Skids & Giggles Mountain Bike Podcast

We sat down with Bram from Essar Cycles to get to know the story and the brain behind his steel creations.

Unlike some of our other guests, Bram’s journey starts with the conviction that yes, of course, he can make his own bikes. It’s just a matter of finding out how and the number of different side projects along the way.

Over the years, Bram has created some eye-catching frames and we get to hear all about his approach and philosophy to making bikes, his experiments, successful and otherwise, dual flex pivots and a missed opportunity for a patent, and of course, what the future holds for Essar Cycles and getting more people riding his creations.

• Essar Cycles: Instagram, Email

Pascal sat down with Stefano Nucera for a podcast experiment of sorts, co-hosting each other’s podcasts for a chat about bikes, our stories in the sport so far, cycling communities, gravel, enduro, fixie crit and alleycat racing in Berlin, beers in the broom wagon, losing one’s bike packing virginity and, of course, Stefano’s non-alcoholic beer brand, Zeer.

Stefano is the host of the Broomwagon Podcast and naturally, when two podcasters sit down for a chat, conversation flows at warp speed. We did indeed cover a lot of ground and that’s not even all that we talked about. That being said, this was certainly not the last time I sat down with Stefano, for a podcast, a Zeer or otherwise.

• Trans Madeira Debrief

We sat down with Reto Aebischer for a journey deep into the Afterlife.

However, in this instance, the afterlife is not a promised existence in your favourite spiritual realm. The “Afterlife” is the name of Reto’s home-made carbon enduro bike that he also rode at the recent Best Ride Of The Year in Thun!

We get the all-access, behind the scenes look of what it’s like to make your own carbon bike at home, the many frustrations and challenges along the way, key design decisions, insights in to future improvements and, of course, the feelings of riding a bike you made yourself for that very first time!

It’s the been almost two years since we first sat down with Reto to talk about his carbon workshop projects and it was fun catching up on the process of actually finishing the enduro bike he just started when we first talked.

For this one, we sit down exactly how we imagined it in the early days of the podcast: Just two good buddies having a chat, talking about bikes and things that could be. After almost 4 years and over 80 episodes, we could finally make it happen!

In our chat, we relive the Best Ride Of The Year in Thun with all the ups and downs and the many impressions of the day. But more importantly, we reflect on our process, the learnings from the event and the improvements we can make towards an even better ride of the year in 2025!

As we mention in the recording, Darren Mace, the Trail Tracker, has just released a set of videos from the day on his Youtube channel. Make sure to check those out to get some impressions of the day!

• Skids & Giggles Best Ride of the Year 2024 (Thun) - Part 1

Many thanks also to Yannik Wälti and Roger Schütz for their help in putting the day together and to Josh Curtis for the coffee!

Skids & Giggles Alumni on the ride:

• Luise Rohland: Zürtrails Antenne #5, Ep41, Ep23

We sat down with Arno Galmarini for a deep dive into the simple strategies that every rider can implement to avoid injuries and to add longevity to their riding!

With this one, we complete our project to create something positive and useful out of Bryson's injury and recovery. In the first instalment, we sat down with Dave Spielmann to talk about recovering and coming back from injury. In that conversation, Dave also nominated Arno Galmarini for a follow up on Injury Prevention. And that’s just what we did for this one!

As a coach, Arno has seen it all. From helping elite athletes across many disciplines in mountain biking and other sports working towards peak performance, to coaching more recreational athletes through his Quest platform towards general health in life and longevity in the sport. And with Origym, Arno also runs is own facility in Scuol in the Engadin valley, catering to the same health, performance and longevity mantra.

We sat down with Dave Tschumi, co-owner and "Director of Figures" at Vast Trails!

We get a behind the scenes look into the business of building trails, the different roles and skillsets in successful digging teams, collaboration, the quality and art in trail building and, of course, Dave’s own journey in mountain biking that took him from instigating his first trail projects as a teenager, to working with brands and some of the biggest companies in the business, all the way to co-owning Vast Trails and putting his vision into dirt.

• Greg Jolliffe

We sat down with Dave Spielmann for a deep dive into helping Bryson on his path back from a double fib fracture, by laying out our own experiences with coming back from injuries, the general principles and protocols as well as the many pitfalls and misconceptions on the way back to a fuller strength. We are very grateful for Dave Spielmann to volunteer his time and the expertise he never wanted for this episode and for sharing many of his painful and challenging experiences, both from the perspective of a professional mountain biker, but – more importantly – also as a fellow human struggling with pain, discomfort and uncertainty. We are also very grateful for the many inputs and voice messages through or SpeakPipe! It really helped us bring this episode together and to talk about a topic that no one really likes to talk about.

• Philipp Bosshard

Pascal sat down with Samuel Sommerhalder for a chat about our takeaways from the Swiss Cycling Guide courses, his Freeride Bike Academy in Andermatt and Aarau, his life as an online marketing specialist with the Digital Creators and how all those puzzle pieces come together in his everyday activities on and off the bike. Sämi made the trip to HQ for a rare in-person recording and it was fun to catch up and relive some of the good times, but also to get some "trail intel" on his chosen home in Andermatt and to hear more about his goals with the Freeride Bike Academy as well as the Freeride Bike Shop. You can sign up to Sämi's RiderReport Newsletter on his website

We sat down with Marco Giarrana for a deep dive into his company, FAIR Bicycle. With FAIR, Marco and his business partner Valentin are trying to rewrite the script of what product design and manufacturing means and it was interesting to hear Marco’s thoughts on sustainability, transparency, cradle to cradle design, innovation, working with suppliers and how all those puzzle pieces come together in FAIR Bicycle. With the Drop Best dropper clamp for mountain bikes and the Daily Hook cargo strap for cargo bikes, FAIR has two products out in the wild to illustrate what their approach actually means in practice and we are sure that are many more to come! To find out more about FAIR and their principles, check out their website or reach out to Marco and Valentin directly.

We sat down for a chat with Michelle Neuner after Chris Räber dropped her name into the hat as one to watch the other day and to hear her story with the bikes so far. And oh boy, what a story it is! Michelle left us impressed with her energy and passion for riding and we're sure to see a lot more from her in the coming years! With the run-up to the Paris Olympic games ahead of us, there are interesting possibilities to ponder and we do get to hear her take on competition, progression, freeride and her own goals in the sport. Michelle has also recently been invited to be the first female rider on the Züritrails roster and that platform should open up even more opportunities and potential for progression.