bike Will Expose Your Bullshit E-bikes change more than how much you pedal. The extra weight changes how you move the bike and can expose sloppy body mechanics. Turns out you can't always yank the bike around with your arms and hope for the best. 😂 🚧 Maybe the Problem Isn't the E-Bike A lot of the e-bike debate focuses on the bike itself, but plenty of trail issues come down to rider behavior—skidding, cutting trails, rude passing, and ignoring trail etiquette. The bike doesn't automatically make someone an asshole. The rider is still responsible for that part. 🔁 Repetition Makes Fear Smaller Sometimes you just have to expose yourself to the thing you're avoiding. Look at it. Roll up to it. Stare at it for an unreasonable amount of time. Then try it. 😂 Repetition turns the unknown into something familiar—and that's where confidence starts to grow. Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors. Instagram: TGTM Steph Julia Sound Design: Loui Strum Our website: tgtmpod.com Our email: [email protected]