DirtRag Women's Weekend at Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park

Set aside the dates of February 20-22, 2009 and book your tickets to Cleveland, Ohio! The annual DirtRag Women's Weekend at Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park is set to go off! We'll post more details as we get them.

Just know that if you show up in Northeast Ohio that weekend, you'll be greeted with loads of fun riding, great riders and coaches, and maybe even a super-sick non-Women's-Weekend-sanctioned night skiing session at my alma mater, Brandywine. Oh, we know you want to travel to the Heartland now!

November's Featured Rider: Nadia Steinbrecher

By day, Nadia Steinbrecher is a home health care nurse, but when she’s not tending to those in need she’s quickly becoming one of the best female freeriders in the country. Nadia can also be found studying nutrition at Colorado State University or shredding skate parks and dirt jumps. Nadia has an affinity for Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park in Cleveland, OH, and she is always stoked to coach girls through tricks and stunts. Nadia didn’t start riding when she was 21, so we know she has plenty more tricks up her sleeves!--FF

Name: Nadia Steinbrecher
Home: Fort Collins/Boulder, CO
Age: 26
Favorite type of riding: Street/Park, Flowy singletrack, JUMPING!
Why you ride: It keeps me smiling, sane, and fit.
Sponsors: Black Market bikes, Girth, Deity components, Atomlab, Fox Shox, Kenda, 661

When I’m riding a trail, I don’t look for the fastest line--I look for the most fun one. Anyone who’s ever ridden behind me can tell you that I jump over everything I possibly can and wallride things that probably weren’t meant to be, well, wallridden.

With “freeride,” I feel like I get to express myself more on my bike. I’ve always been a creative person and I get so inspired watching BMX and Moto and I just enjoy doing tricks. I like showing the world that mountain biking involves more than spandex and dudes with shaved legs, and I hope I can inspire more girls to get their bikes off the ground and trying new things.

I ride because it clears my mind, I’ve made some amazing friends along the way, I get to travel, and I absolutely love it. I also like being able to do tricks that most boys don’t know how to do.

I’m such a girly-girl outside of riding. Before I got into bikes I was going to school for fashion design (I love to sew). My shoe and purse collection is embarrassingly huge! I’m also really into music (my vinyl collection rivals the shoe/purse assortment) and I play bass guitar. I’m working on my degree in nutrition right now, so I guess I’m interested in food too. I was never really much of an athlete before I started riding bikes, but this sport has brought out a side of me that I never knew existed.

Being able to relax and enjoy yourself while riding is key. I know personally that it can be very intimidating for girls (especially when you’re first starting out) to ride with guys (especially really good ones). I used to get so nervous before and during rides and just work myself up over nothing. I wasn’t having fun at all. Then one day I realized that riding bikes was not equivalent to root canals or a chemistry test and I started to enjoy myself so much more. Learning skills suddenly became fun and interesting.

Martha Hucker: Say It Fast

The Internet is a wonderful place. Through the magic of the interweb, the New Zealand blog-site Martha Hucker managed to find us. And we couldn't be more stoked to be connected to this awesome site, which is dedicated to women's riding. They put our blog to shame with their exclusive interviews and insights, but that's why we're telling you to check them out (and hey, we're busy trying to keep you stocked with super sweet riding kits). You'll definitely learn a thing or two about your favorite female riders from all over the world. We even found a sweet video of Colorado's Tammy Donahugh (see below). Thanks, Martha Hucker!

Speaking of all over the world, we're currently working to implement international shipping options on Freeride Foundation. We hope to have everything up and running by the middle of November!

Build Your Dream Store

Girls, I need your help. Interbike is coming up. It's the annual cycling tradeshow where retailers get to check out all of the rad new stuff for next season. And we get to claim our share of the goods while we're there, so you have the best selection of products available to you.

Last season, we missed out on Interbike because the Freeride Foundation concept hadn't been born yet. Though we've been able to bring in a lot of rad clothes, we missed out on a lot of sizes and colors that you'd probably be pretty stoked on.

What would you like to see on Freeride Foundation? We've seen requests for body armor, especially women's specific body armor, a higher quantity of smaller sizes in shorts (like small and extra small), and gloves. If you have suggestions, let's hear them! Let me know what sizes you're looking for, what colors you can never find, and what products you'd like to add to your one-stop shopping experience. You can leave comments on this post, join our Freeride Foundation Forum discussion, or email them to info@freeridefoundation.com.

Thanks in advance for your input. We're doing this all for you!

Emily Johnston Interview on Pinkbike.com

Pinkbike.com pulls out another awesome interview--this one's conducted on video. They check out Emily Johnston's dirt jump bike and talk to her about her career as a freerider. This former downhill racer has become one of North America's best female dirt jumpers. Click her to read all about Emily's bike and to watch the video.

July's Featured Rider: Darcy Turenne

Canada's Darcy Turenne is quickly pushing women's freeride mountain biking into the mainstream. In addition to frequent appearances in cycling mags, Darcy has also been featured in Men's Journal and in an upcoming Rolling Stone issue. A former member of the Canadian National Downhill team, when Darcy left racing for freeriding she never looked back. She currently hosts "The Ride Guide" TV show and has a university degree in environmental studies, so she can properly identify the soil and trees she sails through. --FF

Name: Darcy Turenne
Home: Vancouver Island, BC, Canada--plus airports and couches everywhere!
Age: 24
Favorite type of riding: Fast, flowy, jumpy singletrack
Sponsors: Norco Performance Bikes, Oakley, Gravity/FSA, Dakine, Shimano, Etnies, WTB, Skullcandy
Website: hellodarcy.com

The more I ride, the more I fall in love with it. The freedom and sense of challenge that I feel when I ride is endless and it puts me 100% in the moment. As soon as I jump on my bike I feel in my element and any residual stress I had during the day is gone. That terrible blind date I just had? POOF! Out of my head when I ride!

When I first started "freeriding," it was all about the tricks for me. The only bike I had was a huge downhill bike and I was determined to learn a suicide no-hander. To me, that was the epitome of freeriding! It’s hard to write that now and not laugh.

After I learned the trick and did it a few times, I realized it wasn't as cool as I had imagined. Sure, it got a few “oohs” and “aahs,” but it wasn't actually all that fun to do! Around the same time, my ex-boyfriend had given me a BMX bike. On the first ride I was like, "Why would I want this thing?" I was in my teenage rebellion phase. It hit a littler later for me than most.

He convinced me that BMXing was fun, good for the ol' skills, and that I should try it out. To avoid being in the way, we'd hit the skatepark at 10pm at night after the lights went out. I'd pump around in full gloves, scarves, and down jackets to get the feeling for the bike. After a while, I started venturing out on the BMX in the daylight and soon started to really enjoy it. On a BMX, your mistakes aren’t brushed under the rug like on a big squishy mountain bike. BMX bikes let you know they’re there—like a noisy roommate on a Saturday night. After rough landing after rough landing, I began to realize that being smooth and light on a bike is what separates a good biker from a mediocre one.

There are tricks I've learned, and ones I want to learn, but I don't care about them nearly as much as as I care about my ability to moto-whip and ride with style and confidence. Now all that matters to me when I ride my bike is style and flow. It's a lesson I learned over time and one that I'm going to stick with. I think style is the hardest thing to learn on a bike because it really has to be developed over time and it comes within. I've put a lot of work into mine and that is what I'm the most proud of when I ride.

Ladies, Holla for Ya Dolla!

There's a sweet 3-day park/street/jump jam happening in San Diego this weekend. Starting on Saturday and ending on Monday, the Holla for Ya Dolla Jam will visit San Diego's premier dirt jumps and skate parks in a quest to load down it's contestants with swag and cash. The best part of the whole thing is that there's a separate women's category. Also, there will be a "Girl of the Day" awarded after each session. The entry fee includes three days of riding and contests, lunch, and a damn good time. Holla!
For more information, visit http://www.thrashbike.com/.

Help Us Build Our Race Calendar

Our goal is to offer the most comprehensive downhill and freeride race and event calendar on the interweb. We've started filling in the venues and dates we know, but we're missing quite a few. We need to know about as many races around the US and Canada as you can find. Just email links to the events, or event names, dates, and places to info@freeridefoundation.com. We'll post them ASAP.
Click here to view the current calendar.

Welcome to Freeride Foundation!

FreerideFoundation.com is an online retail store offering the industry’s greatest variety of women’s-specific freeride and downhill mountain bike gear and clothing.

Freeride Foundation also stocks hard-to-find small sizes in your favorite men’s gear, such as shoes, helmets, and gloves.

Freeride Foundation is built for women by women. It is our goal to support women who ride, race, and huck their bikes.

FreerideFoundation.com launches March 1, 2008!

Email: info@freeridefoundation.com