The Contour Podcast

This week, Morgan and Christo discuss what they’ve learned from over a decade of training for mountain biking and (in Morgan's case) ultra running. Together, they share the many mistakes they’ve made and give some simple and practical advice for anyone thinking about starting an exercise program or looking to get fit for racing.  

This week, for a special International Women's Day episode, Morgan is joined by Mindful Routes owner, Jen Price. Jen talks about her experience of attending women only mountain bike events and discusses how positive an impact they have had on her journey in the sport.

In this episode, Morgan and Christo discuss that most fundamental question - ‘Why?’. Why do we risk our bodies and break our wallets to ride down mountains every weekend? What is it about this sport that attracts us to it and keeps us coming back for more? Tune in this week to hear about mountain biking’s unique social qualities, what it is about the sport which induces that ‘flow’ state we all crave, and how our motivations may fit on to Abraham Maslow’s famous ‘hierarchy of needs’. 

In this episode, Morgan and Christo discuss riding confidence. Morgan shares his own journey in finding, losing, and then regaining confidence in the sport. They discuss what lessons they have learned from over 30 years combined experience of riding mountain bikes and how you can best apply these to your own riding.

This week Morgan sits down with former Downhill World Cup Champion, Manon Carpenter. Storm Arwen messed with our plans to go for a ride with Manon so she and Morgan sat down for a focused Zoom call instead. It was a really great chat - Manon discusses how she got into riding, her career, retirement, women in MTB and a very exciting project about British trips she’s been working on with Tommy Wilkinson.

This week, Morgan is joined by Strength Factory race coach, Ben Plenge. Ben trains some of the UK’s fastest racers and has been riding mountain bikes since his early teens. In the episode, Morgan delves into Ben's background - how he got into riding, what he liked about racing, his time in the army and what impact this had on him. They discuss Ben's philosophy to training, when to keep it fun, when to push hard, and much more!

This week, Morgan is joined by mountain bike guide and activist, Aneela Mckenna. Aneela runs GoWhere Scotland with her husband Andy, she is the founder of Mhor Diversity and co-founder of the FNY collective - two associations that aim to improve participation in mountain biking through various activities, rides, and events.

She and Morgan discuss Aneela’s background and how she got into riding, they discuss how racism has changed over the years, what’s currently being done to make mountain biking a more diverse community, what else can be done.. and much more! This is an important topic and we hope this chat between Morgan and Aneela is a valuable addition to the conversation.

We can all agree that more people riding bikes is a good thing. We want our sport to be enjoyed not just by the lucky few but by the many - regardless of where they’re from or what they look like. We know that this is possible and people like Aneela are working tirelessly to make it a reality.

This week Morgan is joined by sport and exercise psychologist, Dr Chris Hartley. Chris’s PHD looked at how sport and group culture influence athlete identity and help seeking behaviour. Many athletes struggle when their sporting careers end. They lose what has been a huge part of their identity and part of Chris’s job today is helping these athletes transition back into normal life after careers spent obsessively focused on sporting goals. He and Morgan had a fascinating conversation covering many topics but all along one theme - the importance of balance and the danger of the ‘sacrifice everything for your dreams’ culture and mentality.

This week Morgan goes for a ride with top EWS pro Charlie Murray. Charlie is an incredible bike rider who’s had an unusual journey to the top of our sport. With his brother, he would ride around his parents house as a kid and this, he believes, formed the foundation of his bike handling skills. Never losing the sense of fun that is the reason we all ride in the first place, when Charlie went to university, he didn’t feel compelled to ride for the four years he was there, choosing instead to spend his weekends skiing and hanging out with friends. We think Charlie is a fascinating example of how effective a balanced life can be, even in elite level sport.

This time Morgan chats with Matt Walker while on a very warm and sunny ride in Finale, Italy. Matt is one of the best enduro riders in the world, finishing 10th in this year's World Series. He’s one of the few riders who competes in both the DH World Cup and the EWS and has had plenty of top results in both series. Despite his success, Matt has a philosophy for riding and racing that keeps fun as the top priority. In their conversation, Matt and Morgan discuss how Matt got into riding, where his success comes from, how he deals with injuries, and when you’ve got to be an idiot.