Bikes & Big Ideas

Anthill Films recently released their latest movie, Return to Earth, and it once again displays the sick cinematography and sick bike riding that Anthill is known for. But in Return to Earth, the guys who brought us breathtaking bike films like unReal are going after some bigger stakes.

So we talk to Anthill’s Darcy Wittenberg and Ian Dunn about those stakes; the origins & early days of Anthill Films; some of the locations, riders, and cinematography in Return to earth; and more.

And after you listen to this conversation, go ride your bike, then check out ep. #95 of our Blister Podcast, because we talk with the world-renowned neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Merzenich, about a lot of the themes and issues that Darcy and Ian bring up. It is a terrific supplement to this conversation, and it very much underscores the message of Return to Earth.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• The origins & early days of Anthill Films (3:10)
• Return to Earth: How do you describe it? (10:37)
• Locations in the film (21:55)
• The (unbelievable) kid riders (26:26)
• Brett Rheeder throwing down (32:40)
• Explaining some of the cinematography (35:57)
• 30-Day Challenge (39:30)
• The current landscape of mountain-bike films (42:57)
• What’s the best question I haven’t asked you? (44:53)
• Why bikes themselves are big ideas (48:30)

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We talk to Dave Wiens about skiing with Doug Coombs; participating in the early days of mountain biking; winning the Leadville 100 six times in a row — while beating Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong along the way; and we get a fresh update from Dave on the current agenda and plans of the International Mountain Bike Association.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Dave’s background in adventure sports (1:58)
• Extreme skiing & meeting Doug Coombs (12:00)
• The early days of mountain biking (14:55)
• Competing with Ned Overend, Mike Kloser, & John Tomac (16:20)
• Founding Gunnison Trails (23:43)
• Leadville 100 — and winning it 6 times in a row (31:10)
• Leadville 2007: racing Floyd Landis (35:45)
• Leadville 2008: racing Lance Armstrong (39:19)
• Dave's take on the current state of mtn biking (46:52)
• Update on IMBA’s current agenda & project (55:02)
• What should mtn bikers be doing to protect trails? (1:06:13)

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How do you square the fact that a small bike company with a very heavy-metal vibe is making extremely big claims about the cutting-edge materials they are using to manufacture bikes — right here in the USA, in Denver, CO — and doing all of this at a pretty modest price point? Are these guys full of crap, or are they truly onto something here? And if so, how big of a deal is this?

Jonathan Ellsworth went to the Guerrilla Gravity headquarters in downtown Denver to try to get some answers, and he sat down with co-founder and president, Will Montague; co-founder and chief engineer, Matt Giaraffa; and Guerrilla Gravity’s director of composites engineering, Ben Bosworth. Will and Matt and Ben discuss the principles that Guerrilla Gravity was founded upon, and how sticking to those principles helped put them in the position that they are in today. They also do an excellent job of explaining the significant advantages of what they call their ‘Revved’ carbon, and you are going to want to hear about all of it.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Backstory: Getting started, doing things different (7:50)
• Refusing to use carbon — and how that paid off (19:37)
• “Revved” carbon — or, the benefits of Carbon 2.0 (27:00)
• Cutting-edge tech + heavy-metal branding?? (35:32)
• The ‘Elevator Pitch’ that won them multiple grants (38:16)
• ‘Revved’ carbon vs other types of carbon (41:24)
• On Guerrilla Gravity’s modular designs (52:37)
• Which bikes are Will, Matt, and Ben riding? (1:04:52)
• Production: how are you handling all the orders? (1:07:54)
• Ambitions: How big are yours for Guerilla Gravity? (1:09:07)

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We talk with BLISTER senior bike editor, Noah Bodman, about Guerrilla Gravity’s modular designs; the emerging category of ‘Downcountry’ Bikes; whether ‘mullet bikes’ are just a fad; and whether the lingo used to market and sell bikes is in need of a refresh.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Guerrilla Gravity’s modular design (1:55)
• Downcountry Bikes (8:27)
• Which bike categories are shrinking? (15:20)
• Mullet Bikes: just a fad? (17:04)
• Bike industry marketing lingo (20:22)

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We talk to Bikes & Big Ideas co-host, Claudio Caluori, about the origin story of this podcast; his background in XC & DH racing, how Velosolutions got started, experiments with food & diet; the #pumpforpeace project, and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Biggest takeaway from the World Cup in Maribor (2:16)
• Origin story of Bikes & Big Ideas (4:00)
• Claudio’s background in XC & DH racing (12:24)
• When did you first start thinking about environmental issues? (16:50)
• Experiments with food, diet, and fasting (20:21)
• Claudio’s company, Velosolutions (35:12)
• How #pumpforpeace is serving underprivileged communities (43:24)
• Sponsoring the Izimbali South African women’s race team (51:39)
• Pump Track World Championship (54:45)
• Claudio’s current big ideas (57:33)

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BIKES & BIG IDEAS is the new podcast from BLISTER that will be focusing on both of those things — bikes AND big ideas.

The bike world is full of a lot of smart and fascinating people who are really passionate about bikes. But so many in our community are also really passionate about protecting and being good stewards of the places we love to ride, and finding ways to create a more sustainable future.

So the aim of BIKES & BIG IDEAS is to bring you the most interesting conversations and stories from across the bike world, while also on occasion going way beyond bikes per se to take a look at some of the biggest ideas and potentially game-changing innovations in the areas of sustainable design, cleaner energy, biotech, and more.

The one and only Claudio Caluori will be joining me regularly to co-host BIKES & BIG IDEAS, and we are going to be interviewing folks within the bike community — athletes, company founders, product managers, engineers, trail advocates et cetera — and then in some episodes, we’ll be taking a look at the latest developments, biggest breakthroughs, and emerging industries that could help to improve the present and the future.

Our first episode of BIKES AND BIG IDEAS drops next week, and in episode #1, Claudio and I will talk more about the impetus for this podcast and how it came to be. So subscribe today where ever you get your podcasts to catch episode number 1 with me and Claudio, and we will talk to you next week.

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