Lou Martinez has been active most of his life — at least since his mom dropped him off at cross country practice in high school and sped off without him. Now with the desire and discipline to go after just about anything, he was one of the lucky few to get chosen to participate in the docuseries, From The Ground Up! 

In this episode of the Daylight Spotlight, we get to know Lou a little better before the fourth season of FTGU drops –  what keeps him interested in staying active, what it’s like transitioning from trail running to cycling, and his decision to stop waiting for a sign to get up and go.

Oh, and bike love. It's a thing.

Lou’s appreciation for things like nature (and his bike), is contagious. As he talks about times when he was less active, we see his gratitude for the life he is living, encouraging listeners to just GO.

“We’re waiting for something special. We’re waiting for, like, this special notification that says, ‘TA-DAH! Here’s your wake-up call. Go do something,’ when in reality, put that sh*t down, go put your shoes on, go jump on your bike – go DO something.”

We’re glad you’re here to listen in and get to know this super great guy so you can look forward to seeing Lou and his sweet jumps on season four of From The Ground Up!

• Did you run after high school?
• How is riding similar to trail running?
• Do you think that resetting and grounding yourself is essential for functioning healthily?
• What’s your preferred cycling discipline?
• Had you heard about gravel biking before being part of FTGU?
• What do you ride?
• What would you say to people who don’t have the opportunities that you have as part of the project? What’s your advice?
  
  

Follow Lou on Instagram

More about FTGU:
FromFTheGroundUp.bike
FromTheGroundUpProject on YouTube

FTGU Community Facebook Group

Get your own FTGU Community t-shirt!
DaylightBrand.com/ftgu

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

Who moves across the country to do the thing she loves to do? Joanna J. Yates does — that's who. Originally from West Virginia she and her husband fell in love with mountain biking to the point where they just wanted to do it year round. Thus began their journey to Sedona, where Joanna began her coaching career.

Bettering her skills while learning how to coach others was a natural path. Understanding that it’s not “one-size-fits-all” in the biking industry, she’s here to help people gain confidence on the bike and to help them find ways to succeed that works for them. 

“It’s just so much more than just riding your bike. It is building this resilience all the time, because you’re doing that hard thing each time you get on the bike. It’s teaching you to show up for yourself.”

Joanna advocates for showing up for yourself by setting an example of having a work-life balance that includes doing what you love. She teaches practical MTB skills using phones to record movement and progress, how to use your body weight to manipulate where the bike goes and what it does, and what skills you can practice even when you don’t have a trail.

• Was your move to Sedona because of the community there? Or was there not much of a mountain biking community in West Virginia?
• What are your dogs’ names?
• How did you get into coaching?
• Have you ever been to Iceman in Northern Michigan?
• Do you call mountain biking “cycling”?
• What do you think it is that makes women who mountain bike so inspiring?
• What percentage of coaching do you do in person versus remote?
• Do you have to deal with cacti?
• Is the terrain (in Sedona) mostly rock?
• Was there a mountain bike event in Sedona recently?
• What’s a tubeless tire?
• What has been the biggest hurdle for you in skill development?
• Why focus on a skill like a manual on flat ground?
• What makes a group ride fun?
• Do you coach through your own business?
• When do you take a break from practicing? What’s the limit, where’s the line, how do you know when to stop?
• How do you advise approaching an advanced skill like a jump?

Want a good foundation but don’t know where to start? (We know a great coach.)

Get all the info you need about Joanna’s coaching: https://sedonamtbcoaching.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannajyates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-pJ0H4qfLmvmN8LoYGTKNQ

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joannajyatesmtb

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannajyates/

Email Joanna:  [email protected]

Other mentions:
https://traillovers.com/
https://thundermountainbikes.com/ 

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

Any sport can be a bit daunting when you first start. Learning the skills can be hard enough, let alone dealing with the social pressures to perform our activities for social media or community members. 

Sammie Bennet talks about Friendship Miles, a nonprofit that has taken measures to make the running community more approachable for newcomers. She discusses her background in running, dealing with injury, and needing a safe space to run and connect with likeminded people — not necessarily to train, or for even for accountability to keep running.  Sammie wanted to run with friends, without competition and without expectation.

Friendship miles touches so much more than social running and it's so much bigger than a local nonprofit.  Listen to find out how people can participate all around the world for free, helping communities improve through use and traffic, all while welcoming new friends to the running community. This is a great conversation to have and we're excited you're here for it! 

Be sure to head over to DaylightBrand.com and look through our kickstarter. We've got exclusive designs listed, unique packages for groups and as always, super comfy apparel.  Help us fund a trailer for this year so we strreamlne our bussiness

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

She shreds – both on the bike and on the bass guitar. By her active lifestyle, you’d never know that Sophia lives with the realities of spina bifida with tethered cord syndrome. She and Brenda talk about resources that have contributed to both of their health journeys, including meditation and physical therapy. The family’s perspective of prioritizing personal health over podium will encourage listeners to show up for themselves.

Show Notes:
The Bell family would like to share these resources and invite you to contribute to or benefit from the organizations that have been part of their lives.

Adams Sports Medicine – Physical Therapy, Recovery, Sports Performance

Make A Wish

• Wish A Mile 7/26-7/28
• Raise $ for kids with life-threatening illnesses
• 300 miles, 100/day team or individual
  more info
  
  

Team Athletic Mentors
(TAMJD) Junior development team info
MISCA

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

Part 1 – with Hunter Bell, joined by mom, Brenda Bell

In this episode, we highlight the support of the cycling community, especially in the face of grief. We also discuss the importance of hydration and regular physical checkups. Brenda educates us about proper nutrition and the need to not just listening to your body, but responding to it. Hunter talks about his passion for riding, whole-health training choices, and his personal goals as he pursues a career in cycling.

This is Part 1 of the Bell Family Series. Part 2 continues with Hunter's sister, Sophia Bell.

Show Notes:
The Bell family would like to share these resources and invite you to contribute to or benefit from the organizations that have been part of their lives.

Make A Wish

• Wish A Mile 7/26-7/28
• Raise $ for kids with life-threatening illnesses
• 300 miles, 100/day team or individual
  more info

Team Athletic Mentors
(TAMJD) Junior development team info
MISCA

Follow Hunter Bell on Instagram @HunterBell_MTB

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

Don't let her age fool you. This 15 year old knows what she wants — your spot on the podium — and she'll put in the work to get it. Katja Opfer discusses her love for MTB, racing, and competition. She comes from a family with a life-long love of cycling, setting her up with an early exposure to racing MTB. From the age of 10, her involvement led to a place of high competition and first hand exposure to some of her MTB heroes on the trails. We discuss her experience with Michigan Scholastic Cycling Association (MiSCA) and later with Team Athletic Mentors Junior Development (TAMJD). Katja nerds out about seeing some of the women MTB legends that she's come across while we recognize that she's well on her way to legend status herself. A talented, driven, and warm-spirited, up and coming individual you’ll want to follow as she heads into a promising future of pro MTB and GRVL racing.

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

Maybe you didn’t know you could break down water, but that’s just one of the new things Edie Wilkinson has learned as a competitive angler. Bass kayak fishing wasn’t necessarily something Edie would have seen herself doing, but her open attitude toward trying something new has been an exciting challenge that grew into a central part of her life. 

In our conversation, she emphasizes how simple it is to get started fishing, telling us that if she can do it, anyone can. Her passion for getting kids and other women “outside and on the water” is a message echoing her own experience as she set out to find fish – and her independence – on her own.

Be sure to check out and subscribe to Bass_Queen83 on instagram to follow along on her adventures! 

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

The Original Michigan Girl, Kandace Chapple, joins us for a conversation about forming MiGirl; a group for women to do outdoor meetups and activities. A group that started as a group of a few friends, into an actively social group of over 2,000 women members over a few short years! 

We love that you don’t have to be a hardcore athlete or fit a certain stereotype to be a part of this group. Kandace talks about the age range of women in this group and asks, “who am I without external trappings and obligation? When our kids move away and business is over, who are we? And how do we find a way to connect?” MiGirl is about opportunities for fun and friendship, and maybe even the occasional drink in the woods!

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

In today's episode we meet with Dr. Jess Evans, physical therapist, neurological clinical specialist, and owner of Headstrong Physical Therapy. She schools us in neuro-pathways, what types of pain are appropriate during physical activity, what to expect with physical therapy, and the connection between physical and mental health as well as some of her experience as a competitive weight lifter.  It's quite the comprehensive conversation. 

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

Fallon was our first ever interview for the blog way back in 2018.  We catch up with her 6 years later to see how she's doing, how her goals have changed or been reached, and what the sport of climbing (as well as the climbing community) means to her today.

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.