Ep. 21 - The Girls of GRIT
Bikes or Death
Patrick Farnsworth
4.8 • 563 Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2019
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode I chat with Anna Claire Beasley and Beckie Irvin, creators of Grit Fest: a women's mountain bike festival going down this November in Arkansas. The three day festival is open to womxn (cis, trans, and non-binary) riders of ALL levels and will focus on skill development, community building, outdoor advocacy and education. The schedule is packed with workshops and clinics, speakers, social events, a gear swap, camping, beer, and more.
Bikes or Death is proud to support Grit Fest as a sponsor, and I'm excited to have these two awesome women on the show to tell us what it's all about.
Beckie and Anna Claire share a passion for mountain biking and a commitment to inclusivity that really shine through in this interview. I couldn't agree more with their philosophy that it doesn't matter what bike you have, what you wear when you ride, or whether your gear is basic or fancy. As their website says: "It's not about the gear, the kit, or the bike. It's about the ride + where it takes you."
In addition to Grit Fest, we also touch on plenty of other interesting topics: the psychology of how different genders learn in sports, the importance of inclusivity in the world of cycling ("If you have a bike, and you ride it, you're a cyclist"), and the unexpected popularity of women's ultra-endurance cycling races back in the early 1900's. If that caught your interest, here's a link to the book we talked about: Women on the Move, the Forgotten Era of Women's Bicycle Racing.
Grit MTB Festival details:
Nov. 15-17th, 2019
Tickets go on sale Aug. 19th at 9am CST
Spots are still available for sponsors, vendors, and presenters.
To learn more, visit www.gritfestival.com or check out gritmtbfestival on Instagram.
"Grit Fest is a 3-day grassroots festival designed to bring womxn (cis, trans, and non-binary) together around the sport of mountain biking. Regardless of skill level, every woman is welcome. In addition to helping you develop your skill set, Grit Fest will focus on building community, outdoor advocacy, and education."
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Bikes or Death podcast. My name is Patrick and I'm your host. |
| 0:05.9 | This is a show that talks about bikepacking, adventuring, and all the cool people who participate. |
| 0:11.5 | On this episode, I sat down with Becky Irvin and Anna Claire Beasley, who I like to refer to as the Girls of Grit. |
| 0:24.6 | They are putting on a women's mountain bike festival this fall in Fayetteville, Arkansas. |
| 0:29.3 | And I'm excited to announce that Bikes for Death is going to be a sponsor of that event. |
| 0:34.9 | I'm a big believer in what these girls are doing and the girls themselves. |
| 0:40.7 | They're both well-informed, intelligent ladies who have some really great real-world experience, |
| 0:50.2 | and they are genuinely passionate about making the sport more inclusive |
| 0:58.1 | and breaking down the barriers to entry for women specifically. |
| 1:03.6 | And they, anyway, I mean, they have a really good grasp on some of those issues and ideas on ways to improve them. |
| 1:14.6 | So a lot of this episode we're going to be talking about the festival, but even if you're |
| 1:20.6 | a guy, I still think that you could get a lot of value out of this. |
| 1:25.6 | There's a lot of, we're going to talk about other stuff other than just the festival. So there's a lot of value out of this there's a lot of we're going to talk about |
| 1:27.9 | other stuff other than just the festival um so there's a lot of great information there we're going to |
| 1:32.5 | get to know the girls of grit a little bit better so yeah maybe uh don't don't skip over this |
| 1:37.7 | one just yet uh even if you can't go to the festival or if you're uh you're not a, you know, give it a listen. Give it, give it |
| 1:46.1 | a try. These girls definitely deserve your support. And I think you really enjoy it. Like I said, |
| 1:51.6 | they have great perspectives, interesting stories, and they're doing some really neat and |
| 1:56.2 | exciting things for the mountain bike industry and bike packing. It is a mountain bike specific kind of festival, |
| 2:04.2 | but they are going to have some focus towards bike packing. Oh, and also I should announce |
| 2:12.7 | that my wife is going to be attending the event, and I think she's going to try to coordinate a |
| 2:18.8 | group ride. We haven't banged out the details yet, but we will as we get closer, but she is |
... |
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