Fast, furious, dramatic - the 2024 Olympic Mountain Bike races in Paris delivered on the drama front!

Spindrift host Aoife Glass chats with Tara Nolan, journalist from Canadian Cycling Magazine in this special edition of the Spindrift Podcast. 

They discuss highlights of the women's and men's Olympic XC events, the medal winners, the course, the dramatic moments of both events of which there were plenty, and what it's like to be a journalist at the Paris Olympic Games. 

With crashes, punctures, blood, sweat and tears - literally - these two races prove the point that when it comes to mountain bike racing, the race 'ain't won 'till the winner crosses the line. 

Recorded spur of the moment (Aoife is en route to Paris, Tara is in Paris reporting for Canada Cycling Magazine) this episode has a different feel and sound to our usual episodes, but we hope you'll enjoy getting an insight into one of the highest profile mountain bike events on any racers schedule, and one that some riders have dedicated years of work towards achieving. 

Does motherhood have to mean the end of cycling adventures? How can you find accessible trails? Is the bike industry doing enough to diversify the representation of cycling? 

Spindrift was invited to host a panel discussion with 5 incredible guests at a live event in Sheffield, with Kelly-Jayne Collinge, Dr Fiona Spotswood, Vicky Balfour, Bron Black & Dr Phoebe Sneddon, discussing these topics and a whole lot more. 

From stage management and musical theatre to bringing the atmosphere to the Mountain Bike World Series and the Cycling World Champs, Skye Murphy has fascinating role within the bike world, and an unusual path into it. Cool, calm and professional, she's worked at MTB events across the world over the last year with Great Big Events... and done it as a new mum, with her baby, Gwen, on tour with her. Spindrift spoke to Skye on the last day of the Cycling World Championship events in Glentress, Scotland, while the action took place around us. 

This bonus episode is a crossover with On The Outside, a podcast sharing diverse views on outdoor news in the UK. Specifically, this episode discusses the Cycling World Championships which took place in Scotland in August 2023, looking at a range of topics around the event including its impact, accessibility, and what it was actually like to be there. Guests include Spindrift Podcast host Aoife Glass, Neil Russell, founder of the Adaptive Riders Collective (ARC) CIC, endurance athlete and adventurer Vedangi Kulkarni, and podcast producer, editor and host Francesca Turauskis.

Why is there still such a marked gender disparity in mountain biking? That’s the question that prompted Dr Fiona Spotswood, associate professor of marketing and consumption at the University of Bristol, to research gender equality within and women’s perceptions of mountain biking.

After numerous conversations with women across the UK, the results are fascinating - but perhaps not surprising. Women often don’t feel represented or included in how MTB is portrayed, but the good news is they aren’t waiting around for the bike industry to catch up.

This episode touches on representation, inclusion, grass-roots communities, how events like Red Bull Formation and Rampage play a part, and what needs to change to make mountain biking a more welcoming space for women. 

Scottish mountain biker Lee Craigie describes herself as a storyteller and bike adventurer, and in this episode of the Spindrift Podcast she talks about her new book 'Other Ways to Win: A Competitive Cyclist's Reflections on Success'. The book is an autobiographical looks at her life, told in adventures, from childhood, to UK National Cross-country Mountain Bike Champion, to the formation of the Adventure Syndicate; along the way, Lee reflects on how success is and can be defined. 

Cassondra Spring is the Global Brand Manager for Liv Cycling, one of the largest cycling brands in the world and one that’s focussed on putting women first in all it does. She chats about how she got into cycling, what exactly it is that a global brand manager does, and as Liv is also the sponsor of the White Jersey at the Tour de France Femmes, what plans are afoot for 2023, and where she sees the future of women’s cycling in general.

Emily Horridge discovered mountain biking in the 90’s when it was a fresh new sport, and never looked back. She raced as an elite athlete in the downhill world cup for many years, then became a mountain bike guide and now leads adventures in the Alps with evocative names like ‘Temple of Tech’ and ‘Cathedral of Flow’. This year, she’s decided to return to downhill world cup and settle up some unfinished business. 

Emily talks about what mountain biking and mountain bikes were like in the early days of the sport, how her career has progressed and what she’s learned about riding, racing and herself along the way.

She also talks about training and racing as an athlete in her forties, how YouTube has made access to information on race craft much more accessible, and how she’s been working to get ready for the challenges of the modern Downhill World Series, where racers tackle some of the most technical tracks on record, reaching incredible speeds.

A bonus episode with several of the people who make the racing magic happen at the UCI MTB World Series races, behind the scenes at the Enduro and Marathon rounds in Finale Outdoor Region, Italy. 

Liz Walker, Liv Racing team manager, talks about what her role as entails, the highs and lows that come with racing, and the emotional rollercoaster that is waiting for your athlete to complete their race.

From the racers perspective, I talked to enduro rider Dimitri Tordo from the Canyon CLLCTV team, on how his race went and what impact if any the changes to the event organisation have had.

And finally, Rhys Person from Great Big Events (GBE), the company that run the in-venue event management, explained plans to elevate the experience for the venue crowd, with live video feeds, race timings, interviews and a whole lot more. 

Nikita Ducarroz is an incredible Freestyle BMX athlete, European champion, Olympic Bronze Medallist and Red Bull sponsored athlete. The sheer style she brings to her riding is impressive, and her list of accolades demonstrates that she's an athlete at the top of her game. 

She's also notable for her open and honest representation of life as an elite rider, and the lows as well as highs that go with that. In this episode, she explains how her start in BMX was anything but conventional. From the age of 13 she started to suffer severe anxiety attacks that ultimately saw her stop going to school, and barely leaving the house. 

Then she discovered BMX, and she credits it with saving her life. 

Nikita shares her story, from discovering the sport and riding in her front yard to gradually participating in events and competitions further from home, building to the incredible place she's in today. But she's also open about the fact that anxiety doesn't go away, what she does to manage it, and why she set up MindTricks to help other athletes open up about mental health. 

She also talks about the impact of Freestyle BMX becoming an Olympic sport and what that's meant for women riders, and what her plans are for 2023 and beyond.