A funny thing happened on our way out the door

Welp... we might not be done.

Oh hi. Remember me? It’s been a while, and there’s a reason for that…

We thought we were done here.

Those of you who have been Substack subscribers know that in June, we thought we had reached a natural end to The Art of Mountain Biking—we thought this project was finished.

But then, a few things happened. First, more of you started to show up. Since writing that almost goodbye on June 11th, we’ve received a confusingly steady influx of both Substack subscribers and downloads on our podcasting platforms.

Second, I started to become more greatly aware of the intangible value I had been getting from this project—that hidden value that only reveals itself in absentia. There was really something special about having a reason to pay attention to my life and the lessons rolling through it, on a weekly basis, then talking it through. And I miss that.

Maybe that’s why we couldn’t ever seem to come together to record that final goodbye episode. I won’t speak for Jamie, but I know something inside of me was always holding me back from that final conversation, if only subconsciously. So I’d reschedule or find a reason that I couldn’t find the time.

And Jamie and I have been kicking around since then. Jamie’s right hip surgery from December failed (in her words, “because [she] was too impatient to heal completely”), and she just had left hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on October 7th. Then, she’ll be getting her right hip repaired (again) on November 7th. Her goals are to fully recover and build up her bike strength by early spring, just in time to ride again. Her hips have also forced her to step way back from coaching for a time, but she hopes that she’ll also be coaching again soon.

And as for me, I’ll be honest. I’ve been in a season of intense highs and lows. I’ve spent the past year struggling with my health and the past year-and-a-half really struggling in my business/career (the lows). Yet in this time, Aaron and I have also gotten engaged (!) and I’m pursuing some new passions/interests that are really making me excited (the highs). I’ve gotten my health back on track, and I’m back on the bike again. Aaron and I had planned to ride Thunder Mountain in Bryce this weekend and also in Cedar City, but it snowed. So we rode around Antelope Island instead, and it was perfect. We also took our shot at observing Comet A3 up there, and it was so breathtakingly magical, I cried.

I’ve also been experimenting a bit with my writing and familiarizing myself more with the Substack platform on my Huomautus newsletter, and I gotta admit, I’m becoming more enamored with Substack and the communities that exist here.

And all of these factors have converged into a grand takeaway for The Art of Mountain Biking: Actually, we’re not done.

I’m not quite sure exactly what this looks like yet, but I’m going to start by leaning into the Substack platform more with some written content that is usable and based on the episodes we’ve had so far. So, if you’re not already a Substack subscriber, you may want to subscribe now.

I’ll sometimes use AI to help synthesize and organize information in posts like these. And since I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the ethical use of AI for stuff like this, all posts that have been supported by AI will be marked—I’m thinking they’ll just include a simple statement like “This post has been compiled with the assistance of Chat GPT,” or something like that. These will still be drawing from our original content and episodes, but if they ever draw from additional sources, I will list those as well, as best I can. Transparency here has become quite important to me, and I want you to know where your information is coming from.

Also, if you have any thoughts or ideas of what you would like from us, and what you would like The Art of Mountain Biking to look like moving forward, please comment here or email us at theartofmountainbikingpodcast@gmail.com.

Lastly, I’ve been thinking a lot lot about how to keep the lights on with this project while also staying true to our mission to keep things as accessible as possible. For now, I’m going to keep things free. After we get rolling again, I’ll likely turn the paid subscriptions back on with a huge thank you. I am less inclined to paywall specific content at this time, so the paid subscriptions will simply be for those who wish to support this project and help keep it going. As always, you can just send us a one-time tip here.

Folks, I’m really excited to be back. I’m really excited to hear from you. And I’m really excited to see what this next chapter looks like for The Art of Mountain Biking!

Cheers,

Danielle