Local Legends

Local Legends - Episode 24 with Nikki Peterson

Nikki Peterson is a jack of all trades and a master of them all - she races professionally (both gravel and mountain biking), coaches athletes with Source Endurance, League Director of the Nevada North Interscholastic Cycling League, Program Coordinator for Reno Devo, and a podcast host.  But what makes Nikki shine is her sincere personality without any presumptions.  In this conversation, she shares her most recent decision and journey to move from SoCal to Reno to follow her heart by joining her favorite passions - biking, mountain lifestyle, education, and working with kids.  She also shares how she has overcome some personal struggles with a concussion and her diagnosis of ADD and how she has used these struggles as opportunities to help her shape her future.

Enjoy my next Local Legend!

(recorded: 11/18/2022)

Local Legends - Episode 23 with Nate Miller (TASCO~MTB)

Nate Miller created TASCO out of his garage in Carlsbad in 2014 - leaving a full time job as a chemist and follow a passion of creating mountain biking wear for us to enjoy whether we are riding or chillin with our friends.  Fast forward almost ten years, and he has grown from selling shirts at local bike races to selling online and across 100+ stores nation-wide.  

Most of us locally know the TASCO brand and mostly like own one or multiple pairs of gloves and/or socks.  I had a great time talking with Nate about riding and how he got into the sport, how he started the TASCO brand and how it has evolved over the last decade.  We talk a little business about growing a company from marketing to design excellence to having a brand that represents mountain bike stoke.

Enjoy my next Local Legend.

Gravel & Whine Event - January 29

Fun and well supported event that is a great kickoff to the gravel season.  Two distances - 45 and 70 to choose from.  Awesome prizes for ALL levels (not just the pros) and delicious food and wine at the end.  Use promo code FRIENDS20 for 20% discount.  See you then!!

Local Legends - SPECIAL EPISODE "2022 YEAR IN REVIEW"   

As 2022 comes to a close, wanted to share a special look back at the last year of Local Legends podcast.  I’ve compiled a sample of all the podcast from episode 1 with Victor Sheldon to the last interview episode 21 with Sprockids.  Fun way to meet these Local Legends and learn more about them as riders, racers, and sharing their passion of riding, racing, training and life behind the scenes. 

Here’s a look back at this years' Local Legends.  View all podcasts here. 

Ep.1 - Victor Sheldon, Quick’n’Dirty

Ep. 2 - Michael Marckx, Belgian Waffle Ride

Ep. 3 - Jim Miller, Emcee/Voice of Gravel

Ep. 4 - Pete Tholl, Racer of all things

Ep. 5 - Makena Kellerman, Junior Racer & XC Worlds

Ep. 6 - Paul Dunlap, The Wrenchhouse

Ep. 7 - Brendan Collier, Stagecoach 400

Ep. 8 - Ranger Dave - Rider, Photographer, Naturalist

Ep. 9 - Leeann Folse, Pro Downhill Racer

Ep. 10 - Mic Check - Conversation with my daughters

Ep. 11 - Phil Tinstman, X-Games Gold Medalist

Ep. 12 - Chris Horner, World Tour Pro

Ep. 13 - Tammy Tabeek, World Champion

Ep. 14 - Lentz Legacy with Lauren Lentz

Ep. 15 - Brian Scarborough, Progressional Racer (National Champ)

Ep. 16 - Jim Bradford, Jump Coach

Ep. 17 - Michael Macare, Doing the Impossible

Ep. 18 - Jake POV Orness, Director of Photography

Ep. 19 - Susie Murphy, SDMBA

Ep. 21 - Mic Check - Riding with my Husband

Ep. 21 - Sean & Sarah, Sprockids

GRAVEL & WHINE If you like riding gravel and especially training for long endurance gravel race in 2023, check out Gravel & Whine ride on January 28th.  This race has beautiful views, great terrain, delicious food and (of course) tasty wine (or Rouleur beer).  Enter in FRIENDS20 for 20% discount at checkout. 

Local Legends - Episode 21 with Sean Bascom and Sarah Domurat at Sprockids 

Sprockids mission is to engage kids in mountain biking.  But they also build confidence and community in a supportive way.  As you will hear from our next Local Legends guests - riding a bike is a tool to independence but also helps with mindset and that feeling that comes from riding two wheels outside - pure joy.

I had so much fun in this conversation with Sean and Sarah from Sprockids.  They share their own stories of riding when they were young, coming back from injuries, how Sprockids organically happened and how it bloomed in 2020 and continues to grow.

Even if you don’t have young kids, their approach to getting kids on bikes, teaching skills, their leadership role and growing the community one kid is very noble and inspiring.  To learn more about Sprockids, support this effort, and to join their programs, visit https://www.sprockidssd.com/ 

Enjoy my next local legend.

Local Legends (MIC CHECK) - Episode 20 - conversation about riding and training

husband, Simon Planken and guest host, Jim Miller 

Lifestyle of a couple who rides with special guest host, Jim Miller. 

This is the second installment of Local Legends MIC CHECK - where I get to share more about training, lifestyle, and learnings from leading a life as an athlete, parent/wife, and someone who loves adventure. I am excited to have Jim Miller (Ep. 3) be the guest host, the voice of gravel,

In this conversation, Simon & I go deeper into riding together, training, managing a home, and time with family. We also talk about being a women who rides in a male dominated sport, what it took to launch my business - Outdoor Fitness Coach, and what we have learned from being a couple and riding and how this has impacted our own personal lives. If you like this kind of conversation, you may enjoy Episode 10 - Conversation with My Children about how it was for THEM to have a mom who trained and rode, what they remember, and how sport and outdoors is in their lives as they become adults. 

Enjoy this conversation :)

Local Legends - Episode 19 with Susie Murphy -  Advocating for mountain bike trails in San Diego

Susie Murphy has a huge impact on the trails we ride in San Diego.  Her role as the Executive Director (since 2015) at San Diego Mountain Bike Association, a non profit advocacy group aiming to improve trails in San Diego for mountain biking since 1994, puts her on the ground, in meetings, and planning to advocate for trails.  Her role is multifaceted from creating relationships with partner organizations and land managers, to coordinating volunteer work and projects to get new trails in the ground or improve current trails.  It’s because of Susie, her team, and the volunteers at SDMBA that mountain bikers can enjoy some epic singletrack from Chula Vista to Carlsbad to Laguna Mountains.

In this interview, we discuss:

SDMBA Website- https://www.sdmba.com/

Become a member 

More information about Mt. Laguna Trail Fest - October 14-16

Local Legends - Episode 18 with Jake Orness (Director of Photography)

I’m super stoked to have Jake Orness - better known as JPOV - Director of Photography on this podcast.  He is responsible for many of the photos and drone-recorded footage that you may have seen like the Belgian Waffle Ride, San Diego.  Jake is an interesting and talented person on the bike as a rider and off the bike behind the lens as a photographer and videographer.  

In this podcast we highlight the these two sides of Jake that gives him the tools to capture riding and share with the rest of the world the athleticism, fitness and style of riding on two wheels.  On the side he has decades of experience of riding and racing all kinds of bikes from BMX, to road and gravel riding. And on the other side, his passion and dedication to learn all there is to know about filming bikes - both on the ground and in the air.  

I really enjoyed this conversation and the flow of stories that paint the picture of his experiences.  From riding around in Cardiff as a teenager, surfing, to his gnarly experience of breaking his back at Diablo park, to his experience working for Giant Bikes, and then selling all he could to buy his first camera.  This is one of my longer interviews -- the time flew by with all these great stories.

I encourage you to follow his work on his Instagram page at @jpovphoto.  You can also find Jake riding his bike at the local Thursday night gravel rides at Rouleur Brewing in Carlsbad.

Enjoy my next Local Legend.

EPISODE 17 with Michael Macare - your ‘normal guy’ making the impossible..possible.  

I’ve known Michael for about 6 years when he joined the TASCO-mtb race team - with his happy and gregarious attitude, we became instafriends :).  For as long as I have known Michael, he has set his goals far and long going for races that are at the edge of his grasp.   This year, he successfully completed Unbound -  for those who are not as familiar with gravel races - Unbound is a 200 mile gravel race in Emporia, Kansas.  When I first heard about this race, I honestly thought that was an insane ride.  Why would anyone in their right mind ride for 200 miles in one day.  The professionals complete this race in 9-10 hours holding 20 mph average with  the last riders completing the ride in 20 hours.

Listeners, I want to be completely transparent, Michael is an athlete that I coached to prepare him for BWR San Diego in 2019 and 2022 and for Unbound on June 4 of this year.  But that’s not why I asked him to be a guest…it’s his story and lifestyle that I feel make him more approachable and relatable which have the potential to impact so many more riders.  He does mention coaching but completely unsolicited.

In this conversation, we talk about...

Local Legends - Episode 16 with Jim Bradford (Skills & Jump Coach)

Jim operators Del Sur Dirt - a local San Diego coach that works with kids to adults on dirt skills.  As a BICP coach, he works one-on-one and in small groups on mountain skills ranging from cornering to gap jumping.  Jim comes from a unique and diverse background - with a career as a river guide to running a construction company.  He moved to San Diego in 2006 and resides near Rancho Bernardo; and in 2019, got a mountain bike after a 25 year bike hiatus.  

Jim's focus these days is helping young kids to 'send' gap jumps.  His approach is individualized and calculated focusing on skills and progression to create a 'paintbrush' of expression on the bike.  

When curating this conversation, Jim and I went out for a bike ride beforehand to see the 'lay of the land' and the canvas of his training.  We shared a lot of similar ethos to riding and coaching.  Riding and talking with Jim came easy and brought joy.  It was great to get to know Jim and his coaching and coaching style.  He is bringing a lot to the community and helping so many riders love the ride.  Jim is a true Local Legend.

Enjoy this conversation with Jim :)

Local Legends - Episode 13 with Tammy Tabeek

If there's a force to be reckoned with, it's with this fine lady. Tammy is an accomplished cyclists a mountain biker, road rider, downhiller, and triathlete (and not to mention racketball player).  I've had the pleasure of riding and racing against Tammy over the years and honestly not knowing her background - which explains her slam dunk performance ...BAM!  

Tammy has been riding since the 80s and racing since the 90s.  She is currently a a FIVE TIME World Champion - 3 in Downhill and 2 in Xterra off road triathlon.  She continues to race her bike locally in the Quick'n'Dirty races, participated recently in the Wafer BWR (coming in fourth in AG), currently training for Rebeca's Private Idaho representing Challenged Athletes Foundation.  Her list of accolades are almost too numerous to outline.   And she's not slowing down people.

Tammy is an inspiring and caring person which really shines in this conversation.  It was such a pleasure to talk to Tammy and she definitely left  vibration to grow and to embrace the process.