Video: Turning Your Mountain Bike Passion Into A Career - International Women's Day

Mar 5, 2021 at 20:30
by Pinkbike Originals  


Do girls just wanna have fun? Or is it all about the snacks? We head out with some local rippers and PB employees to see what keep these ladies inspired to shred on as women’s mountain biking continues to grow.





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62 Comments
  • 48 3
 “The master in the art of living makes little distinction between her work and her play, her labor and her leisure, her mind and her body, her information and her recreation, her love and her religion. She hardly knows which is which. She simply pursues her vision of excellence at whatever she does, leaving others to decide whether she is working or playing. To her she's always doing both. ” (James A. Michener)
  • 12 0
 WOW! That's deep..and I love it! Thank you for sharing. That's how'd I like to be known for living my life FOR SURE 3
  • 8 1
 While I don't disagree that this is a great thing to strive for, everyone would like to have their trash picked up, their houses plumbed, their grocery store shelves stocked. To me it seems disingenuous to pretend you deserve such services when you're unwilling to compromise your time. Pretending that everyone can be an instagram influencer or youtube celebrity is a pyramid scheme.
  • 4 0
 @sspiff: I think that's a slightly different issue around respect for jobs like picking up trash, plumbing and stocking shelves - they are all pretty essential to most of us but the jobs are looked down on and (often) badly paid.
Pretending everyone an be a 'manager' is also a pyramid scheme.
  • 4 0
 @sspiff: Yep. Over the past ~5 years there's been a lot of pushback against the silicone valley "follow your passion" bullshit. It's a trap for most people and leads to a lot of inner strife and disappointment. If you've been able to monetize your passion, good for you, but enjoy the luxury while it lasts. Work has a funny way of turning a passion into something a bit more mundane.
  • 28 1
 Well, there go 6 more people who ride harder and more often than me.

"...hobby that bleeds into my career that bleeds into my hobby..."

I'm trying to get to this place, so yeah, I am inspired. Well done.
  • 8 0
 Thank you! I'm stoked it came together so well. The ladies rip as well
  • 6 0
 I thought about this in terms of if I want my hobby to be my career. Maybe. On one hand, it could be cool. On the other hand, I like the separation — I can step away from my job and enjoy my hobby. That’s what it’s for, in a way. But I certainly don’t begrudge anyone who takes this path.
  • 5 0
 @TheR: I thought like that for a lot of my life, but now I realise I'm already on my 3rd career, so it doesn't have to be an either/or thing, I could have just done it for a bit and see how it worked out. I'd like to retire early and become a skills coach.. just need to get the skills myself first!
  • 24 0
 And thanks to all the guys for being so welcoming in this community because it really makes a difference! I have been involved in other "action" sports for many years, and have never found the kind of friendly and encouraging atmosphere for women participants as I have with mountain biking.
  • 17 0
 AGREED! I've never met a guy who didn't want to see me succeed in my goals or hit the big jump or send it into the rock gardens! I have tons of men to thank for helping me to get where I am.
  • 16 0
 3 weeks ago we adopted a 6 year old girl who had only ridden a tricycle in her orphanage, today she pedaled a 2 wheel bike for the first time!!!! Last night we watched some MTN Bike videos and she only paid attention to the ones with female riders. So I am all for more female centric videos. Vision was awesome because it was both boys and girls sending it!
  • 3 0
 beautiful story, i watch BCPov with my daughter and she pays more attention whenever Yuka is on camera.
  • 2 0
 I love this! Thanks for sharing! So rad that it's totally normal for Dad and daughter to be watching bike videos together now, and at such a young age. It wasn't always this way.
  • 6 0
 Great to see so many proactive ladies getting out there and getting rad in the woods. Christina’s enthusiasm is just great. With bikes what they are these days it’s a great time for the ladies to recruit their girl friends. I saw a pack of 5 or 6 ladies with legit bikes way up in the mountains last month and it occurred to me that in the last 30 years of riding mountain bikes that I hadn’t really seen that since the early days of Jacquie Phelan and her wombats in Marin county.
  • 2 0
 Cheers for that! I'm happy to have started biking right around when dropper posts were becoming more common hahah I'll never miss the days of the manual seat post clamp.
  • 10 0
 Right on, Slaydies!
  • 4 0
 You, friend, are a word smith. Well done. Well done.
  • 3 0
 @TheR: Ha! Thank you, but I can't take credit. There's a team of hoodlum shredders here in 'Berta, Canada called Slaydies. I have one of their jerseys. I'm an honorary member; I identify as a shredder.
  • 1 0
 @galliwasp: hahaha this is fabulous! I would definitely join this bike gang
  • 5 0
 So great to see this video being super positive around this topic! We're talking about having support and seeing tons of women out there on trails. Let's keep this momentum going!
  • 7 0
 I love the enthusiasm I see from so many girls up on the Shore, especially new riders.
  • 3 0
 So many rad women on the Shore! It's wild that those mountains, being insanely rugged, have built up so many amazing female riders. I would have been very intimidated if that was my first trail ride.
  • 4 0
 @christinachappetta: One of my favourites was running into two girls at a Fromme trail fork doing Leppard. They had massive smiles and the one girl had been riding for a total of ONE month! Blew my mind.
  • 6 0
 In my two decades of riding, I have never once heard any dude say "you know what biking needs, less women participating". So get out there ladies, we are all for it!
  • 1 0
 So very true! Thanks for the reminder. It's amazing to have the support
  • 3 0
 Such a ridiculously good vibe coming from these women and this video. Love the open silliness of the rider intros and I love reading comments saying how supportive our sport/hobby is. Always work to be done, but the forests feel like a more universal place as I see more women and POC on the trails. Can't support this enough!!!
  • 2 0
 Thank you so much! I love hearing the giggles, makes me have a little laugh myself.
  • 3 0
 I love this. I graduated from high school a few years ago and I used to race in the Norcal NICA league, one thing I will say is that NICA is absolutely killing it getting more girls every year interested in the sport, its so inspiring to see. Creating a more diverse community of riders regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, etc..will only make the sport more rad!
  • 3 0
 Keep the awesomeness coming PB ladies! It’s so good to have content that women can relate to, and role models that young girls can aspire to emulate. I love watching all edits, but it’s nice every so often (not just on women’s day) to see riders that look like you.
  • 2 0
 Cheers! We are so lucky to have an awesome and diverse group of ladies at PB, and guys too of course, and I love that we all have biking in common.
  • 5 0
 Awesome. Cool to see there are a lot of women at PB.
  • 2 0
 So many! I was amazed when I began there.
  • 4 0
 So cool to see more and more ladies on the trails and conquering challenging stuff!
  • 5 0
 "Be the change you want to see in the world". Wise words.
  • 1 0
 From wiseman Gandhi. Except, he didn’t say that. But I still like the non quote.
  • 1 0
 @usfrenchie: hahaha I would never want that pressure... I'll keep my same-same-but-different version
  • 3 0
 Great thing to happen to mountain biking. More women makes everything better.
  • 1 1
 Not where I am (Aussie). Hardly any girls at races
  • 2 0
 @christinachappetta I loved the video! How about a video about getting more girls into the sport? I think that'd be really cool!
  • 2 0
 Keen!!! I'll have to dig deep on this one. Feel free to send me any ideas :-)
  • 1 0
 This is so inspirational! I loved this video. As a female rider that is trying to find a way to involve mountain biking in my career, this video was much needed. Thank you pinkbike!
  • 3 0
 Great video - makes me want to bail on work today and go ride
  • 1 0
 Story of my life.
  • 2 0
 Awesome video Christina. Sent this to all the women in my life so they could share it with their friends.
  • 1 0
 What?!?! That's amazing! Thank you for caring and sharing
  • 2 0
 Very cool... great piece to add to the content of PB
  • 1 0
 Thanks so much! It's tricky going off on a limb but I'm stoked we took this one on and I'm very happy with the reception.
  • 2 0
 Great, inspirational vid. Thanks Ladies!
  • 1 0
 Happy International Women's Day! Great video! Where or how do I get this Pinkbike jacket? @christinachappetta
  • 2 0
 yay!! So awesome!!
  • 1 0
 Thanks girl! I really appreciate that! 3 Hope you had a rad day. You've been paving the way for the ladies for a long time now so THANK YOU!
  • 1 0
 What a team! Loved every bit of it!
  • 1 0
 @christinachappetta - what backpack are you wearing in this vid?
  • 2 0
 That is the Shimano U6...all the snacks
  • 2 0
 That was awesome!
  • 2 1
 I thought we weren’t using gender anymore ?
  • 1 0
 So sick!! A whole new level of inspiration for all riders.
  • 1 0
 Another great video with heaps of inspiration and tips!
  • 1 0
 “Don’t try”.....
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