Vital MTB

Tanner Stephens, Dakotah Norton, and Jason Schroeder bring you an off-season podcast to discuss the 2027 World Cup downhill schedule, thoughts on media coverage around races and what could be better, and a bunch of hot-take style questions. Enjoy.
Thank you Maxxis Tires, Burgtec Components, and JensonUSA.com for supporting the B Practice Podcast!

00:00 Dirt Bike vs. Downhill: Who Makes More Prize Money?
04:15 The Best and Worst MTB Content Lately
08:35 GNCC Racing and Dak's Moto Skills
13:20 Breaking Down the 2027 World Cup Schedule
14:55 What's Changing at Les Gets?
16:30 The Morzine Valley and Lift Situation
20:00 World Cup Locations and the Future of the Series
22:00 Should Whistler Host the World Cup Finals?
24:10 What's Next for the U.S. Open?
26:00 Are Repeated World Cup Venues Making DH Boring?
31:50 Is World Cup Media Coverage Getting Worse?
34:00 What Makes Good Mountain Bike Content?
40:00 The Value of Original World Cup Coverage
44:20 What Do Racers Want From MTB Media?
46:00 The Human Side of Downhill Racing
52:20 Telling the Stories Behind the People in MTB
56:00 What MTB Media Can Learn From Moto and Surf
01:00:20 What's the Most Important Geometry Number?
01:03:00 Training for Gravity Riding
01:05:00 Strength vs. Fitness for Downhill
01:09:00 The Mental Fatigue of Riding and Bike Testing
01:16:10 Winter Riding Plans and Staying Active
01:19:10 Wrapping Up

This week, Jason Schroeder, Lars Sternberg, and Shawn Spomer are joined by another Vital contributor, Mike Page, to discuss the handlebar compliance shootout that Mike took on this year. They go over what even is compliance, how different amounts did (or didn’t) affect comfort and steering, and what the results were across the 9 bars tested. Enjoy.
Mike's handlebar compliance article - Does Handlebar Compliance Actually Improve Comfort? | MTB Handlebar Shootout 
Join the podcast discussion - Bikes: Unaffiliated Forum Discussion
Digest more of our content - Instagram, YouTube, Facebook

This week, Jason Schroeder, Lars Sternberg, and Shawn Spomer discuss two super serious topics:
The hardest hard events of the year: Hardline, and Hard MTB League
How would you rank these by importance when riding a mountain bike: skill, bike design, and suspension setup by importance.
Join the podcast discussion - Bikes: Unaffiliated Forum Discussion
Digest more of our content - Instagram, YouTube, Facebook

A few things were consistently inconsistent this year: Dak’s results and how many podcasts we recorded. But recognizing the problem is the first step to progress. With the dust from the 2026 World Cup DH season settled, we hopped on the mics to chat about Dak’s first year riding for Scott and his ambitions for the off-season and next year. We also reflected on who had a good year, who had a bad year, who needs to turn it around next season, and who we think will come out swinging in 2027. 
As always, thanks for tuning in, and a huge shoutout to Maxxis, Burgtec, and Jenson USA for supporting the podcast this year! Stay tuned for more off-season pods soon.

Spomer and Schroeder were on the ground at the inaugural Whistler World Cup, and the post-race stoke was too high not to talk about it. So we got Lars Sternberg on the line, and had a good ol bench race banter session. 
The Whistler crowd was legendary, the track was quintessential Whistler, the weather was typical for a race weekend, and Americans topped two podiums. The only thing that could have made it better was if Lachie Stevens-Mcnab wasn’t DQ’d for dodging a pole. Enjoy the chat!