Talk Gnarly To Me

Pregnancy doesn't automatically mean hanging up your helmet, but it does mean learning to listen to your body, adjust your expectations, and figure out what works for YOU.

We're sitting down with Heidi to talk about her mountain biking journey through pregnancy, from finding the sport when she was broke and cashing in airline points for her first bike to navigating gear changes, group rides, physical limitations, and getting back on the trails postpartum.

In this episode, we're talking about:

• 🚲 From Motorcycle to Mountain Bike: Heidi traded two wheels with a motor for two wheels powered by her own legs. Her first mountain bike came courtesy of airline points and a serious case of the MTB bug.
• 💪 Riding as Therapy: How training for the Tour of the White Mountains helped her navigate a difficult season of life, including divorce, and gave her something to focus on.
• 🧠 Knowing Your Limits: Learning to recognize when something feels off, setting personal boundaries, and knowing when it's time to step off the bike.
• ⚙️ Adjusting the Setup: E-bikes, suspension changes, gel seat covers, different packs, and finding gear that makes riding more comfortable as your body changes.
• 🤰 Mountain Biking While Pregnant: Every pregnancy is different. Heidi shares her experience, the reactions she got on the trail, and why confidence, experience, and knowing your limits matter.
• 💤 The Mental & Physical Benefits: Why staying active helped Heidi physically and mentally during pregnancy, and how riding impacted her sleep and overall well-being.
• 🔄 Getting Back on the Bike: Heidi's surprisingly quick postpartum return, her first technical ride back, and what she learned about her strength and endurance.
• ❤️ Grace Over Expectations: Advice for new moms navigating pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and the pressure to get back to their old selves.

Whether you're riding through pregnancy, navigating postpartum life, or just trying to figure out how to keep doing the things you love while life throws you a curveball, this conversation is a reminder that everyone's journey looks different.

Listen to your body, give yourself some grace, and if your pregnant friend offers you a shuttle... TAKE THE SHUTTLE. 😂

*Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.

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Steph

Julia

Heidi

Sound Design:

Loui Strum

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🚵‍♀️ Crying on the trail? You’re not alone. Steph and Julia get real about trailside tears and what happens when fear, frustration, exposure, and life all come crashing into one ride.

• 😭 What Are Trailside Tears? Why frustration, fear, and overwhelm can bring you to tears mid-ride.
• 😳 Exposure Is a Mind Game When all you can focus on is the terrifying drop instead of the trail ahead.
• 😤 When Your Body Won’t Cooperate The frustration of feeling out of control on your bike.
• 🗺️ That’s Not the Plan! How unexpected route changes and brutal climbs can send your expectations straight off a cliff.
• 💔 Getting Back After Injury The emotional roller coaster of returning to riding after a serious crash.
• 🚲 A Crash Reality Check What hitting the dirt can teach you about your bike, skills, and confidence.
• 🌧️ The Panic Spiral Bad weather, exhaustion, getting lost, and the moment a fun ride goes completely sideways.
• 🫠 Sometimes It’s Not Just the Ride How crying can release built-up stress from life beyond the trail.
• 🩸 Hormones, Ego & Control Why fear can hit harder when embarrassment and the need to keep it together join the party.
• 🫶 Cry With Your Crew How vulnerable moments can build trust and remind us why having good riding friends matters.

🔥 The takeaway: Tears don’t mean you’re weak, dramatic, or not cut out for mountain biking. Sometimes the trail pushes you past your comfort zone—and sometimes you just need a minute, a snack, and a friend who gets it. Let it out, regroup, and keep riding when you’re ready. 🤘

*Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.

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Steph

Julia

Sound Design:

Loui Strum

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🚵‍♂️ Mountain biking is about more than bikes and trails. Sometimes, it’s about finding your people, getting through the hard stuff, and discovering that the community you build can carry you when life gets heavy.

In this bonus episode, Mark joins Steph and Julia to share his journey through depression, a midlife reset, and a heart attack that led to triple bypass surgery. He opens up about how mountain biking and the community surrounding it have helped him navigate life’s challenges, why he created Nova MTB and Ride the Heavy, and how simply showing up can make a difference in someone’s life.

Mark also shares all the details about Cranksgiving, Nova MTB’s annual food drive happening November 21! Learn how you can donate food, water, hygiene products, and pet supplies to support people in need while connecting with the local riding community.

• 🚵‍♂️ Mark’s MTB Origin Story — How he discovered mountain biking in the ’90s and where his riding journey has taken him.
• 🤝 Building Community Through Nova MTB — How a small group of riders grew into a welcoming community and why showing up matters.
• ❤️ Finding Connection Through Riding — Why people of all ages and backgrounds are looking for friendship, belonging, and a place to fit in.
• 🖤 Ride the Heavy — Mark’s personal project exploring the heavier side of life and how riding can help us work through difficult emotions.
• 🫀 A Heart Attack That Changed Everything — Mark shares his experience with a heart attack, triple bypass surgery, recovery, and the importance of having people in your corner.
• 💪 The Power of Showing Up — How the community Mark helped create became a source of support when he needed it most.
• 🦃 Cranksgiving Is Back! — Get the details on Nova MTB’s annual food drive, how to participate, and how you can help reach this year’s goal of 2,500 pounds of donations.

📅 When: Saturday, November 21, approximately 8:30 AM–1:00 PM

📍 Where: Paloma Park, Peoria, AZ — Ramada 11

🎁 What to Bring:

• 🥫 Nonperishable food
• 💧 Water
• 🧼 Personal hygiene items, including toothbrushes, soap, and shampoo
• 🐾 Pet food

RSVP FOR CRANKSGIVING

Mark's Socials

Ride The Heavy

NOVA MTB

*Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.

Instagram:

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Steph

Julia

Sound Design:

Loui Strum

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Our email:

[email protected]

💀 Crashes, injuries, and those inevitable “oh shit” moments—we’re diving into the scary side of mountain biking for this Halloween edition of Talk Gnarly To Me! Steph and Julia talk about how crashing changes as you gain experience, the wrecks that stick with you, protective gear, crash videos, and whether mountain biking is really as dangerous as we make it out to be. From hilarious tip-overs to injuries that lead to surgery, this episode gets into the reality of taking risks on two wheels.

• 💥 Crashing Is a Skill — Crashing might never be fun, but experience can change how you respond when things go sideways. We talk about learning from falls, reacting with less panic, and becoming more aware of how you and your bike respond when you lose control.
• 😬 Fear Changes With Experience — Your first few crashes can leave you questioning everything, but surviving those moments can also build confidence. We discuss how experience changes the way we think about falling, assess risk, and decide when to push ourselves versus when to back off.
• 🧿 Don’t Say “One More Run!” — Every mountain biker knows there are certain things you just don't say out loud. We get into MTB superstitions, why riders hesitate to call a run their last, and the funny ways we try to avoid tempting fate before a ride goes completely off the rails.
• 🧠 The Crashes You Never Forget — Sometimes the most memorable crashes aren't even your own. We talk about witnessing serious injuries, how those moments can stick with you, and how seeing someone else get hurt can change your confidence and the way you approach certain trails.
• 🤦‍♀️ Funny Falls vs. Serious Wrecks — Not every crash is a dramatic trip to the emergency room. From slow-motion tip-overs and clipless pedal mishaps to falls that could have ended much worse, we compare the ridiculous moments with the genuinely scary ones—and why knowing the difference matters.
• 📹 Crash Videos: Helpful or Horrifying? — Watching crash footage can be a useful way to learn about line choice, technique, and what went wrong. But it can also make you overthink a trail you were perfectly happy riding before the internet showed you someone else's worst day. We discuss when crash videos help and when they just feed the fear.
• 🚵‍♀️ How Risky Is Mountain Biking, Really? — A gnarly crash video doesn't tell the whole story of mountain biking. We talk about how trail difficulty, speed, experience, and decision-making all play a role in risk, and why it's important to separate the reality of riding from the most dramatic wipeouts online.
• 🧊 Is Biking More Dangerous Than Walking on Ice? — We put mountain biking risks into perspective by comparing them with everyday accidents, winter ice, and other sports like dodgeball. It's a reminder that risk exists in plenty of places, even when we're not doing something that looks extreme—and a teaser for a deeper conversation about injuries and recovery.

*Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.

Instagram:

TGTM

Steph

Julia

Sound Design:

Loui Strum

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tgtmpod.com

Our email:

[email protected]

🚵‍♀️ Don’t Be Scared: Taking Up Space on the Trail

😬 It’s Not Always the Trail That Scares You — Sometimes the real fear is slowing everyone down, getting left behind, or feeling like you don’t belong. Turns out, the mental game off the bike can be just as gnarly as the one on it.

🧠 Imposter Syndrome Is Real — Julia gets into feeling out of place around stronger riders and at bike parks. Just because someone else makes it look easy doesn't mean you haven't earned your spot.

🐢 Nobody Wants to Be the Slow One — Steph shares how worrying about holding up the group kept her from joining rides early on. Spoiler: you don't have to be the fastest rider to deserve a spot in the pack.

🗣️ Ask for What You Need — More water, a snack, a breather, a slower pace, or another attempt at a feature. You’re allowed to speak up. Your riding buddies aren't mind readers. 😂

🗺️ Getting Lost Is Not Our Love Language — Julia talks about her need to know where the group is going at every turn. Because a fun ride hits differently when you're secretly wondering if you're ever getting home.

🚩 No-Drop Means NO DROP — If you advertise a no-drop ride and then ditch the slower riders, congratulations: you played yourself. Good group-ride etiquette means looking out for the whole crew.

🚲 You Don't Have to Earn Your Place — Not through speed, skill, expensive gear, or pretending you're more confident than you are. The trail isn't an exclusive club, and nobody appointed you the gatekeeper.

📱 Imposter Syndrome Is Everywhere — Bike shops, group rides, events, bike parks, and social media can all make you feel like you don't belong. We're calling BS on the idea that you have to look or ride a certain way to be part of the community.

🙄 Stop Apologizing for Existing — Sorry for being slow. Sorry for needing a break. Sorry for asking a question. What if we tried “thanks for waiting” or simply “I need a minute” instead? Revolutionary, we know.

🔥 Stop Performing. Start Riding. — You don't have to prove yourself to everyone on the trail. Ride your ride, speak up, take up space, and stop letting other people's opinions dictate how much fun you're allowed to have.

The takeaway: You don't have to be the fastest, bravest, or most experienced rider in the group to belong. Get out there, take up space, and don't be scurred. 🤘

EP16: Racing Can Be Scary | Sunrise Enduro, 1st Place & a Gnarly Crash | MTB Race Recap

🚵‍♀️ Pre-Riding Sunrise Enduro — We break down the Sunrise Enduro course, scope out the technical stages, and try to figure out what we're getting ourselves into before race day.

🧠 Confidence vs. Saving Energy — How do you push yourself on technical features without blowing all your energy before the race even starts? Turns out, sometimes not sending it is the smarter move.

🪨 Line Choice Matters — We talk through choosing lines on East Ridge, Technical, Project, and the eternal question: Which line looks fast… and which line is actually going to keep us upright?

😬 Race-Day Nerves — Managing the nerves, finding a rhythm, and getting your brain to stop screaming long enough to actually ride your bike.

🥇 A First-Place Finish… — Julia takes first in her category in a tight race where every second mattered. Pretty great, right?

💥 …And Then Things Got Gnarly — Stage two had other plans. Steph went down hard and walked away with a grade 5 AC separation.

🏥 The Aftermath Nobody Plans For — We talk about the immediate aftermath: medical care, pain, the drive home, and the moment it became clear that surgery was going to be part of the story.

🤝 Still Part of the Crew — An injury might keep you off the bike, but it doesn't have to kick you out of the mountain-bike community. We talk about staying connected while recovering.

🚦 Race Etiquette Matters — Holding your line, passing respectfully, and remembering that we're all out there trying to have a good time—not an audition for the Tour de France.

🧠 Getting Out of Your Own Head — We wrap up with encouragement for injured riders and a listener story about overcoming mental blocks. Sometimes the biggest obstacle on the trail isn't the rock—it's the six inches between your ears.

*Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.

Instagram:

TGTM

Steph

Julia

Sound Design:

Loui Strum

Our website:

tgtmpod.com

Our email:

[email protected]

🚵‍♀️ TOP TAKEAWAYS

🚲 E-Bikes Aren’t Cheating — They’re an Access Layer
E-bikes can remove the fitness bottleneck so you can spend more time riding, learning, and progressing. More laps = more practice = more skills. Math we can get behind. 😂

💪 More Laps = More Progress
When you're not completely cooked after one climb, you can session features, follow faster riders, and get more repetitions. Sometimes getting better really is just about doing the thing more.

🧠 Confidence Comes From Proof
Confidence isn't built by pep talks alone. It's built by actually doing the thing and giving your brain proof that you can handle it. Once you've survived a feature, it suddenly looks a whole lot less terrifying.

🌉 E-Bikes Can Be a Confidence Bridge
Jen found that conquering features on an e-bike helped her visualize doing them on her analog bike. It wasn't about taking the easy way out—it was about creating a bridge between “absolutely not” and “wait… maybe I can.”

👯‍♀️ Ride With People Better Than You
Sometimes you don't need another YouTube tutorial. You need a faster rider to hit the line first and make you think, “Well… if she just did it…” 😂 The right riding crew can make terrain feel possible before you believe it's possible.

👀 Borrow Someone Else's Vision
Following a stronger rider lets you see lines, pacing, body position, and commitment in real time. Sometimes you don't need more skill—you just need someone to show your brain what the move is supposed to look like.

😬 Sometimes It's the Consequences You're Afraid Of
The feature itself isn't always the problem. Sometimes it's the margin for error. A jump with a terrible landing can trigger a completely different kind of fear than a steep technical section.

🏋️‍♀️ A Heavier Bike Will Expose Your Bullshit
E-bikes change more than how much you pedal. The extra weight changes how you move the bike and can expose sloppy body mechanics. Turns out you can't always yank the bike around with your arms and hope for the best. 😂

🚧 Maybe the Problem Isn't the E-Bike
A lot of the e-bike debate focuses on the bike itself, but plenty of trail issues come down to rider behavior—skidding, cutting trails, rude passing, and ignoring trail etiquette. The bike doesn't automatically make someone an asshole. The rider is still responsible for that part.

🔁 Repetition Makes Fear Smaller
Sometimes you just have to expose yourself to the thing you're avoiding. Look at it. Roll up to it. Stare at it for an unreasonable amount of time. Then try it. 😂 Repetition turns the unknown into something familiar—and that's where confidence starts to grow.

Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.

Instagram:

TGTM

Steph

Julia

Sound Design:

Loui Strum

Our website:

tgtmpod.com

Our email:

[email protected]

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🌵 We escaped the Arizona desert for a weekend of new trails. We swapped our usual terrain for unfamiliar trails, a change of scenery, and a much-needed reminder that sometimes the best thing you can do for your riding is go somewhere new.

🌲 Three stops, three very different flavors of gnarly. We’re recapping our rides at Military Sinkhole on the Mogollon Rim, Sunrise Bike Park, and The Dells in Payson—from chunky technical terrain to bike-park laps and everything in between.

🚵‍♀️ New trails, new challenges, and plenty of chaos. We're recapping the highs, lows, questionable line choices, and unexpected lessons from our trip—and why getting out of our usual riding routine brought the fun back.

😬 Fear vs. anxiety matters. Instead of asking, “Am I scared of this feature?” ask, “Am I imagining consequences that haven’t actually happened?”

👀 Stop borrowing other people’s fear. Watching someone else hesitate, dab, or choose a sketchy line can make you second-guess yourself before you even ride the feature.

🥇 Sometimes going first builds confidence. Riding first can help you make your own decisions instead of reacting to the rider in front of you.

🪨 Sometimes the answer isn’t “send it”—it’s “get closer.” Stopping too far back can actually make it harder to read a feature. Creeping forward can give you a better view and more options.

🌧️ Hard conditions are easier to tolerate than hard starts. Once you’re already riding, rain, mud, cold, and general misery become part of the adventure. Getting yourself out the door is often the hardest part.

🌵 New terrain can cure a riding slump. Sometimes you don't need more motivation—you need a different trail. New terrain breaks the mental autopilot and brings the fun back.

👯‍♀️ Your riding crew can change what feels possible. A group that matches your pace and riding style can reduce pressure and give you the freedom to actually focus on the trail.

🤝 The right group makes progression feel easier. When nobody is constantly waiting, racing ahead, or feeling embarrassed, everyone gets to stay present and ride their own ride.

🎢 Sometimes technical riding is just a rodeo. Not every section needs to be clean or pretty. Sometimes the goal is simply to stay on, keep moving, and embrace the chaos.

🔥 Messy still counts as successful. Technical riding isn't always about perfection. Sometimes surviving the section while laughing your ass off is the win.

Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.

Instagram:

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Steph

Julia

Sound Design:

Loui Strum

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Our email:

[email protected]

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Some rides are epic. Some rides are humbling. And some rides have you sitting in the parking lot afterward wondering if you have ever actually known how to ride a bike. 😂

In This Episode We Talk About:

🚲 Failing doesn’t mean you’re getting worse.
Because apparently mountain biking requires us to repeatedly throw ourselves at rocks before our brains decide to learn the lesson.

🧠 Sometimes the bad ride starts before you even get to the trailhead.
The stress you’re carrying off the bike doesn’t magically disappear just because you put on a helmet.

👩‍👧‍👦 Motherhood, exhaustion, and real life absolutely affect how we ride.
Turns out you can't always expect peak performance when you're running on coffee, three hours of sleep, and someone else's unfinished laundry.

🎮 That weird feeling of being a passenger instead of the pilot.
When you're riding but don't actually feel present—and why that's worth paying attention to.

🫁 Getting out of your head and back into your body.
Sometimes “just focus harder” is terrible advice. Breathing, moving, shaking it out, and even talking to yourself can help bring you back to the moment.

👯‍♀️ Why riding with the right people can completely change your day.
Sometimes you don't need motivation. You need your friend to show up and drag your ass onto a bike.

🫶 Helping newer riders can actually help YOU.
There’s something about watching someone else experience the joy of riding that reminds you why you started in the first place.

🌵 The emotional-support trail vs. the “let’s go get humbled” trail.
Sometimes you need an easy, familiar ride where your biggest challenge is remembering where you parked. Other times, you need to go find some spicy tech and remind yourself what you're capable of.

🔄 Resetting is part of progressing.
Recovery doesn't mean you're losing ground. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is step back, breathe, laugh about it, and try again another day.

💥 Keep showing up.
Because progress in mountain biking isn't always sending bigger features or riding faster. Sometimes it's simply learning how to have a bad day, recover from it, and get back on the bike.

Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.

Instagram:

TGTM

Steph

Julia

Sound Design:

Loui Strum

Our website:

tgtmpod.com

Our email:

[email protected]

Would You Rather: Mountain Biking Edition

Julia and Steph keep things light in this playful mountain biking conversation, trading trail updates, crash recovery context, and a long run of ridiculous "would you rather" scenarios. It is a casual, funny episode built more for laughs than instruction, with both hosts clearly leaning into the absurdity.

In this episode, Julia and Steph also recap recent rides around PMP, Flagstaff, Meteoride, Brookbank, and Full Sail, including a trail closure and helicopter rescue on the trail. They then spend most of the episode debating mountain bike-specific hypotheticals, from braking problems and wet gear to exposure, bike setups, and awkward trailhead situations.

Key topics

• Julia and Steph recap their recent rides, including a beginner ride at PMP and a Flagstaff day that ended up on Meteoride and Brookbank instead of Full Sail.

• They discuss the trail closure and helicopter rescue on Full Sail, including how unpredictable search and rescue costs can be.

• Steph shares that Meteoride felt exposed but went well, while Julia says she was still mentally affected by her earlier crash.

• They talk about gatekeeper features and how one hard move can shape the rest of a rider's confidence on a trail.

• The episode shifts into a mountain biking "would you rather" game with increasingly ridiculous scenarios.

• They compare awful choices like being cold and wet for hours versus climbing forever, or riding downhill with only a front brake versus climbing with only the hardest gear.

• They debate whether they'd rather shuttle friends for six months with no riding or only climb for a month.

• They weigh exposure-heavy options like White Line in Sedona versus a Whistler trip with a free dream bike.

• They get into absurd equipment problems, including farting suspension, a bell that plays John Cena’s theme, wet socks versus wet gloves, and a mystery headset rattle.

• The episode ends with more style-based hypotheticals, like riding in roadie spandex, thong bikini bottoms, or with ridiculous eyelashes and fake nails.

Just a quick note: the views shared in this episode are our own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.

Instagram:

TGTM

Steph

Julia

Sound Design:

Loui Strum

Our website:

tgtmpod.com

Our email:

[email protected]