
Show Notes
Martha Gill and Janelle Soukup join The Ride Companion for a powerful conversation about the progression of women's mountain biking, freeride, racing, mentorship and what it takes to build a career in the sport.
During this episode Martha Gill, the 2024 Queen of Crankworx and long time Marin Bikes athlete, shares her journey from cross-country racing and Olympic hopeful to enduro, Crankworx, Lucid and helping support the next generation of riders.
Janelle Soukup talks through her rapid rise into freeride mountain biking, from selling her ATV to buy her first mountain bike, discovering events like Hannah Bergemann's Hangtime, earning a place at Natural Selection, becoming Whip-Off World Champion and receiving the invite to Red Bull Rampage.
Together, Martha and Janelle discuss the pressure of Rampage, fear, progression, sponsorship, the state of women's mountain biking, the importance of opportunity and why the next generation of female riders is pushing the sport further than ever before. This is a proper insight into two women helping shape the future of mountain biking... Of course, BIG thanks to the Marin Bikes team for helping make this episode happen!
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More from The Ride Companion
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Thomas Genon joins Olly and Davi in a Whistler hotel ahead of Red Bull Rampage 2026 for a deep dive into what it really takes to ride the biggest freeride mountain bike event in the world. Tommy G has spent more than a decade at the highest level of mountain biking, from winning Red Bull Joyride and becoming FMB World Champion to establishing himself as one of the most experienced riders in Red Bull Rampage history. In this episode, Tommy takes us inside his preparation for Rampage 2026, including training for enormous spin drops, choosing and building a line in Utah, dealing with fear and risk, the difficulty of judging Rampage and why the event looks completely different when you're standing on the mountain. Thomas also reveals how two time Rampage winner Brett Rheeder unexpectedly became part of his 2026 dig crew, reflects on finally reaching the Rampage podium in 2025 and explains what it was really like entering the event without a bike sponsor. The conversation also dives into Tommy's slopestyle career, winning Red Bull Joyride, the evolution of freeride, social media, sponsorship, his favourite Rampage runs and why he believes the perfect Rampage run needs to combine technical riding, creativity, tricks and big mountain freeride. We hope you enjoy this episode and sorry for the bad quality. Blame Davi. All the info and how to watch Red Bull Rampage 2026 here: https://www.redbull.com/int-en/events/red-bull-rampage
We're in Whistler courtesy of adidas bike. We sat down in a terrible podcast set-up to talk about our experience so far, riding the iconic trails, our track walk with Brendan Fairclough and Josh Hill and loads more!