MSA, what a way to end the season. Grueling and daunting, it's a track that other venues will forever be compared against. It feels wrong that this could be the last World Cup at Mont Sainte Anne for a long time (if not ever). At least the final send-off race was one to remember. For our crew, it was memorable because our guy Dak, against a lot of …

The B Practice podcast returns! There was a lot of racing the past six weeks or so. Our main man Dak was busy globetrotting and facilitating one hell of a comeback. So we can't be too upset about his lack of availability. Thankfully, we sat down this week to chat about some DH racing and were joined by special guest Dante Silva. We kept the convers…

Two years ago to the day, Vital member, contributor and finance specialist, Jeff Brines, posted a question in our forum, "Will more companies be shutting down in the next 12-24 months?" A small, but exciting mountain bike brand, Guerrilla Gravity, surprisingly announced it was closing, and the rest of the industry was in the wake of the Covid boom.…

Les Gets is now the unofficial Mud Fest of season after back-to-back years of treacherous conditions. It was a spectacle to watch, and delivered a mix of insane bike handling skills and unfortunate mishaps that could have overall point implications as we get to the end of the season. Dakotah Norton breaks down what it was like to go to battle with …

Thanks to Maxxis Tires | FOX | Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line This Inside Line podcast episode, recorded at the Pro Downhill Series in Solitude, Utah, features Shawn Spomer from Vital MTB interviewing Michael McQueen—better known as “The Mangler”—about his pivotal but often behind-the-scenes role in U.S. downhill racing coverage. McQueen…

Thanks to Maxxis Tires | FOX | Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line Charlie Sponsel, aka Team Robot, sits down with Dante Silva and John Hall of Intense Racing to discuss the current state of U.S. Downhill MTB racing, advantages and disadvantages of racing domestically compared to World Cup DH, normal drivetrain versus gearbox bikes, chain dam…

Thanks to Maxxis Tires | FOX | Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line Read the stories discussed in this episode and add your own here In this episode of The Inside Line podcast, host Shawn Spomer is joined by Jason Schroeder and Charlie Sponsel—newly dubbed “Hater in Chief”—to share and discuss the most hilariously frustrating "dumb bike proble…

Locking down a date and time to record podcasts with Dakotah Norton could be one of the most challenging endeavors Vital has taken on. He's a busy man, and we love him for it. The time crunch between the La Thuile and Andorra World Cups was tough on everyone, so we decided to wait until Dak returned to Tennessee to discuss how his first four World …

Vital's Forum Discussion on the FOX Podium Charlie's FOX Podium Review Podium Tech Talk with FOX product developers Vital's FOX Podium fork review dropped on Tuesday and our tester, Charlie Sponsel, encouraged you to leave any questions that remained. Sorting through dozens of great inquiries, the highlights have been pulled and Charlie answers the…

After plenty of drama and mild discontent surrounding the first three races of the season, it was nice to have a good old-fashioned downhill race in Val di Sole. No one complained about the track being too straight or too easy. There were plenty of fresh sections and line choices. And the racing was as competitive as ever. Our main man Dak was back…

Host, Charlie Sponsel Watch this interview - https://youtu.be/Z5CN3pD_7Yg FOX Podium Review - https://youtu.be/UEW1tMYVM20 The Podium isn't FOX's first foray into the upside-down MTB fork market. In 2011, they developed a prototype downhill fork that used an inverted design for 26" wheels. It was heavy and flexy, so they dropped it. Fast-forward 14…

A lot of people who mountain bike also snowboard, and vice versa. Two tools with different jobs but a shared goal—provide an experience that evokes excitement and creativity. With so much time spent with a bike or board between our two feet, we were curious if these vessels of stoke had more in common than meets the eye. At the end of the day, they…

If there is one thing we can almost guarantee, it's that Leogang will provide some incredibly tight racing. This year was exceptionally snug. Dry conditions and a similar track layout as years before meant little time was spent sorting out line choices or using the brakes. The recipe was simple: rally the main line with confidence and tuck-to-win o…

The second round of the 2025 World Cup from Loudenvielle, France, produced some of the fastest racing we've seen in recent memory and was (somehow) filled with more funny drama than the first round in Poland. But it turns out a dry, straight track makes for iconic Hail Mary race runs, and the UCI/Warner Bros/Discovery not knowing how to enforce the…

In this episode, the crew covers all the hot tea from the first World Cup in Poland, but most importantly, gets an update on Dak's highly anticipated return to racing. We hope you enjoy the show, and we will see everyone next week for a post-Loudenvielle podcast! 0:00 - Intro / Crew Updates 5:32 - Dak Injury Update 13:37 - Dak's return to racing?? …

Ahead of the Tennessee National taking place this week, we sat down with Sea 'Griz' McClendon to run through some USDH names to watch on the national circuit this year. Of course, we had to get the Griz update and hear how he ended up spittin' heat on the mic at Downhill Southeast races and in the booth with the Gravity Coop doing post-race shows. …

With most team rumors debunked or made public, we wanted to discuss which changes are most exciting and who's posed to go fast in 2025. Of course, like any good B Practice Pod, we floated between topics, mixing in chit-chat about Supercross, racers racing longer nowadays, Gates' $100k belt drive bounty, the cause and effect of setup changes, and wh…

Thanks to Maxxis Tires | FOX | Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line Max Beaupre is a ball of energy on and off the bike. Taking a moto heritage to mountain bikes, Max grew into a national enduro powerhouse before making the move to e-enduro. But don't pigenhole him as a single discipline specialist. He rides everything and rides everything wel…

The past few months have flown by. And somehow, we haven't recorded a B Practice Podcast since the last World Cup back in October. We were overdue for a catchup to discuss the many series and team changes and, of course, our main man Dak's gnarly off-season injury. We get into all the details of what happened, his recovery, and why he's in a better…

Thanks to Maxxis Tires | FOX | Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line #USDH ripper, Lucas Dedora, shares his story of going from a diehard XC grom to his first year racing World Cup Downhill. In the middle of the season, Lucas graduated high school and managed to hit 19 different races around the globe. Jack Rice was there all summer with Lucas …

Thanks to Maxxis Tires | FOX | Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line Today we're joined by Jeff Brines, a long-time mountain biker, Litter Mag and Vital MTB fan. He's also educated and versed in finance. He kicked off a forum thread on Vital MTB that asked "Will more companies be shutting down in the next 12-24 months?" At a year old, the threa…

The 2024 World Cup season is over. And what a whirlwind the past five months have been, with all-time racing across the board. It's a shame things have to come to an end, but the hype is already building for next year. Mont-Sainte-Anne was very par the course for how the 2024 season has gone, with wet conditions on race day. Luckily, the classic Ca…

Jack Rice wraps up the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup with interviews from racers, mechanics and MTB filmers and photographers to see how their season went, to find out what the future looks like and to continue the question, "why downhill?" Thanks to Jack, John Lawlor and Rick Schubert for all the hustle this year at the World Cups. And thank yo…

Did you believe the hype? Coming into the 2024 World Cup season, Asa Vermette was an obvious favorite in the Junior Men's category. He'd been fast domestically for a few years, and with the support of Frameworks and guidance from Neko Mulally and Angel Suarez, he seemed poised to have a successful debut on the international stage. Then, at the firs…

This is a special episode of The Inside Line as we had Jack Rice at the 2024 U.S. Open of Mountain Biking in Killington, Vermont. See photos from the event - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/why-ride-downhill-u-s-open-mountain-biking Thanks to FOX, Maxxis Tires and Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line It was the season ender to the Pro Downhi…