Welcome mountain bikers, I'm honored to be joined by three fantastic guests on this episode of The Inside Line. We will discuss mountain biking and head injuries. None of us are scientific or medical experts on the subject, but during the last World Cup DH race webcast from Les Gets, Jeff Brines and I were texting and discussing Thibaut Daprela’s incredible race-winning run with the sidebar of his recent knockout crash at French National Champs a week prior. I said let’s do an Inside Line about the subject and here we are.

Discuss your experiences and information about head injuries in our forum here

Jeff, has been a Vital MTB bike and product tester, he's long-time DH and enduro racer, he’s one of the few people to have owned a handmade carbon BCD bike from Alex Morgan, and, he may be one of Vital’s most prolific site commenters based on number of characters typed over the last decade. I’d have to imagine it’s a close call between him and Primoz.

Matt is co-owner of Momentum Trail Concepts, long-time friend and bike racer, he has the rainbow stripes of a Masters World Champion, and he’s legitimately the reason Vital MTB exists (listen to his Inside Line from a few years ago to find out why).

Craig "Stikman" Glaspell is the main MTB marketing man over at Troy Lee Designs, known for their D-series helmets and riding gear. He has years of experience as a World Cup DH mechanic and industry vet and was an influential mountain bike website entrepreneur in the very early 2000s.

Jeff and Matt are both on the show because they have plenty of experience racing and dealing with bike-related head injuries. They’ll tell their stories. Stik comes at us with industry experience in the helmet and protection category, as well as being in the position of a person who pays his sponsored athletes to ride their bikes and risk injury as a result.

We’re not trying to single out Thibaut as an example. His performance is what got us talking. Andrew Neethling and Ed Masters discussed Thibaut's crash a bit on Moving the Needle last week, which was awesome, and it seems, at least from our perspective, that there’s a growing concern for safety among our community.

Thank You Supporters of The Inside Line

Vital MTB’s The Inside Line podcast is brought to you by Jenson USA. If you need a mountain bike helmet or protective gear, jensonusa.com has you covered. Use coupon code insideline at checkout and receive 10% off qualifying items, too!

Slide your summer around with Maxxis tires and think about throwing on a Minion SS out back on your trail bike with a Minion DHR II up front. You’ll be rolling fast and surfin’ those corners, hootin’ and hollering along the way. Hit up maxxis.com for all your mountain bike tire needs or to find a local dealer

Thank you to Santa Cruz Bicycles for their support of the show. They offer free, lifetime bearing replacement on all of their bikes, and they’re giving away $1,000,000 over three years to trail building projects and initiatives through their Paydirt fund. There's nothing better than more trails!