No matter your life trajectory, you can always choose a different path and you can always choose to use your voice to enact change. On this episode of the Roller Door, North American Brand Manager Katie Zaffke, joins Hannah to talk with long time friend of the brand, Aneela Mckenna. Aneela is a legend in the industry, not only for her vivacious laugh and mischevious glint in her eye (and her scottish whit to boot), but for creating spaces for people to find their voice and confidence both on and...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 4
On this episode, Tobin Ortenblad puts on his co-host hat and joins Hannah in interviewing Keegan Swenson. Pre season, why Cape Epic is so hard, preparing for Unbound, and why Cyclocross should have a comeback. It's always a pleasure to sit down and talk with these two HTSQD athletes and get a look into the world of top tier gravel racing and beyond. If you have any nerdy gravel questions or questions in general, email [email protected] . We thank you for listening!...
May 08, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 3
All new? Hasn't the Bullit been around forever? Yes, this OG model has gotten a major revision and is better than ever. Think Vala on steroids. We'll let Aaron and Jack explain the rest. On this episode of the Roller Door, Hannah sits down with Design Engineer Aaron Thielk and Ebike Product Manager Jack Russell, to introduce the all new Bullit. We may be biased, but this thing rips. Hope you enjoy. Remember to write in with questions, suggestions on topics, guests, or whatever-- it's podcast@san...
Apr 17, 2025•44 min•Season 3Ep. 2
On this episode of the Roller Door, Hannah sits down with the two Syndicate women, veteran Nina Hoffman and fresh junior Ellie Hulsebosch, to get an inside look at life on the road, balance, and all things racing. These two are new teammates and their mutual respect and connection is palpable and fun to witness. We hope you enjoy. Remember to write in with questions, suggestions on topics, guests, or whatever-- it's [email protected] Thanks for listening!...
Feb 20, 2025•59 min•Season 3Ep. 1
On this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah chat with HtSQD racer and People's Champ Tobin Ortenblad on training, cyclocross tactics, gravel fashion, and more. Tobin's always full of informational insight, strong opinions and good laughs. We always enjoy talking with Tobin, and we hope you do too. Remember to write in with questions, suggestions on topics, guests, or whatever-- it's [email protected] Thanks for listening!...
Nov 15, 2024•49 min•Season 2Ep. 18
In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah chat with legendary freerider Vero Sandler about her experience before, during, and after the Redbull Rampage. There’s an awful lot to unpack here. We hope you enjoy, and remember– if you have questions for Vero or anyone at Santa Cruz Bicycles, please email them to [email protected] / Thanks for listening!
Nov 01, 2024•59 min•Season 2Ep. 20
In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah chat with some of the group that brought the Vala, Santa Cruz's new full power e-bike, to market. You'll hear from Kiran MacKinnon, Jesse Carlin, Peter Mueller-Wille, and Mark Matson on choosing a new suspension platform, picking a drive system, and bringing the bike to life. If you're curious about the particulars of the Vala, like power statistics, geometry, and details, be sure to listen to our other episode, titled 'Introducing the Santa C...
Oct 17, 2024•48 min•Season 2Ep. 17
At long last, 2024 marks the first ever women's field in the iconic (and somewhat controversial) freeride competition, the Red Bull Rampage. In this episode of the podcast, Garen and Hannah chat with UK freerider Vero Sandler about her path to becoming one of the sport’s foremost freeriders, what the Rampage means to her, bike setup, and more. The women are digging in the red, hard Utah desert now: be sure to watch live on RedBull TV: Thursday 10/10 at 6PM PST. Let’s Go Vero!...
Oct 08, 2024•51 min•Season 2Ep. 19
What’s a Vala? How’s this new Bosch motor? Wait… a 4-bar bike from Santa Cruz? Is this the end of VPP? Who’s Jack Russell, anyways? To hear the answers to these questions, along with many more, press play– there’s a lot to know about Santa Cruz Bicycles’ new model, the Vala. Questions? Gripes? Please email us at [email protected] . If you enjoy the podcast, you can help others to do the same by subscribing or giving us a 5-star rating. Thanks for listening!...
Oct 03, 2024•59 min•Season 2Ep. 16
In this episode of the Roller Door Podcast, Garen and Hannah talk through the updates to the Santa Cruz Hightower, along with several off-piste tangents. If you have questions about the new Hightower (or anything Santa Cruz) please email us at [email protected] . We thank you for listening!
Sep 20, 2024•28 min•Season 2Ep. 15
If you're listening to this podcast you surely love riding bikes, but it's not all nose-bonks and power wheelies. In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah circle back with Matt Miller on findings from Matt's Paydirt-funded trip to the Netherlands. Matt loves riding bikes so much that he's built his life around building better cycling infrastructure, which is something all of us can be thankful for. If you have questions for Matt or anyone here at Santa Cruz Bicycles, please email the...
Sep 06, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 14
This week we launched the latest Bronson: our go-to aggressive trail bike. Listen as Garen and Hannah talk with Santa Cruz Director of Product Josh Kissner about how several small refinements and a few big ones have drastically improved the suspension and ride feel of one of our most popular models. If you have questions for Josh, please let us know by emailing [email protected] . Thanks for listening; we hope you enjoy....
Aug 22, 2024•37 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Annie Ford is a climate activist, marine biologist, surfer and mountain biker with a passion for doing hard things. She's got the world record for descending the most vertical on a bike. She rode her mountain bike- with a surfboard- from the north tip to the southern tip of New Zealand. Most recently, she rode her Santa Cruz Nomad from Ensenada, Mexico to Whistler, BC to raise funds towards ending the pursuit of new oil and gas along the Australian coast. In this episode of the Roller Door, we h...
Aug 01, 2024•51 min•Season 2Ep. 12
In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen chats with Keegan Swenson, Tobin Ortenblad, and Sam Dale about their races, their bikes, and their experiences at the 2024 Downieville Classic. Is Downieville technical enough for an ex-world cup downhiller on a bigger bike to beat the fastest endurance riders on XC bikes? To find out, give a listen. Any questions? Please email: [email protected]. Thanks for listening, we hope you enjoy.
Jul 18, 2024•42 min•Season 2Ep. 13
To chat with Sam Dale is to consort with a calm, wise man: steady in his words, rich in story, humble as they come, Sam is the kind of person you wish you had more time with. Luckily for us, he's now living in Santa Cruz. In this podcast, we click it down a couple notches and hear about Sam's beginnings, his years as a world cup racer, why he moved to Santa Cruz, and more. We hope you enjoy - and if you have any questions for Sam or anyone here at Santa Cruz, please email them to podcast@santacr...
Jul 04, 2024•50 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Eliot is one of a kind and so important to the cycling world' is what photographer Adrian Marcoux recently said of Eliot Jackson, and we couldn't think of a better way to sum him up. In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah hear how Eliot went from a humble and ambitious racer to becoming the community building, podcast hosting, non-profit founding visionary he's now known as. We feel lucky to know people like Eliot, and we hope you enjoy listening to this podcast. If you have questi...
Jun 20, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Season 2Ep. 11
--- SPECIAL DROP --- In this special episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah sit with everybody's Wingman, Tobin Ortenblad, to hear about how this year's Unbound Gravel race unfolded for the HtSqd team. We throroughly enjoyed this open, informative talk, and we hope you do to. If you have questions for Tobin, Keegan, Alexis, or anyone here at Santa Cruz Bicycles, please email them to [email protected] . Thanks for listening!...
Jun 07, 2024•52 min•Season 2Ep. 10
In this episide of the Roller Door Podcast, Garen and Hannah sit down with three very inspiring women: Anka Martin, Kelli Emmett, and Sarah Leishman. While their career paths have diverged, these three have a common thread in that they were the founding members of the first (and only?) all-female enduro team under Juliana Bicycles. Listen in for stories of races past, thoughts on the current racing scene, and how Anka, Kelli and Sarah transitioned out of racing and into careers in the cycling in...
Jun 06, 2024•50 min•Season 2Ep. 9
In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah talk with Matt Miller of Santa Cruz-based non-profit Ecology Action. While the subject matter isn’t our normal mountain bike specific techy nerdfest, it was one of the more satisfying talks we’ve had on the Roller Door to date. Matt’s a cyclist in every form, and his (and Ecology Action’s) mission to get people riding is nothing short of inspiring. Matt and his team recieved a Paydirt grant, which will send them to the Netherlands to learn how...
May 23, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In this episode of The Roller Door, Garen and Hannah check in with the one and only Ben Hildred. You may know Ben from such feats as his Olympus Mons, wherein he ascended almost 70K feet in three days on his Tallboy, or from when he 'double everested' by climbing 58,808 feet over 172.5 miles... in 33 hours. Ben's an over-achiever, but hearing him talk through his motives is nothing less than inspriring. Spoiler alert: like the rest of us, Ben just enjoys riding his bike. That's what drives him. ...
May 09, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 7
On this episode of the Roller Door, Santa Cruz Bicycles Director of Product Josh Kissner regales Garen and Hannah with stories of yesteryear, like why we have build kits named D, R, and S. We also talk through some of the nuances of bicycle geometry, like how we measure and display seat tube angle, and why this matters to the rider. This is another rambling conversation, and I always learn something when chatting with Josh. We close this episode by cracking open the ol' mailbag for some informat...
Apr 25, 2024•53 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Apr 11, 2024•56 min•Season 2Ep. 5
In today's episode of the podcast, Garen and Hannah dig a little deeper into the world of Santa Cruz ebike Product Manager Jack Russell-- and Jack's world is interesting in that though he's in charge of integrating electronics into the Santa Cruz ebike range, he's also interested in flying airplanes, driving fast cars, skiing in the French alps, and is (supposedly) an authority on where to find the best burrito's on the west coast. On that front-- we're covered here in Santa Cruz, but if you've ...
Mar 21, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 4
On this episode of the podcast, Hannah and Garen chat up Greg Williams, founder and executive director of the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship. The conversation wanders from the challenges around funding massive trail projects, getting buy-in from locals (and others), running legendary events, riding e-bikes, and more. Greg's passion for economic development in remote, underserved communities by way of building infastructure for outdoor recreation is remarkable. California is lucky to have Greg, ...
Mar 07, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 3
In this episide of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah chat with Santa Cruz lifer Scott Turner, EU Brand manager Loic Delteil, and a small frog who chimed in mid-recording. We're in Southern California trying to escape the Norcal rain, and as it's raining torentially, we've decided to talk about the bikes we brought until we can actually go ride them. Fu fact: the rain stopped, and we did go riding on the iconic and winderfully draining Condor Peak trail, as well as on some Simi Valley favorites. ...
Feb 22, 2024•46 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In this first episode of The Roller Door's second season, Garen and Hannah talk with Santa Cruz Bicycles Head of Product and Design, Geoff Casey. Geoff's in charge of engineering, product development and the design/ graphical side of Santa Cruz. While he's got a background in designn and enginnering, he's also got a knack for process and helping teams collaborate. We talk about what keeps Geoff motivated, his early days of bike design, how he came to work at Santa Cruz, how the process of bike d...
Feb 08, 2024•59 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Episode 1 of the Roller Door's second season is all about ebikes. Garen is joined by Santa Cruz e-bike Product Managers Mark Matson and Jack Russell for a chat about full power vs mid- power ebikes. We also chat about the real-world differences between Shimano's EP8 and EP801 drive units. Have questions? Please write in: [email protected]. Thanks for listening!
Jan 11, 2024•56 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In this episode of the Roller Door we open the mailbag with Santa Cruz Bicycles Director of Product Josh Kissner. We answer some reader questions and get into bike geometry , mixed wheels , how riding differs between in Santa Cruz and Squamish, and a lot more. Thank you for listening to this podcast, and a special thanks to those of you who've written in. Remember, that email is [email protected] drop a line if you have questions, ideas, whatever. And if you enjoy it, please subscr...
Dec 21, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 24
The Goat moves on... Greg Minnaar holds more wins than any other athlete in the history of Men's elite downhill racing. He's been on the Santa Cruz Syndicate for 16 years, he's raced 7 genertations of the santa cruz V10, and he's put our bikes on the top step too many times to list here, and as you may have heard, his time on the team is coming to an end. On this episode of the podcast Garen and Greg talk about the early days of the syndicate, numerous competitors througout the years, how gregs ...
Dec 05, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 23
/;[Today's episode of the podcast features Syndicate downhill racer Jackson Goldstone and his mechanic, Woody. We talk through Jackson's explosive '23 race season, how bike setup changes throughout the year, what it's like to be on the Santa Cruz Syndicate, and lots more. One thing I love about these podcasts is how much I learn from guests, and this episode, for me, delivered-- I could talk to these guys all day. Remember to write in with questions-- that email is [email protected]....
Nov 22, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 22
