100+ Months of Skiing | The Fish Family | E60
Few families in the Lake Tahoe region have had more of a positive impact on recreation than the Fish family. Ben and Amy revived the Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association (TAMBA) in 2010, and started both the 60-mile Rose to Toads epic and Corral Night Ride. Their son Max, about the same age as TAMBA, grew up alongside the organization, and as soon as he could walk, he was on two wheels in dirt, two sticks on snow and a trail tool in hand working last year as a paid employee at Bijou Bike Park, a park designed by Ben. Since November 2016, Ben and Max have skied and snowboarded every month through pow, ice, corn, sun cups, rocks, man-made snow and even the Caldor Fire, reaching 100 consecutive months in February. On Episode 60, the Fish family talks all about TAMBA, the process of their 100-month snow adventure, the importance of bike parks and adventuring together as a family.
Trails are the Dopamine | Chris McNamara | E40
In the world of big wall climbing and wingsuit BASE jumping, Chris McNamara was a leader and innovator, claiming the first wingsuit BASE jump of the Grand Canyon (where he almost died twice in the same jump) and one of the youngest people to ever climb the West Face of El Capitan. As the founder of Supertopo, which evolved into GearLab, McNamara’s interests also evolved beyond climbing and the dangers of BASE jumping. It was when he moved to Lake Tahoe over a decade ago and discovered trails, mountain biking and specifically TAMBA, where he found his new passion. Always the dopamine-fueled thinker and dreamer obsessed with first ascents, “BushwhackNamara” immediately started asking “what if”? What if there was a mountain bike singletrack around Lake Tahoe? What if there was a trail from Susanville to Mammoth called Sierra Camino? What if there was a mountain bike trail from Canada to Cabo called Orogenesis? The dopamine was flooding his brain with possibilities, and a decade later, Chris and his wife Tor have been instrumental in funding the trails renaissance happening in Lake Tahoe.
Singletrack Radness | Truckee Dirt Union | E22
If you’ve ever piloted your mountain bike on the trails of Jackass Ridge (now called Donkey Town) and Yogi Bear, and finished with an ear to ear grin, you can thank the @truckeedirtunion . Formed in April of 2020, the TDU is the only trail organization in Truckee specifically focused on enhancing and expanding rad trail experiences for mountain bikers. In its short 3 years of existence, TDU has already amassed a volunteer trail force 550 people strong, supporting a crew of #corelord community builders who’ve been digging in the forest for 30 years, putting Truckee on the map as one of the best towns in the American west for mountain biking. In episode 22, we sit down with TDU founders Matt Chappell (@chappawitz), Skye Allsop (@tahoemtbiker) and Greg Forsythe (@cyclepathsmtb) and talk all about the past, present and future of mountain biking and trails in Truckee, where TDU fits into this quickly changing town and how you can help get involved with the #singletrackradness movement. Get on the dumb end of that shovel, kick some rocks and put some love, sweat and tears back into the trails you enjoy every day by joining TDU on their next volunteer trail day.
Pedal For Positivity | Harrison Biehl | E20
In 2020, Harrison Biehl bought his first mountain bike and immediately put his mind in the track, progressively doing bigger and bigger rides. In summer 2022, he successfully completed his first “Everesting” mission - repeating the same climb until reaching 29,032 feet of elevation gain. As a fundraiser for TAMBA, Harrison tackled Stanford Rock trail on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe and completed the mission in under 24 hours. In the afterglow, tragedy struck when his close friend Joe Fazzio took his own life a week before Christmas. To honor Joe’s life and bring awareness to mental health, Harrison partnered with High Fives Foundation and launched the Pedal for Positivity. His new mission; “Trench to Everest” - climbing 65,099 feet - the elevation difference between the lowest point on earth, the Marianas Trench, to the highest, Mount Everest. Harrison did the ride on Old Highway 40 from Donner Lake to Historic Donner Summit on September 8-9 with a group of friends who rode by his side, completing nearly 60 laps in 29 hours. Recorded on Donner Summit at the site of the event, this is a heavy story of friendship, community, commitment, struggle and loss.
40 Years of Marlette Flume Trail | Max Jones | E19
In Summer 1983, Max Jones jumped on a strange new contraption called a #mountainbike and went looking for trails to ride around #laketahoe. There wasn’t really any singletrack until he discovered an abandoned flume line running high above the east shore of the lake. After a few failed attempts, Max finally uncovered the overgrown track, taking five hours to “ride” only four miles, fighting through brush and hundreds of downed trees. For the rest that summer, Max cleared the trail with nothing more than hand tools and dogged determination. 40 years later, thanks to Max’s efforts, the Marlette Flume Trail has become the most scenic trail in the world and a gem of recreation in Lake Tahoe. Max and his wife Patti have built a life and career around the Flume Trail, promoting the Great Flume Race for more than a decade, starting Flume Trail Bikes to shuttle visitors and opening Tunnel Creek Café to feed them at the end of the adventure. This is the story of Max Jones, a Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductee, the resurrector of the Flume Trail and an early pioneer of ecotourism in Lake Tahoe.