Gathering 21 — Durango

Durango holds a special place in Yeti’s heritage, so it’s fitting that the resurrection and return of the event should be in Durango as well. In this special episode of TYTM, Marty scours the Gathering campsite and trails to talk with the characters that make the Yeti Gathering such a one-of-a-kind event. It was truly an epically fun weekend of riding and hanging and we were so stoked to be able to welcome all that attended to Durango.

Here at Yeti we affectionately call our engineering team, the Nerds. In this episode of TYTM Marty sits down with the biggest nerd of them all to bring you the inside story of how the beautiful mind of Stretch (aka Peter Zawistowski, Yeti’s Director of Engineering) and his team of bike nerds were able to create Yeti’s first e-MTB. Also sitting in on this party is Rocket (Ryan Thornberry), our Bike Product Manager, who is responsible for making sure that the designs that comes out of Stretch’s head actually gets delivered to you, in a form of a real bike. Strap on your school helmet’s folks. It’s about to nerdy.

Local front-range Colorado ambassador, Britt Greer, loves coaching. And that’s a significant understatement. Her passion and love for the sport seeps through every part of her day, the half dozen organizations she supports and the dozens of women she coaches and mentors. In this episode of TYTM, Marty and Britt discuss her passion for bringing mountain bikes to underserved communities, where coaching has lead her and the multitude of great “Front Country” (thanks, Marty) trails to learn on.

Kasper Woolley busted onto the mountain bike scene last year beating some of the biggest names in Enduro racing, and to us, that’s not a surprise. Woolley’s bred from a pedigree of fast (his dad was on the National Ski Team) and Kasper competitively raced on the cold white stuff for years before focusing on biking. Who said the multi sport athlete is dead? We didn’t. In this episode Marty and Kasper talk everything from bike setup, skiing and how Kasper has always been fighting more than just the clock.

We're finally racing. And for us, that's the biggest of deals. In season two of TYTM, we're introducing The Fast Take — unfiltered and semi-spur of the moment interviews with the the Yeti Cycles race team Riche, Shawn, Kasper,  Damion and the infamous Polar Bear. And in this first installment, Marty gets to the roots of what it means to the team to be back in Europe, between the tape and pinning it for what they hope to be is another season atop of the box.

In this episode of TYTM, Marty talks with world-renowned photo documentarian Dan Milner about the niche he's carved capturing the rich social and cultural journeys that accompany his punishingly long epic rides. Dan has a unique ability to garner amazingly vivid images in an array of consequential environments and self admits to relishing in the pain cave. He’s a prime example of how to immerse yourself in culture and dive headfirst into a new environment.

Laura Slavin's journey from chemist to cyclist started on a basic commuter bike as she tried to be more environmentally conscience as her way to get to and from work. That was in 2013. Now, Laura is hucking it with the best on her home trails at Mountain Creek, New Jersey. In this episode, Marty and Laura talk about her drive to be a better person, her passion for riding and just how committed she is to the art of progression.

Yeti / FOX Factory team rider, Shawn Neer, has steadily risen towards the top of the mountain biking world earning his first Factory ride role at 27. In this episode, Marty and Shawn talk about how the perfect elbow angle, a single cup of coffee, and then a trip to Green River with a demo SB6 lead to spraying champagne on the EWS Trophy of Nations podium in Italy.

Marty's back with Season 02 of Talk Yeti to Me after talking with eight Yeti athletes about what it's like to live life on a bike in Season 01. Season 02 kicks off with Shawn Neer! So, as Marty Says, let's get at it and keep 'er pinned!

When you get down to it, Richie is not like everyone else. Quiet by most accounts, he’s loudest when riding fast. In the final episode of the inaugural season of Talk Yeti To Me, Marty chats with Richie about what it takes to win, how it feels to lose, and his race-day mindset that keeps him calm, cool, and collected. Suffice to say, he loves biking and lives life at race pace.