Lou Martinez has been active most of his life — at least since his mom dropped him off at cross country practice in high school and sped off without him. Now with the desire and discipline to go after just about anything, he was one of the lucky few to get chosen to participate in the docuseries, From The Ground Up!

In this episode of the Daylight Spotlight, we get to know Lou a little better before the fourth season of FTGU drops – what keeps him interested in staying active, what it’s like transitioning from trail running to cycling, and his decision to stop waiting for a sign to get up and go.

Oh, and bike love. It's a thing.

Lou’s appreciation for things like nature (and his bike), is contagious. As he talks about times when he was less active, we see his gratitude for the life he is living, encouraging listeners to just GO.

“We’re waiting for something special. We’re waiting for, like, this special notification that says, ‘TA-DAH! Here’s your wake-up call. Go do something,’ when in reality, put that sh*t down, go put your shoes on, go jump on your bike – go DO something.”

We’re glad you’re here to listen in and get to know this super great guy so you can look forward to seeing Lou and his sweet jumps on season four of From The Ground Up!

• Did you run after high school?
• How is riding similar to trail running?
• Do you think that resetting and grounding yourself is essential for functioning healthily?
• What’s your preferred cycling discipline?
• Had you heard about gravel biking before being part of FTGU?
• What do you ride?
• What would you say to people who don’t have the opportunities that you have as part of the project? What’s your advice?
  
  

Follow Lou on Instagram

More about FTGU:
FromFTheGroundUp.bike
FromTheGroundUpProject on YouTube

FTGU Community Facebook Group

Get your own FTGU Community t-shirt!
DaylightBrand.com/ftgu

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

Who moves across the country to do the thing she loves to do? Joanna J. Yates does — that's who. Originally from West Virginia she and her husband fell in love with mountain biking to the point where they just wanted to do it year round. Thus began their journey to Sedona, where Joanna began her coaching career.

Bettering her skills while learning how to coach others was a natural path. Understanding that it’s not “one-size-fits-all” in the biking industry, she’s here to help people gain confidence on the bike and to help them find ways to succeed that works for them.

“It’s just so much more than just riding your bike. It is building this resilience all the time, because you’re doing that hard thing each time you get on the bike. It’s teaching you to show up for yourself.”

Joanna advocates for showing up for yourself by setting an example of having a work-life balance that includes doing what you love. She teaches practical MTB skills using phones to record movement and progress, how to use your body weight to manipulate where the bike goes and what it does, and what skills you can practice even when you don’t have a trail.

• Was your move to Sedona because of the community there? Or was there not much of a mountain biking community in West Virginia?
• What are your dogs’ names?
• How did you get into coaching?
• Have you ever been to Iceman in Northern Michigan?
• Do you call mountain biking “cycling”?
• What do you think it is that makes women who mountain bike so inspiring?
• What percentage of coaching do you do in person versus remote?
• Do you have to deal with cacti?
• Is the terrain (in Sedona) mostly rock?
• Was there a mountain bike event in Sedona recently?
• What’s a tubeless tire?
• What has been the biggest hurdle for you in skill development?
• Why focus on a skill like a manual on flat ground?
• What makes a group ride fun?
• Do you coach through your own business?
• When do you take a break from practicing? What’s the limit, where’s the line, how do you know when to stop?
• How do you advise approaching an advanced skill like a jump?

Want a good foundation but don’t know where to start? (We know a great coach.)

Get all the info you need about Joanna’s coaching: https://sedonamtbcoaching.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannajyates

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-pJ0H4qfLmvmN8LoYGTKNQ

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joannajyatesmtb

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannajyates/

Email Joanna: joannajyatescoaching@gmail.com

Other mentions:
https://traillovers.com/
https://thundermountainbikes.com/

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.

Any sport can be a bit daunting when you first start. Learning the skills can be hard enough, let alone dealing with the social pressures to perform our activities for social media or community members.

Sammie Bennet talks about Friendship Miles, a nonprofit that has taken measures to make the running community more approachable for newcomers. She discusses her background in running, dealing with injury, and needing a safe space to run and connect with likeminded people — not necessarily to train, or for even for accountability to keep running. Sammie wanted to run with friends, without competition and without expectation.

Friendship miles touches so much more than social running and it's so much bigger than a local nonprofit. Listen to find out how people can participate all around the world for free, helping communities improve through use and traffic, all while welcoming new friends to the running community. This is a great conversation to have and we're excited you're here for it!

Be sure to head over to DaylightBrand.com and look through our kickstarter. We've got exclusive designs listed, unique packages for groups and as always, super comfy apparel. Help us fund a trailer for this year so we strreamlne our bussiness

Support this Podcast:

• Review the Daylight Spotlight podcast on Apple Podcasts to show us some love, or drop your feedback in the comments below!
• Make a donation to help sustain future episodes.
• Become a Daylight Hitchhiker on Patreon

© Copyright 2024, DaylightBrand LLC, All rights reserved.