Up next in 10
Hannah is leaving us soon to go build pump tracks with Claudio Caluori - which is obvioulsy sad. But in this week's episode she chats to Heather, who will be taking on some of the many jobs that Hannah has been doing for almost 10 years, and Andi Sykes, and ex Singletrack staffer now working as marketing manager for Hunt Wheels.
How did Hannah get here alll those years ago? Where is she going next and other questions including why all the founders of MTB have facial hair.
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0:21
hello welcome to this week's Single
0:23
Track World podcast i'm Hannah Dobson
0:26
managing editor
0:28
and here we have Heather whose job title
0:32
we might invent in a few minutes that's
0:34
Heather Oliver and we have Andy Sykes
0:37
who used to work here but is now at the
0:41
rider firm what's your official title
0:42
Andy i am senior marketing manager i
0:46
forgot then senior marketing manager for
0:48
the rider firm okay hunt and privateeer
0:51
great deals on privateier bikes at the
0:52
moment and off he
0:55
goes and today for a change of scene
0:58
it's too wet to go outside and find a
1:00
really uncomfortable bench in Todden
1:02
it's like raining we are Well but the
1:04
benches will be wet oh true yeah they'll
1:06
be wet for like days now um so instead
1:08
we're sat in the historically
1:10
significant single track kitchen andy is
1:14
sitting in the chair which What is
1:17
special about this chair it's like the
1:19
oldest asset owned by the company is it
1:21
really wow is it haunted uh I don't
1:25
think anyone's actually died in it so
1:28
yet but uh so that Yeah we had that
1:32
since issue one it used to go out onto
1:35
on location is this the one that you use
1:37
when you go to the lock and pretend to
1:38
read the magazine i used it for that wow
1:41
okay there you go and I used it when
1:43
Charlie Kelly uh sat outside and
1:46
pretended to read the magazine what if
1:47
someone doesn't know who Charlie Kelly
1:48
is who is Charlie Kelly charlie Kelly is
1:51
the inventor of downhill mountain bike
1:55
racing let's call it that yeah look at
1:59
Andy's all smug because he's doing
2:01
podcasts properly not doing that
2:05
so yeah ran timed the first races down
2:08
the Repack trail oh the Repack so Richie
2:13
mustache man yes gary Fisher gary Fisher
2:15
and Tom Richie they're both mustache men
2:18
actually all of them mustache and
2:20
apparently he played that guitar so
2:21
Charlie Kelly also played the guitar
2:23
behind me this is the office guitar
2:25
which hasn't been strummed in a while
2:27
actually maybe there'll be some
2:29
strumming later of the guitar
2:33
that was sounding not weird until you
2:35
added of the guitar well I saw both your
2:38
faces
2:40
no you premaned our faces from after
2:44
you'd added the guitar okay and then the
2:47
other thing that's behind us is the uh
2:51
Joe Bert
2:52
illustration of issue 100 of Single
2:57
Track Magazine which was not actually my
3:00
first issue i was here for issue
3:03
99 possibly 98 as
3:06
well um and the picture was is all sort
3:12
of sponsored that's not not quite the
3:14
right word but those are all people that
3:16
donated to the fundraiser um in memory
3:20
of Jen Hill okay who was a deputy editor
3:24
before
3:25
I started and I came here to do the
3:29
boring bit of her job the organizing bit
3:33
so that she could spend the rest of her
3:35
days uh doing adventures um because she
3:38
sadly died of lung cancer the most
3:40
healthy person in the world
3:43
and yeah I ended up doing her boring bit
3:47
of job and all the interesting bit of
3:49
her job and ended up doing it for the
3:52
last nearly 10 years kind kind of feels
3:54
like we've got into like what this
3:56
podcast is all about but we haven't
3:57
actually said what it is we haven't
3:58
actually said it yet no because this is
4:01
not quite my last
4:02
intervention
4:04
not quite my last podcast but nearly
4:06
because I'm off to work for Vela
4:08
Solutions and Heather here whose job
4:11
title we're going to an event um is
4:14
going to do the boring bit of my job now
4:17
thank you
4:19
so welcome to Heather um let's just hand
4:23
over to you and you can decide what your
4:24
job title should be
4:27
oh gosh right hello i'm Heather uh some
4:30
of you have probably already spoken with
4:32
me because I'm the one that uh you email
4:35
with your subscription troubles not that
4:38
there's many there's never any it's rare
4:41
it's very rare um and also you've
4:44
probably seen some of my photos knocking
4:45
around in the magazine the Grinder
4:48
photos and things like that because as
4:50
well as working here I am a photographer
4:53
uh sort of in cycling and sports um but
4:56
yes I'm going to be coming to the
4:58
forefront a little bit more and taking
5:01
over the boring part of Hannah's job as
5:03
she said um so yeah my job title
5:06
officially has been subscriptions
5:09
manager but very quickly was a little
5:12
bit more than that so yeah we do need to
5:13
decide what have we been throwing around
5:16
as an idea so far
5:20
well Chief Cat Herder or Chief Chips
5:22
Herder because Chips is going to be
5:24
doing the the commissioning editorial
5:28
direction bit but I don't know andy
5:30
you've worked here what do you think
5:31
Heather's going to be doing everything i
5:33
think she's going to end up doing
5:34
everything so like everyone everyone
5:37
does everything don't they so executive
5:39
everything else executive everything
5:42
else i think that you'd be the first in
5:43
the world and the best at it absolutely
5:46
i like that and I need to go at the top
5:47
of the uh top of the list of roles as
5:50
well yeah there you go executive
5:52
everything i actually forgot what that
5:54
was as soon as I said it executive
5:55
everything
5:57
the only thing we talk about this the
5:59
only thing I don't know how to do is
6:00
code so I guess I'm going to have to
6:02
just learn that one it's easy chat GPT
6:04
all day now yeah so yeah you can do
6:06
everything we don't speak about that you
6:09
could What do you mean chat GPT why not
6:11
cuz we we want to we're real media we
6:14
write real things we don't we don't ever
6:16
use that blasphemous program why did you
6:18
wink then
6:21
oh sorry yeah yeah yeah cool cool it's
6:24
banned we've banned it off the computers
6:26
is it true sorry going off on a tangent
6:28
is it true that for every chat GPT
6:30
prompt you make it uses a glass of water
6:33
have I said this before i feel like I
6:36
need a coffee but yeah is that true i
6:38
don't know i have heard people going on
6:41
about the We're having our conversation
6:42
now environmental
6:45
side yeah on the times when you know
6:47
I've just tested it because I definitely
6:49
never use it properly I do think about
6:52
that what the threat's all about it's
6:53
going to steal our jobs i hope you're
6:55
polite to it as well i'm polite but you
6:57
know I just plant seeds of incorrect
6:59
information into the system yeah that's
7:01
really good sorry let's get back on to
7:03
Hannah
7:05
my work here is done i'm off
7:09
so Hannah before before you leave how
7:12
did you get into working at Single Track
7:14
what's the history of because like I
7:15
don't even know how you cuz when I
7:17
started you were already here but I
7:19
don't know how you came to start working
7:22
at Single Trap it was an accident okay a
7:25
happy accident well it was a happy
7:28
accident as a result of an unhappy
7:30
situation so yeah Jen was ill um and my
7:35
best friend in the world was similarly
7:37
ill and so I'd met Bata who I'd been
7:41
bike riding with until then um and she
7:44
was like "Oh yeah they're going to be
7:45
looking for somebody to organize." And I
7:47
was like "Oh I can organize." So you
7:49
came to organize everyone and you ended
7:51
up leading the ship leading the ship can
7:54
you lead a ship you can lead a horse you
7:56
can lead a ship steer a ship into the
7:58
iceberg um well I wasn't going to say
8:01
that
8:03
so what's your first memory of single
8:05
track first memory of sing first memory
8:08
like the first thing when you're like
8:09
"Oh I work for a magazine now." Well
8:12
well I did come for an actual interview
8:14
here and I cycled here mhm and then I
8:17
got changed in the corner of the car
8:19
park before I came inside and I put my
8:21
Did you really yeah i put my non sweaty
8:23
t-shirt and a jacket on and came in i
8:26
was going to say start as you mean to go
8:27
on but still changes in the car park
8:32
and I talked to Mark and Sarah and then
8:36
um I was booked to go away with Chips
8:40
and Biata for a mountain bike um mayhem
8:44
weekend thing no it wasn't Mayhem it was
8:47
a Scott 100 except it wasn't 100 of
8:50
anything i don't think it was a long way
8:52
in Shroptshire and it was very hot and
8:54
sunny unbeknownst to me the deal was
8:57
that if I didn't drive trip chips crazy
9:01
during the course of that weekend then
9:02
the job would be mine
9:05
and as I say it was very very hot and I
9:10
bonked quite spectacularly as did Viata
9:14
um and we yeah there was thunderstorms
9:19
and I think we were saved by crisps we
9:22
got to a feed station in a kind of like
9:24
we can't go on we're nearly last we're
9:26
not nearly not making the cut off kind
9:28
of a way and then there were crisps we
9:32
were like "Ah crisps." It was just like
9:35
this revelation that crisps existed and
9:38
they were salty and they salted out
9:39
sorted out all the cramp that we had and
9:42
Yeah every time you said crisps the dog
9:44
was looking at me yeah the dog is under
9:47
the mistake and impression that I like
9:49
dogs so that's your first memory of
9:51
single track crisps has been bonking
9:54
bonking bonking and crisps so what's
9:57
what do you reckon is has been like one
9:59
of the craziest things you've decided to
10:01
do while working here and everyone was
10:03
like that's not going to work but it
10:05
paid off
10:07
um well I think I've mostly been left to
10:11
my own devices i think that's true yeah
10:14
um so I don't think people necessarily
10:16
said that's not going to work oh behind
10:18
their back they do
10:21
yeah um but I think I when so when I
10:27
started there were hardly any women in
10:32
cycling media in the industry or
10:34
anything there had been some like
10:35
women's cycling publications but they'd
10:37
all kind of fallen by the wayside it was
10:40
very much like a niche thing and it was
10:42
still pink bikes and small bikes and
10:45
that sort of thing oh yeah and so Yeah
10:49
everything was pink purple and turquoise
10:51
um and I didn't So I didn't like the
10:56
whole kind of women's cycling women has
10:59
to be girly kind of thing yeah and just
11:02
like women's cycling as a separate thing
11:04
i always tried to do it as I'm a woman
11:07
that I ride bikes but I happen to be a
11:10
woman mh um and so I always tried to
11:15
write about cycling just in that
11:18
perspective
11:19
and in some of that I've like kit
11:23
reviews i've reviewed women's specific
11:26
kit and I've also reviewed things like
11:28
period pants and
11:30
a the NYX thing i can't remember what
11:32
they call it period men it's not a
11:35
menstrual a menstrual disc menstrual
11:37
disc yeah and um and I've been really
11:42
surprised and pleased to see that those
11:45
are the things that people um have
11:48
actually been interested to see cuz it's
11:50
and that's guys that have been
11:51
interested to see it like their products
11:54
that they would never have sought out a
11:57
review for but because it's been placed
11:59
in front of them it's kind of like oh
12:01
what like oh I hadn't thought about that
12:03
perspective on things yeah so yeah
12:05
that's um So not super crazy but like
12:08
just doing things differently
12:11
as Yeah as a sort of outsider yeah just
12:13
doing like Well it interests me and I
12:16
think maybe it'll interest other people
12:18
and not writing about bikes most of the
12:20
time I don't ride write about bikes i
12:24
write about all the other stuff that
12:26
happens in life and I think
12:30
that bikes are just the sort of thread
12:32
that join it all together h yeah that's
12:34
a good point
12:37
yeah so I wonder what Heather might do
12:40
because
12:41
inevitably there will be a hole in the
12:43
magazine at some point where something
12:46
hasn't been commissioned or something
12:48
hasn't come in and and suddenly you'll
12:51
have to like scurry around and fill a
12:53
gap i'm sorry this is how it's going to
12:55
be yeah
12:57
so so what what give her what what gaps
13:00
might you like to fill in in the
13:02
magazine
13:04
oh this is something I've been thinking
13:06
about since I kind of started here of
13:09
kind of I knew at some point that
13:12
there'd be a contribution that would
13:14
need to come in i was thinking
13:17
maybe something I think about is my
13:20
place within mountain biking because for
13:23
context I come from more of a grally
13:26
background i kind of only recently
13:28
actually got a mountain bike properly
13:29
again and I'm not the most rad i'm not
13:33
particularly fast downhill quite scared
13:36
quite a lot of the time but I still give
13:37
it a go and where does that kind of fit
13:42
in because again as a woman that rides
13:45
bikes we are now seeing so many more of
13:48
those amazing women that are out there
13:51
you know giving the men a run for their
13:52
money and who are fast and tough but I'm
13:57
not so much in that kind of category i
14:01
think people get caught up on the fast
14:03
thing though don't they like we're not
14:05
like it's fun to go fast but the key
14:07
part of that is it's fun it doesn't
14:09
matter if you're fast or not like I have
14:12
more fun falling off my bike than I do
14:14
going fast on my bike sometimes as long
14:17
as I go home and I'm happy and I haven't
14:18
broken anything that's the main thing
14:20
it's playing with toys in the woods
14:21
that's it all it is isn't it doesn't
14:22
matter if you go quick doesn't matter if
14:24
you're a bloke or a woman just have fun
14:26
on your bike and yeah it really is i
14:29
think I as well I came into cycling as
14:31
an adult hadn't really done it since I
14:34
was a kid i think I'd got a Dutch bike
14:36
as a teenager with the idea that I was
14:39
going to ride to college every day and
14:40
it was going to be great and it had a
14:41
basket on the front and I fell off it
14:43
three times and basket oh yeah you fell
14:46
off the basket i fell off the basket
14:47
yeah that's what I was doing wrong is I
14:49
was just sat on the basket
14:52
yeah yeah absolutely hit the curb gone
14:54
um but yeah then kind of put it to one
14:57
side and it took about another 15 No not
14:59
15 years 10 years after that before I
15:01
kind of properly got back on a bike
15:02
again but it is it is just fun it's the
15:05
best thing to do and
15:08
as well working here is making me ride
15:10
my bike more which I very much enjoying
15:13
as well so maybe something along those
15:15
lines
15:18
so I that's interesting that you look at
15:20
it as like what's your place in in this
15:25
scene because in many respects it's
15:28
become more and more inclusive since you
15:32
know in the 10 years that I've been in
15:34
here um but yet you can still feel like
15:37
you're an outsider um when I started I
15:41
felt like the women that there were were
15:45
all kinds of a bit like what you're
15:47
saying these amazing adventurers doing
15:50
epic things um typically they were
15:53
childless or they were those incredible
15:56
people that have like five kids and a
15:58
nanny and a footy 100 job and they still
16:02
go and do epic things and to me that I
16:04
just felt like I was the only kind of
16:06
person that did a school run in the
16:08
whole of mountain biking and that's
16:10
changed loads in the last few years
16:13
particularly I think like with Tracy
16:15
Mosley and Rachel Afton bringing having
16:18
children into the scene and then Joe
16:20
Barnes we've got a child on the front of
16:22
the next magazine like that would been
16:25
unthinkable when I started and everybody
16:28
loves that cover they think it's great
16:30
um so yeah it's interesting that you can
16:34
do loads of work and try and be more
16:37
inclusive and be more inclusive and yet
16:39
still some people will look and think
16:41
well where's my place in in that scene
16:43
so yeah I think there's always work to
16:45
be done um but I do think it's all about
16:48
having fun and so that's why I am
16:50
genuinely excited to be going off to
16:53
Bella Solutions and building contracts
16:55
because are you going to so what what's
16:57
your your role at Bella Solutions what's
16:58
that going to be so I'm going to be the
17:00
business development manager and what
17:02
does that entail means persuasing the
17:05
world or the UK that they need more pump
17:08
tracks and that pump tracks are great
17:10
because they're fun because well because
17:13
they're fun i So I think that they are
17:16
the like potential access point into
17:19
cycling for loads of people um it's a
17:22
relatively small amount of space and
17:25
infrastructure that's needed yeah and it
17:28
caters from everything from like kids on
17:30
balance bikes and scooters right through
17:32
to yeah professionals um but I think
17:36
that if you have that space in the park
17:39
like if you go if you take your kids to
17:41
the park with a bike you want to be able
17:43
to get there with their bikes you don't
17:46
want to have to drive there so then
17:47
you're like well how am I going to get
17:48
there what's the safe route so you start
17:50
looking for safe infrastructure um and
17:54
if your kid is riding around then you
17:56
want to ride with them so then you as an
17:58
adult get a bike as well and I just
18:00
think that it's got such potential for
18:03
making a much more like cycle focused
18:07
nation um
18:09
and that's got to be good for the bike
18:10
industry because one of the other things
18:12
I've banged on about when I've been here
18:14
is that the bike industry has sold to
18:18
the people that already ride bikes
18:19
they've sold new fancy bits each year to
18:21
the same same group of people and it's
18:24
only really in recent years that they've
18:26
done a lot of work on or started to do
18:28
work on kind of bringing new riders in
18:31
and yeah making it more inclusive so I'm
18:34
continuing my mission cool
18:39
so
18:41
uh what should we have you got any other
18:44
secret questions you want to ask us uh
18:46
or embarrassing questions embarrassing
18:49
questions uh no I don't think I do i was
18:51
going to um No I I've not got to do more
18:55
questions okay sorry well shall we go
18:57
should we move on to this little blue
18:59
sausage that's beside me yeah oh
19:01
actually let's take an outbreak
19:04
hunt
19:06
wheels they're very good and they're
19:09
available shipping direct from the UK
19:11
the US or Europe and we get amazing
19:15
reviews hannah loves them i don't know
19:17
see that she loves them everyone loves
19:19
them i've got seven wheels they're great
19:21
aren't they okay let's take a dog out
19:23
ready five bites
19:31
okay I'm going to hand this um blue
19:35
sausage over to Heather to unpackage
19:39
this is my sort of product of the week
19:41
um it's I'm going to have to look up the
19:43
name of it because it's so long that I
19:45
forget it every time yeah you can you
19:49
can unzip the sausage so what we have to
19:51
decide what
19:53
what for for those that are not watching
19:56
on a video what I describe it yeah what
19:59
sort of size is that do we think two
20:01
burritos it's Yeah definitely two
20:03
burritos in length we should have
20:05
compared it to the enchiladas that Ross
20:07
was eating oh it's way bigger it's like
20:09
a giant it's like we were saying before
20:11
it's like one of those if you're old
20:13
like Hannah and I it's like one of those
20:15
toys you'd get in the 80s like a gloworm
20:18
oh yeah
20:19
there you go remember those yeah and if
20:21
you don't tough you'll never know what
20:23
we're talking about so let's unzip it
20:26
for inside it is the women's nano air
20:29
ultra light full zip hoodie see why I
20:32
can't remember the name this is from
20:35
Patagonia and so they do a men's one as
20:37
well which actually the men's one comes
20:40
in much brighter colors and nicer colors
20:42
i like that color it's okay but it comes
20:45
in nice colors in men's i think this is
20:48
like a kind of an indigo is it indigo
20:50
this is This is pale blue this is like
20:53
cornflour blue in my mind i think you're
20:55
probably right yeah so it is is it
20:58
cycling specific as it's a Patagonia not
21:01
no so it's a Does it have a lower back
21:04
it does have a lower back though doesn't
21:05
it yeah so you can be leaning forward a
21:08
little bit but it's not super It's not
21:10
super short at the front so it's
21:12
designed for being active in and it is a
21:17
jacket or jersey that is insulated but
21:22
very very thin insulation and then it's
21:25
windproof
21:27
um and it has a hood all built in it's
21:29
like water splash resistant it doesn't
21:31
look waterproof no not really no but it
21:34
has a few panels where it's not
21:37
insulated um so that you it's like
21:40
breick no it's like super floaty thin
21:44
and it's got like a mesh inside as well
21:46
so it's kind of Is it mesh no it's not
21:48
mesh is it it's just like rip stop kind
21:50
of yeah very very light fabric and so
21:53
it's like it's not Well so it's not as
21:56
warm as like a down puffy job thing no
22:00
not quite but those you just like sweat
22:02
as soon as you put them on right yeah
22:04
whereas summer is you can move around in
22:07
it mhm but then you can layer it up if
22:10
it's really cold you can wear it under a
22:13
waterproof and not be totally cooked um
22:17
it is £220 which is a scary amount of
22:20
money but it's super versatile they
22:23
still repair clothing if you take it to
22:25
Patagonia that's good they do repair
22:27
stuff and so I got this in um as a test
22:30
and almost immediately lent it to my
22:32
friend who um did the Badger Divide in
22:35
it the other week which is from
22:37
Invenesse to Glasgow which is quite a
22:41
long way to carry all her own stuff and
22:43
she barely took it off for the whole
22:45
ride and the person that she was riding
22:47
with ended up buying one oh really
22:50
because he was so impressed with how
22:52
good it was wow so um but um that's my
22:56
friend Serena who I've mentioned before
22:58
in a newsletter oh yeah um and this
23:01
brings me back to um something I was
23:03
talking about before Lady Bits and well
23:06
I was sort of talking about ladies
23:08
because I'm talking about period plants
23:09
serena is a a physio that specializes in
23:13
women's uh gynecology okay and she said
23:16
that when she's on a bike ride she's
23:18
learned that if she hangs out at the
23:20
back somebody will always come and ask
23:22
her advice like everyone has got like
23:28
something they've been too scared to ask
23:30
or haven't found a specialist that knows
23:32
about so if you see Serena at the back
23:35
of a of a ride it's not because she's
23:37
slow it's because she's waiting for you
23:39
to ask her a really intimate question
23:42
so there we go that's how we get from um
23:45
uh a very lightweight and very good
23:47
hoodie to women's intimate physical
23:50
parts nice segue
23:53
just like that
23:55
and that's there Heather that's your
23:57
mission
23:59
seamless segways seamless segways i was
24:01
going to say as well on the um lady bits
24:04
side of things um a friend of mine uh
24:08
called Emmy she wrote an article a
24:10
couple of months back um that sort of
24:12
circulated around which was all about
24:13
sort of women's saddle pain and did some
24:16
research into the numbers and the number
24:19
of women that experience it so I can and
24:22
it's quite high it's it's probably most
24:25
women and maybe we don't talk about it
24:27
enough we have to just wait for your
24:29
friend to be hanging around at the back
24:30
of a ride to go and ask her questions um
24:33
but yeah it's definitely out there it's
24:35
definitely important and maybe I will
24:39
carry the torch forward of talking about
24:42
lady bits in single track
24:45
and my work here is done
24:50
okay well she want to try the wrap-up i
24:53
think that's the end of this week do you
24:55
need the microphone
24:57
we need to tearful goodbye you Heather's
24:59
going to do the wrap-up go on what is
25:01
the wrap-up it's when you rap oh no no
25:05
one needs to see that yeah we do well
25:08
you can't get ambassador of everything
25:11
wrong I'm afraid well I'll just have to
25:13
take that off the list can't code can't
25:15
rap not Not in my wheelhouse hang on it
25:18
just sounded like you started a rap then
25:23
what is the wrap-up you should do it
25:24
it's your last one it's not yes it is
25:27
after today last one i've got a couple
25:30
more to do i think you just have to do
25:32
the last one for most of this week okay
25:34
right that's fine so that's all from us
25:38
this week at Single Track is that how I
25:40
finish yes okay goodbye like and
25:43
subscribe
25:45
head over to Hunt Wheels and probably
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