August 19, 2025 • 38 mins
Picking yourself back up after a fall is never easy but it’s something competitive mountain biker Jess Blewitt knows how to do all too well. When you look at her last few years it would be so easy to focus on the injuries, but that is far from what the first ever female entrant to Red Bull Hardline has done. Instead she shares a lesson about the power of presence and managing fear in a world where we're constantly told if we're not moving, not performing, we're falling behind.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If there is one truth about me, it is that
I am always on the go. I absolutely love adventuring
from mountains to oceans, lakes and rivers. I want to
see as much of the world as I possibly can
while I can, which means I often find myself far
from electricity, but never without my MOFI. Their range of
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(00:22):
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powered up for everything you need. Hello, friends, and welcome
to the Powerful Podcast. I'm your host Ajam McCord.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
In this podcast, we introduce you to powerful women who
were changing the game in and outside of their field
of play. These are women's stories, women who happen to
be doing things that many of us can only dream of,
but the lessons and inspiration they share is universal.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Hello friends, and and welcome back to the Powerful Podcast.
I'm your host aj McCord and this week we have
a true trailblazer, and not just because she's one of
the best mountain bikers in the entire world, but she
has truthfully led the way for some of the massive
breakthroughs we have seen in female mountain biking in the
last few years. But that trailblazing did not come without
(01:20):
a cost. Jess Blewett has dealt with maybe more than
her fair share of injuries, and in this episode we
talk about her why. We talk about how to pick
yourself back up, how to lean into every single phase
of the recovery process so that when you come back
you're not just healed physically, you're healed mentally. This episode
(01:40):
was really incredible to just hear about this one's resilience
to learn from it, and I cannot wait for you
guys to hear it. This episode of The Powerful Podcast
is brought to you by Mophi, So welcome back to
the Powerful Podcast. I am so excited to have one
of the trailblazers literally in my mountain biking be joining
(02:01):
us for this episode. Jess blew It originally from Queenstown,
New Zealand, but travels all over the world in twenty
twenty two, she made history as the very first female
entrance into Red Bull Hardline. You will find her on
a bike, but she used to ski on mountains. Jess,
I am so excited to get to know you and
a little bit more of your story. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited, so exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, so I want to start first with how did
we go from ski racing to mountain biking. How did
we find this transition of sports.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, well, so I obviously grew up in Mount MONTANOI
so New Zealand, and at first we were I guess,
ski racing. Like my whole family, My brother and I
were both ski racing and we used to do winters
in Queenstown and then Samma beck by the Beach, and
(02:56):
then we ended up moving to Queenstown full ski racing,
which kind of sounds really bizarre to say now because
neither of like neither of my brother I actually ski anymore.
Well ski race, we don't ski race anymore. So yeah,
we both both went into the biking kind of route,
I guess, But yeah, that I guess.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
The skiing.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
I was on skis when I was like two, so
I guess for the usual mountain biker, they would have
been on like a mountain bike at too, But yeah,
I was on skis at two, introduced to bikes, but
like not downhill, nothing crazy like that. And then yeah,
a lot of my mates at school during high school
and the high school was like, let you right on
(03:40):
the bike pad that' all bring the bikes to school,
and they were just like, oh, like we should come
give it a go. And that was that was it.
That's how I got into it. Just one day. I
was like, Okay, I'll go, I'll join you. Yeah, oh
my gosh.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So we have any need a need for speed. It
sounds like in your family we like to go downhill quickly.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
You could say that, yeah, very much. So I think
it's a very yeah. I like the speed. You could say, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Why do you think you liked speed? Like where did
that come from? It's hard to say.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I don't know. It's just like that whole like adrenaline
rush of there's something like thrilling and it's scary, but
it's good scary. I just I like going fast, and
it's that weird concept of like you're obviously risking so
much to go fast but at the same time, like
the reward that comes out of it can be so
(04:44):
great and then obviously sometimes it can be not so great.
So it's that whole reward thing. Yeah, the risk and reward.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Thing is something that obviously, like almost every sport has,
But it's one of the reasons I love talking to
action and Olympic sport athletes is because the risk and
reward is typically much higher than you know, a lot
of your sort of mainstream sports. Of Dang, if I
miss this shot, the odds of breaking your collarbone are
pretty small. But in mountain biking, if you miss your line,
(05:14):
the odds of breaking your collarbone are pretty freaking high.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And so yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Unfortunately have have been through the hard side of the risk,
not the reward, but the recovery that is needed. So
I talked a little bit about the fact that you
made some history, very first female entrant into Red Bull Hardline.
For people who don't know what that competition is, can
you break it down for us?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I would basically say it is the hardest downhill race
in the world to compete in, so that you've got
these top athletes trying to get down this ridiculously Gnalli
Colls and I think, yeah, the guys like for effect
or can I swear on this?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Absolutely please do. It's much more inherently I was.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Gonna say, I know for a fact some of the
boys are definitely shitting themselves. So yeah, that's probably the
best way to put it. But yeah, it's it's a
Nali Avantit's yeah, one of the scariest, hardest, biggest, like
I say biggest, just like all the features on it
(06:27):
and Nali and just huge souf.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah. So let's go back to the fact that you
were the very first female entrance. Because Red Bull Hardline
has been along for a while. It's kind of like,
if you're thinking in terms of other sports, it's almost
like a specialty event, right, So it's one of those
things where you have to get invited. If you're a
fan of surfing, think of it like the Eddie where
the Eddie IKW. The Big Wave Invitational is something where
(06:53):
you have to get invited because of how the Ico
family has seen you show up in y Mea surfing
big ways around the world and they say, oh, you're
good enough, You're going to hang well enough in this competition.
We want you to be invited. So it's not a
competition that you really qualify for. It's one that somebody
picks you out of and says you have the talent,
(07:13):
you have the ability to go out and dominate this
course or just survive this course. And you were the
very first female entrant into it. What was your reaction
when you got that invite? Well, originally, the way it
kind of panned out was I went and did like
a bit of a scout earlier on and I was like,
(07:35):
I'm actually quite interested in going. I think that had
talks with.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Like girls in the past, being like, does anyone kind
of want to hit it? And they were like no,
and so I think, yeah, I just I saw it
and I was like, no, actually, I think I would
like to give it a crack. And then obviously it
ended up becoming an actual official thing and away I went.
(08:01):
But on net we've now actually seen the first if
a girl do a complete full race run, So we
love that exactly, and that's what we wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yes, we're gonna get to the why that wasn't you
because you were there in twenty twenty two, And just
for more context, when did you start downhill mountain biking like,
when when did you start really properly going after it?
It depends.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
My first World Cup season was twenty twenty one, but
the first like kind of racing year was twenty nineteen.
But then I only stipped on a down the bike
in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So okay, So three years after we switched from downhill
skiing to downhill mountain biking, we're earning invitations to some
of the most iconic, important mountain biking competitions in the
entire world. Let's go back to hardline in twenty twenty two,
you get the invite you're sostoe to, you're going to
(09:00):
potentially be the first female definitely the first female entrant.
Break down the biggest features, Like when you say they
have the biggest features, like, what are we talking about here?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
They've got two ninety foot jumps in a row.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Google, and then I guess, I guess the rest of them,
Like it ranges anywhere from like forty to yeah, ninety,
so yeah, oh my god, maybe the smallest is like thirty.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
It's still something ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So yeah, yeah, there's there's no easy section of this course,
is what you're telling me?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
No, pretty much, Yeah, I can't actually even think of
a spot where you can chill on the course and
be like, oh, I've got a break.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
It's yes, yeah, everything is just one after the other
after the others. So you're doing the practice runs leading
up to the event, you're getting familiar with different elements
of the course and correct me if I'm wrong, But
from my understanding, you can kind of hit the course
in a few different ways, right, there's a few varied lines,
Like there's there's elements that you have to hit along
(10:05):
the way, but there's a little variation. So you're kind
of getting familiar with like what you want to do,
where you want to do it, what element you want
to hit, and how so you're doing that, and then
take us through the reason that you became a female
entrant and not a female participant.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yees. So basically you can start, well, you don't have
to do it like in one go. You can pick
like certain features that you want to hit first or
maybe leave something till the end. And so I guess
I kind of picked a few of the ones that
I originally looked at were like I think I would
be most comfortable on these ones, and then there wasn't
(10:45):
really any part of me that year that was like
putting pressure on myself that I would expect to do
a full run. I think I was more like, I
want to see how much I could do and then
build off that. And then yeah, just unfortunately broke my
collar bone. So yeah, that was the end of that
(11:08):
one for that year, the.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
End of that one, but very far from the end
of your mountain biking story. I mean, what did that
feel like when you broke your collarbone and you realized
this is the end for me?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It was.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I think the break was only hard because I'd just
come off a bigger injury that happened the year before.
So for me, it was like I'm going into my like,
how off season injured again. That was the hardest part
for me.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So, you had a pretty bad injury in twenty twenty one,
you have another injury in twenty twenty two, and then
you get all of a year off before in twenty
twenty four you have yet another injury. How were you
navigating that season of your career? Because I have to
imagine it felt like, my gosh, I just get healed
(12:05):
from the last one and then something else happens.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, it definitely it comes with the sport, but not
a single one of them has been easy, and they've
all had like some sort of different struggle associated with
it in terms of like coming back. I went back
to hardline in twenty three and yeah, kind of same
(12:29):
approach as twenty two, but was a bit more confident that, Yep,
this is the year I'd like to do like a
full run. And then I ended up actually just like
going off the speechure that I've hit the year before,
like did it all myself and then followed someone off
this drop, landed it perfectly, but my ankle exploded, So
it was just like, yeah, that injury wrote off my
(12:52):
whole like the end of my World Cup season in
twenty twenty three. So I think that one was the
hardest one to to swallow.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Injuries are obviously, I mean, any of us who compete
in athletics of any kind we know that injuries are
a part of the sport. But I think what always
impresses me about the people who get back up after
the injury is the why that they find and the
reason they pick themselves back up and get back on
(13:22):
the bike or get back on the mountain or get
back on the board. What were you drawing from in
those seasons where you got knocked down again, knocked down
again to get back up.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I think for me it was like I had a
clear drives or like a goal of what I wanted
to achieve within my career. So it was like for me,
I wasn't going to let something like that stop me
from achieving that. And I think that's where all the
being able to get through sounds funny to get through it,
(13:57):
but yeah, to be able to let you get through
those injuries each time was like, yeah, I'm not gonna
let this. This isn't gonna be the reason I stopped.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, was there a moment where you wondered am I
gonna get back up again?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I don't think so. In terms of like the actual
injury itself, I think my after my montsant Ane one,
which is the most recent one, so that's from last
year twenty twenty four, that one was definitely probably the
first like injury where I'm just it was like a
(14:38):
hard time to yah go through like such a huge
injury again and then trying to like pick myself up
from that one was Yeah, that was tough. It was
more of a mental battle, I think than the rest
of my other injuries have been but I knew that
I would get through. Yeah, I mean I got through
(14:58):
like all my rehab and that sort of stuff, as
you should.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
But yeah, when you say it was a mental battle,
was it because of the tape of injury or was
it because of the fact that it was just another injury.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
I think both. Yeah, I think mentally it was hard
because it's your brain, and like if you break a bone,
they're like you've got six weeks in a cast or
in a moon boot or in a brace. You can't
do any of this and this and this until this time,
and then after that you can do this. So it's
(15:36):
like that whole you get the time frame. So in
a way, you're kind of like obviously going through this
healing phase of like a broken bone, going okay, I've
reached the step, like this is the next step. But
for a head injury, there's no timeframe, so there's definitely
a lot of questioning, like, you know, am I on
(16:00):
the right track? Like is everything going how it should
be going? A lot of questioning and you have to
be really patient, and I'm not the most patient person.
So I think that was a really hard battle. For
me to be like, you can't do anything, like being
(16:20):
told I can't ride my bike not because of the
brakes that I had, but because of my head injury,
and that I literally had to wait until I think
it was like five months afterwards, It's like, whoa, there's
nothing I can do to like speed that, to speed
that up, and it may you might reach that point
and it's still not okay. I think that was why
(16:42):
it was really hard mentally.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yeah, I feel like as athletes, so often, you know,
we're very task oriented people. We're often the ones that
are like, yes, I can have this goal and I
want to achieve it. And so then it's like rehabbing
an injury where like you said, it's a break and
it's like okay, because are the checkpoints along the list
I need to hit. I can do that one thing
at a time and I'll get going. But when it's
(17:07):
your brain, We've come so far in the research and
yet I mean we are like science has come so
far in the research and an understanding brain injuries better,
but it's so hard for I feel like our lifestyles
to figure out how to just let it do it
on its own without having these check marks along the
(17:30):
way and these milestones that say, yes you're getting closer,
Yes you're doing what you're supposed to do, and yes
the recovery is going the way it needs to. There's
like a there's an intangibleness to a recovery from a
head injury that is, at least for me, very frustrating
and very hard to navigate.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Yeah, that's pasolically exactly how I would say it too.
It's like, I think the biggest even like five yet
set like a rest day in my training program. I
can't sit still. So like the minute you've been you
know you've got these injuries, it's like you have to
sit still. Yeah, like you can't do anything. And yeah,
(18:15):
obviously being not being able to be given a time frame.
I think for me the most exciting thing was being
able to literally go back in the gym, go for
a run, and even to be told like, yeah, I
can come back to Frants and go skiing. I was like,
there's no way. So yeah. Yeah. It's like the small
(18:39):
winds are like that kind of breath of fresh air
of like, okay, it's going in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
And those small winds have turned into some other wins
for you, some bigger wins for you. As we've entered
this twenty twenty five World Cup season, tell me what
it felt like the first time you were able to
line up again and go downhill on a mountain break the.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
First World Cup race that we got to. So that
was Poland for me, it was more It's hard to say,
because there was a part of me that was so
anxious and nervous that I had fallen so far behind,
especially now, like the level of the woman's field is
(19:26):
like ridiculous, and so I think just that fear of
I've fallen behind while everyone else has taken like or
I've taken like five steps back while everyone else has
taken five steps forward. So yeah, there was this part
of me that was like so excited to go racing again,
but also so nervous and you know, worried and all
(19:51):
of that sort of emotion of if I come back
and I'm just I'm out the ass? Can I like
can I mentally after obviously like a really hard off season.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, yeah, how did you answer that question? How did
you like navigate that fear? Because I think that's the
big I mean, girl, my I have FOMO for everything,
like if I'm not at an event, if I'm not
covering an event, if I'm not doing X, Y and Z,
then I'm sitting there watching it going dang, am I
(20:25):
falling behind? Like? Is someone else going to get.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
A job that I really want that.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Because I'm not there? Like am I not doing enough?
Am I not? You know? Am I? Am I missing it?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Is? This is?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
You know? Is?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
This?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Is?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
This?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
It for me? And I have so many things and
I still want to do, but there's this fear that
like when you have to take a step back, that
you're not going to be able to make up that ground.
How how do you navigate that fear?
Speaker 3 (20:51):
The first thing I kind of got recommended to do
was to start speaking to a like a sports psychologist
or a mental skills code so I did. I now
work with a mental skills coach and he's been great
for me. So I think a lot of that has
come from I think I handled that first race so
(21:13):
much better than I if I would have handled one
thanks to a lot of that.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, because I've.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Always been the person to be like, no, I'm fine,
like by myself. I don't need the you know that
extra someone else saying something, But Yeah, I think I can,
hands down say part of that work that we did
helped a lot going into that race. And yeah, I
think obviously once you start like going and you do
(21:41):
the first practice day and everything kind of starts to
feel normal again, or it all clicks, and yeah, it's
just like that nice feeling of I'm back.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
What are some of the tours share it with us?
Some of the sports sake tours that we can incorporate
and our own arsenal. We're afraid that we're falling behind
or afraid we're not going to be as good as
we once were, afraid that we're not going to keep
up with the competition. What are some of the things
that you've learned to either say to yourself or ways
(22:13):
to prepare to kind of quiet those voices.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
I think the biggest thing that I've been really good
at reminding myself is to stay in the present rather
than thinking about the future. That was kind of the
key thing we worked on.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
It's just it's so funny how so many of the
like right, because how many times have we heard in
our life, stay present, stay present, stay present. I feel
like that is like that is a tale as old
as time, Right, like that is like, and that is
not the first time that you've been told that advice,
and yet for some reason, in the right moment, it
just hits in a way that you're like, oh, yeah, no,
(22:55):
that's exactly what.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
I need to tell Yeah, which, yeah, you're very right there,
because for sure I've had people tell me other things
along those lines, and I'm like, yeah, but yeah, in
the right time, it definitely clips and it worked. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
So now we're in twenty twenty five. You've made you
come back to mountain biking. Turns out you're not five
steps behind while everyone else is five steps ahead. So
we can quiet those fears, we can quiet those voices.
Where can we route you on next? Where can we
continue to watch the comeback? I've just blew it.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
The next so we've actually just had a little bit
of a well currently we're still in it. We've got
a little summer break I would call it, and then
we are racing. I can almost call it my second
home race. The next World Cup is in Lage, which
is literally I can jump on a bike and it's
(23:56):
a twenty minute people away. So yeah, we're there and
then yeah, still about four more World Cup races and
then World Champs as well. So yeah, that's the rest
of the season for me.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Nice Okay, So, and I want to talk a little
bit about the specialty events Rampage, Hardline Formation. You've been
a part of the mountain biking community for at least
the last six years. So many of these events that
I just listed and more have started incorporating a women's division,
have started inviting more women to compete in these events.
(24:32):
How much you've seen this sport grow just in the
last six years that you've been a part of it.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
It's kind of crazy. When I started, there was maybe
three girls, and I think like just even on like
a local kind of you know riders within New Zealand,
like the women's side or like the female side in
New Zealand has grown crazily. And so now we've also
(24:59):
been seen obviously this dick with yeah, women at Rampage,
women at Hardline, we've got slope style events for the
woman now, Like it's all just kind of happened within
the last couple of years, but I mean it's been
coming for a long time. So yeah, it was only
a matter of time really before we did see this.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
We talk about it in so many sports and in
so many situations, and obviously right now women's sports is
having a moment. Well it's not having a moment, it's
creating a movement of realizing the value, the business, the
opportunity in women's sports. How have you felt that wave
impacting mountain biking.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I think that's why we see, like, I think the
whole movement of all of these events is what's really
drawn in a lot of these younger girls. But then
for sure also just you know, the growth of seeing
that this person can do that, they're like, okay, so
(26:06):
why can't I also do that? So it's kind of
just like that rolling flow of I don't know what
the word is here, but yeah, it's like that roll
over if this person can do that, like.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
A snowball that starts really small at the top of
the hill, and then as it rolls, it's just like
picking up people along the way, picking up opportunities along
the way. Yeah, and I feel like it's so cool
to see that coming to fruition in the WNBA and
the NWSL with these Olympic sports that just went off
(26:40):
in Paris last year, and hopefully we'll see more of
in Italy. But the in between here is where the
mountain biking and the you know you guys don't stop
just because it's not an Olympic year. And so it's
so incredible to see the females like the women of
mountain biking continue to raise the level year in and
(27:02):
year out, and you know, I think that, I know,
it's I know, it's so hard to talk about the injuries,
but seeing you get back up over and over and
over again. I don't think you can understand how big
of an impact that has on somebody who's in the
middle of it, you know, because somebody's in the middle
of it and they're going, I don't know if I
(27:23):
can do this, and then they see you come back
from broken T one trans process, a T twelve break,
a concussion, a collar bone, whatever it is, and they say, well,
wait a minute, if she can do that, I can
do that, right, Because it's not just about competing, it's
about when things go wrong. Who else has been through
(27:44):
this to prove to MI, to just give myself an
iota of proof that it's possible.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah, even though it seems terrifying in the moment, but yeah,
and not very nice.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
But no, I know it's really.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
There's always there's always a way. That's yeah, there's always
a way.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah. So I was gonna ask them, what would you
say to somebody who's in the thick of the injuries,
who's wondering, am I going to get back up? Do
I have it in me? Why should I do it?
What would you say to them as somebody's who's been
in that in that deep part of an injury.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
I think it's the one it's hard to say, like,
of course it's personal. I don't feel like preferences the
right word, but it's definitely like personal choice. Like if
you have this injury and for you it's like I
can't do that again, that's totally fine, and I think
(28:50):
like being okay with that is also fine. But then
if there's part of you that deep down is like
this isn't going to stop me. You know, I've got
these goals that I want to achieve, like one hundred percent,
you can still do it, like can easily say easily,
but you can definitely put yourself back up and come
(29:13):
out the other side bitter. And I feel like for me,
I almost grew into like a bitter person, and I
knew so much more about my body and just all
these things that loop together to create a bitter outcome
for me have come after these injuries. So yeah, it's
(29:36):
been like a little bit of a learning curve as
much as it's sucked.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So yeah, yeah, I feel like we really saw that
in the film that you have coming out. I got
a chance to screen it your film coming out with
Mophy that really walks people through what you went through
and what it took to get back up and do
it again. What is thing that you want people to
(30:03):
walk away from that film knowing?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I think knowing that obviously it's not an easy none
of it's easy, and the sport is yeah, you know,
it's tough, but it has these great outcomes that also
come out of it, and I think that, yeah, we
(30:27):
can come out the other side of injuries like this.
But yeah, I feel like for that one though in particular,
it's like, obviously the brain is such an important thing,
So I think the biggest thing more for me is
like people need to take a brain injury more seriously.
And I think that hasn't really become a thing until recently,
(30:52):
I know for sure, And like mountain biking, that's only
really become a thing recently. But I knew about this
obviously way back when I was skiing, and we already
had life protocols for hid knocks back then. But yeah,
I just think, yeah, they're no joke. Really Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, Well I cannot wait for everybody to watch the
film because I walked away from it knowing for certain
that no matter what I was going through, I was
going to be able to get back up because you
were so vulnerable and showing how hard it is but
also how worth it it is to get back up.
And whether that get back up means you go back
(31:37):
to what hurt you in the first place, right in
a sport, or if getting back up means choosing something else.
I think that that for me is what I stuck,
like stuck with me was that it's not about it's
not about it's not really about the fall, and it's
not even about really where you where you go once
you get back up. It's about the proof that you
(32:00):
can do it. And you showed us that and I'm
really really grateful, thank you. Yeah, all right, we're going
to switch gears now. This is our something to sip on.
It is brought to you by the sports Bra sports
Bra is the very first women's sports bar in the
world as far as we know of, in Portland, Oregon.
And so this is where we have a cocktail or
(32:22):
mocktail that is called the Jests. And I want to
know what are we sipping on? Wow, post race day,
post practice, what's our celebratory sip.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
My friends will know that I like an apperl sprints.
So can it be an alcoholic drink?
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Absolutely, cocktail, mocktail, girl, whatever you want. Yeah, I think
I love an apparel sprits. It's a good one.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah, an approl would be the post celebratory drink. Yeah,
I think.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I love it. I love it. All Right, we're gonna
have it. We're gonna have an Apple all sprits in
honor of you and your recovery and rooting you on
the rest of the season. Okay. Our next segment is
called the Powered Up segment. This one is brought to
you by Mophi and this is where I ask you
a few semi off the cup questions about what keeps
you powered up for your sport. So the first question
(33:24):
I have for you, Jess, is what is the thing
that you do at the top of a race course.
It can be checking equipment. It can be checking the
course one more time. But what is the one thing
that you do at the top of every course before
you go down?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Well, we do a wom up A wool up, Yeah,
like a warm up before my race wrung.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
I like it.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
I think, is yeah yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Or like, is there like a tradition at the top
a warm up?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Yeah, not really a tradition, but like before like race wrong,
holy practice, everyone does a warm up and that's kind
of I guess how you yeah, get ready to drop in.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
I like it. What is the one aspect of your
sport that if you could explain mountain biking to people
downhill competitive mountain biking to people, what is the one
thing that they need to know about what you do
and what it takes to be the best.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I think a lot of people underestimate how much time
you still need to put into training. I think from
the outside, people like, ah, you're just going downhill really fast,
like that it must be so easy, But it's not.
And I think it's hard obviously, both mentally and physically.
So uh yeah, there's a lot of work that goes
(34:51):
into obviously being able to perform well and do well
and downhill.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
You mean it's not just like riding a bike.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
I mean, yes or not.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I feel like I can't be the worst thing for
a sport. You're like, no, it's not just like riding
a bike, because that's everyone's go to of. Like, oh,
and I'll come back to you. It's just like riding
a bike. Mm hmm. Yep, you're like so different, you
should be good at it as as Yeah, oh my gosh.
And then the last question is, and one of my
(35:25):
favorite things about mountain bike courses is all the different
names for the elements that you guys tackle. What is
the name of one element on a one course that
will always stick with you? Where is it? And what
is that? What is that element?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Are we talking the name of like a feature or yeah?
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Just I think like the name of a feature, I can't.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
I don't think I'm tight attention to the names of them.
Can it just be a track in general? Yeah? Absolutely,
I'm gonna say valdasoul it's is. Yeah, it's called without
a soul, not the soul.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Oh. I was like, hold on, who's nurse without a soul?
Oh my gosh. Although now maybe that's maybe that's what
we call its.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Initially yeah, okay, but it is one of like the
yeah nihilists, so toughest.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
What makes it what makes it one of the earliest?
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Actually, hey, before that question, they call it the Black Snake,
so it does have a bit of a name.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
They call it, course in Italy, the black Snake.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Like it's yeah, rooty, rough, massive holes, rocky, just gnarly. Yes.
And when it rains it is terrifying.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Oh my gosh, it sounds terrifying. Period, any weather sounds terrifying.
And then the last question I have for you, my dear,
is it's been so great to have you on the
Powerful Podcast. I want to know what does powerful mean
to you? When do you feel powerful?
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Oh? I think when I when I achieved something so
like way that that was yeah, me coming back from
these injuries. That's that's a powerful mate.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, yeah, I like that. Yeah. The moment that you've
realized you've done it, the thing you've been working on,
the thing you've been working towards made it. That's awesome. Well, Jess,
thank you so much for joining us on the Powerful Podcast.
I cannot wait to root you on in the rest
of the World Cup season. Hopefully catch up with you
(37:51):
at one of these cool specialty events and definitely everybody
check out her film it's coming out with Mophy. It
is one of those ones that just is like, the
reason we love sports is because of the vulnerability, the
tenacity and the way that you get back up and
bring us into it. So thank you for your vulnerability,
(38:11):
thank you for your bravery, and I can't wait to
root you on everywhere you go.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Thank you appreciate it. It's been great speaking on the podcasts.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
It's been awesome. Thank you so much for being here.
Powerful podcast. We'll be back next week. Thanks so much
for being here.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Reminder to check us out every Tuesday everywhere you get
your podcasts, And if you really enjoy this and don't
want to miss an episode, be sure to hit that
subscribe it
If there is one truth about me, it is that
I am always on the go. I absolutely love adventuring
from mountains to oceans, lakes and rivers. I want to
see as much of the world as I possibly can
while I can, which means I often find myself far
from electricity, but never without my MOFI. Their range of
portable chargers make sure I never miss capturing a moment
that becomes a lifelong memory I want to return to
(00:22):
when the adventure is in the past. They have everything
from lightweight chargers I don't even notice in my pack
to durable power stations that keep me charged up throughout
an entire day of working on my devices. Visit mophy
dot com to find the perfect solution to keep you
powered up for everything you need. Hello, friends, and welcome
to the Powerful Podcast. I'm your host Ajam McCord.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
In this podcast, we introduce you to powerful women who
were changing the game in and outside of their field
of play. These are women's stories, women who happen to
be doing things that many of us can only dream of,
but the lessons and inspiration they share is universal.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Hello friends, and and welcome back to the Powerful Podcast.
I'm your host aj McCord and this week we have
a true trailblazer, and not just because she's one of
the best mountain bikers in the entire world, but she
has truthfully led the way for some of the massive
breakthroughs we have seen in female mountain biking in the
last few years. But that trailblazing did not come without
(01:20):
a cost. Jess Blewett has dealt with maybe more than
her fair share of injuries, and in this episode we
talk about her why. We talk about how to pick
yourself back up, how to lean into every single phase
of the recovery process so that when you come back
you're not just healed physically, you're healed mentally. This episode
(01:40):
was really incredible to just hear about this one's resilience
to learn from it, and I cannot wait for you
guys to hear it. This episode of The Powerful Podcast
is brought to you by Mophi, So welcome back to
the Powerful Podcast. I am so excited to have one
of the trailblazers literally in my mountain biking be joining
(02:01):
us for this episode. Jess blew It originally from Queenstown,
New Zealand, but travels all over the world in twenty
twenty two, she made history as the very first female
entrance into Red Bull Hardline. You will find her on
a bike, but she used to ski on mountains. Jess,
I am so excited to get to know you and
a little bit more of your story. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited, so exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, so I want to start first with how did
we go from ski racing to mountain biking. How did
we find this transition of sports.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, well, so I obviously grew up in Mount MONTANOI
so New Zealand, and at first we were I guess,
ski racing. Like my whole family, My brother and I
were both ski racing and we used to do winters
in Queenstown and then Samma beck by the Beach, and
(02:56):
then we ended up moving to Queenstown full ski racing,
which kind of sounds really bizarre to say now because
neither of like neither of my brother I actually ski anymore.
Well ski race, we don't ski race anymore. So yeah,
we both both went into the biking kind of route,
I guess, But yeah, that I guess.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
The skiing.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
I was on skis when I was like two, so
I guess for the usual mountain biker, they would have
been on like a mountain bike at too, But yeah,
I was on skis at two, introduced to bikes, but
like not downhill, nothing crazy like that. And then yeah,
a lot of my mates at school during high school
and the high school was like, let you right on
(03:40):
the bike pad that' all bring the bikes to school,
and they were just like, oh, like we should come
give it a go. And that was that was it.
That's how I got into it. Just one day. I
was like, Okay, I'll go, I'll join you. Yeah, oh
my gosh.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So we have any need a need for speed. It
sounds like in your family we like to go downhill quickly.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
You could say that, yeah, very much. So I think
it's a very yeah. I like the speed. You could say, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Why do you think you liked speed? Like where did
that come from? It's hard to say.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I don't know. It's just like that whole like adrenaline
rush of there's something like thrilling and it's scary, but
it's good scary. I just I like going fast, and
it's that weird concept of like you're obviously risking so
much to go fast but at the same time, like
the reward that comes out of it can be so
(04:44):
great and then obviously sometimes it can be not so great.
So it's that whole reward thing. Yeah, the risk and reward.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Thing is something that obviously, like almost every sport has,
But it's one of the reasons I love talking to
action and Olympic sport athletes is because the risk and
reward is typically much higher than you know, a lot
of your sort of mainstream sports. Of Dang, if I
miss this shot, the odds of breaking your collarbone are
pretty small. But in mountain biking, if you miss your line,
(05:14):
the odds of breaking your collarbone are pretty freaking high.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And so yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Unfortunately have have been through the hard side of the risk,
not the reward, but the recovery that is needed. So
I talked a little bit about the fact that you
made some history, very first female entrant into Red Bull Hardline.
For people who don't know what that competition is, can
you break it down for us?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I would basically say it is the hardest downhill race
in the world to compete in, so that you've got
these top athletes trying to get down this ridiculously Gnalli
Colls and I think, yeah, the guys like for effect
or can I swear on this?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Absolutely please do. It's much more inherently I was.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Gonna say, I know for a fact some of the
boys are definitely shitting themselves. So yeah, that's probably the
best way to put it. But yeah, it's it's a
Nali Avantit's yeah, one of the scariest, hardest, biggest, like
I say biggest, just like all the features on it
(06:27):
and Nali and just huge souf.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah. So let's go back to the fact that you
were the very first female entrance. Because Red Bull Hardline
has been along for a while. It's kind of like,
if you're thinking in terms of other sports, it's almost
like a specialty event, right, So it's one of those
things where you have to get invited. If you're a
fan of surfing, think of it like the Eddie where
the Eddie IKW. The Big Wave Invitational is something where
(06:53):
you have to get invited because of how the Ico
family has seen you show up in y Mea surfing
big ways around the world and they say, oh, you're
good enough, You're going to hang well enough in this competition.
We want you to be invited. So it's not a
competition that you really qualify for. It's one that somebody
picks you out of and says you have the talent,
(07:13):
you have the ability to go out and dominate this
course or just survive this course. And you were the
very first female entrant into it. What was your reaction
when you got that invite? Well, originally, the way it
kind of panned out was I went and did like
a bit of a scout earlier on and I was like,
(07:35):
I'm actually quite interested in going. I think that had
talks with.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Like girls in the past, being like, does anyone kind
of want to hit it? And they were like no,
and so I think, yeah, I just I saw it
and I was like, no, actually, I think I would
like to give it a crack. And then obviously it
ended up becoming an actual official thing and away I went.
(08:01):
But on net we've now actually seen the first if
a girl do a complete full race run, So we
love that exactly, and that's what we wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yes, we're gonna get to the why that wasn't you
because you were there in twenty twenty two, And just
for more context, when did you start downhill mountain biking like,
when when did you start really properly going after it?
It depends.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
My first World Cup season was twenty twenty one, but
the first like kind of racing year was twenty nineteen.
But then I only stipped on a down the bike
in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So okay, So three years after we switched from downhill
skiing to downhill mountain biking, we're earning invitations to some
of the most iconic, important mountain biking competitions in the
entire world. Let's go back to hardline in twenty twenty two,
you get the invite you're sostoe to, you're going to
(09:00):
potentially be the first female definitely the first female entrant.
Break down the biggest features, Like when you say they
have the biggest features, like, what are we talking about here?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
They've got two ninety foot jumps in a row.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Google, and then I guess, I guess the rest of them,
Like it ranges anywhere from like forty to yeah, ninety,
so yeah, oh my god, maybe the smallest is like thirty.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
It's still something ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So yeah, yeah, there's there's no easy section of this course,
is what you're telling me?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
No, pretty much, Yeah, I can't actually even think of
a spot where you can chill on the course and
be like, oh, I've got a break.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
It's yes, yeah, everything is just one after the other
after the others. So you're doing the practice runs leading
up to the event, you're getting familiar with different elements
of the course and correct me if I'm wrong, But
from my understanding, you can kind of hit the course
in a few different ways, right, there's a few varied lines,
Like there's there's elements that you have to hit along
(10:05):
the way, but there's a little variation. So you're kind
of getting familiar with like what you want to do,
where you want to do it, what element you want
to hit, and how so you're doing that, and then
take us through the reason that you became a female
entrant and not a female participant.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yees. So basically you can start, well, you don't have
to do it like in one go. You can pick
like certain features that you want to hit first or
maybe leave something till the end. And so I guess
I kind of picked a few of the ones that
I originally looked at were like I think I would
be most comfortable on these ones, and then there wasn't
(10:45):
really any part of me that year that was like
putting pressure on myself that I would expect to do
a full run. I think I was more like, I
want to see how much I could do and then
build off that. And then yeah, just unfortunately broke my
collar bone. So yeah, that was the end of that
(11:08):
one for that year, the.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
End of that one, but very far from the end
of your mountain biking story. I mean, what did that
feel like when you broke your collarbone and you realized
this is the end for me?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It was.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I think the break was only hard because I'd just
come off a bigger injury that happened the year before.
So for me, it was like I'm going into my like,
how off season injured again. That was the hardest part
for me.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So, you had a pretty bad injury in twenty twenty one,
you have another injury in twenty twenty two, and then
you get all of a year off before in twenty
twenty four you have yet another injury. How were you
navigating that season of your career? Because I have to
imagine it felt like, my gosh, I just get healed
(12:05):
from the last one and then something else happens.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, it definitely it comes with the sport, but not
a single one of them has been easy, and they've
all had like some sort of different struggle associated with
it in terms of like coming back. I went back
to hardline in twenty three and yeah, kind of same
(12:29):
approach as twenty two, but was a bit more confident that, Yep,
this is the year I'd like to do like a
full run. And then I ended up actually just like
going off the speechure that I've hit the year before,
like did it all myself and then followed someone off
this drop, landed it perfectly, but my ankle exploded, So
it was just like, yeah, that injury wrote off my
(12:52):
whole like the end of my World Cup season in
twenty twenty three. So I think that one was the
hardest one to to swallow.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Injuries are obviously, I mean, any of us who compete
in athletics of any kind we know that injuries are
a part of the sport. But I think what always
impresses me about the people who get back up after
the injury is the why that they find and the
reason they pick themselves back up and get back on
(13:22):
the bike or get back on the mountain or get
back on the board. What were you drawing from in
those seasons where you got knocked down again, knocked down
again to get back up.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I think for me it was like I had a
clear drives or like a goal of what I wanted
to achieve within my career. So it was like for me,
I wasn't going to let something like that stop me
from achieving that. And I think that's where all the
being able to get through sounds funny to get through it,
(13:57):
but yeah, to be able to let you get through
those injuries each time was like, yeah, I'm not gonna
let this. This isn't gonna be the reason I stopped.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, was there a moment where you wondered am I
gonna get back up again?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I don't think so. In terms of like the actual
injury itself, I think my after my montsant Ane one,
which is the most recent one, so that's from last
year twenty twenty four, that one was definitely probably the
first like injury where I'm just it was like a
(14:38):
hard time to yah go through like such a huge
injury again and then trying to like pick myself up
from that one was Yeah, that was tough. It was
more of a mental battle, I think than the rest
of my other injuries have been but I knew that
I would get through. Yeah, I mean I got through
(14:58):
like all my rehab and that sort of stuff, as
you should.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
But yeah, when you say it was a mental battle,
was it because of the tape of injury or was
it because of the fact that it was just another injury.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
I think both. Yeah, I think mentally it was hard
because it's your brain, and like if you break a bone,
they're like you've got six weeks in a cast or
in a moon boot or in a brace. You can't
do any of this and this and this until this time,
and then after that you can do this. So it's
(15:36):
like that whole you get the time frame. So in
a way, you're kind of like obviously going through this
healing phase of like a broken bone, going okay, I've
reached the step, like this is the next step. But
for a head injury, there's no timeframe, so there's definitely
a lot of questioning, like, you know, am I on
(16:00):
the right track? Like is everything going how it should
be going? A lot of questioning and you have to
be really patient, and I'm not the most patient person.
So I think that was a really hard battle. For
me to be like, you can't do anything, like being
(16:20):
told I can't ride my bike not because of the
brakes that I had, but because of my head injury,
and that I literally had to wait until I think
it was like five months afterwards, It's like, whoa, there's
nothing I can do to like speed that, to speed
that up, and it may you might reach that point
and it's still not okay. I think that was why
(16:42):
it was really hard mentally.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yeah, I feel like as athletes, so often, you know,
we're very task oriented people. We're often the ones that
are like, yes, I can have this goal and I
want to achieve it. And so then it's like rehabbing
an injury where like you said, it's a break and
it's like okay, because are the checkpoints along the list
I need to hit. I can do that one thing
at a time and I'll get going. But when it's
(17:07):
your brain, We've come so far in the research and
yet I mean we are like science has come so
far in the research and an understanding brain injuries better,
but it's so hard for I feel like our lifestyles
to figure out how to just let it do it
on its own without having these check marks along the
(17:30):
way and these milestones that say, yes you're getting closer,
Yes you're doing what you're supposed to do, and yes
the recovery is going the way it needs to. There's
like a there's an intangibleness to a recovery from a
head injury that is, at least for me, very frustrating
and very hard to navigate.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Yeah, that's pasolically exactly how I would say it too.
It's like, I think the biggest even like five yet
set like a rest day in my training program. I
can't sit still. So like the minute you've been you
know you've got these injuries, it's like you have to
sit still. Yeah, like you can't do anything. And yeah,
(18:15):
obviously being not being able to be given a time frame.
I think for me the most exciting thing was being
able to literally go back in the gym, go for
a run, and even to be told like, yeah, I
can come back to Frants and go skiing. I was like,
there's no way. So yeah. Yeah. It's like the small
(18:39):
winds are like that kind of breath of fresh air
of like, okay, it's going in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
And those small winds have turned into some other wins
for you, some bigger wins for you. As we've entered
this twenty twenty five World Cup season, tell me what
it felt like the first time you were able to
line up again and go downhill on a mountain break the.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
First World Cup race that we got to. So that
was Poland for me, it was more It's hard to say,
because there was a part of me that was so
anxious and nervous that I had fallen so far behind,
especially now, like the level of the woman's field is
(19:26):
like ridiculous, and so I think just that fear of
I've fallen behind while everyone else has taken like or
I've taken like five steps back while everyone else has
taken five steps forward. So yeah, there was this part
of me that was like so excited to go racing again,
but also so nervous and you know, worried and all
(19:51):
of that sort of emotion of if I come back
and I'm just I'm out the ass? Can I like
can I mentally after obviously like a really hard off season.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, yeah, how did you answer that question? How did
you like navigate that fear? Because I think that's the
big I mean, girl, my I have FOMO for everything,
like if I'm not at an event, if I'm not
covering an event, if I'm not doing X, Y and Z,
then I'm sitting there watching it going dang, am I
(20:25):
falling behind? Like? Is someone else going to get.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
A job that I really want that.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Because I'm not there? Like am I not doing enough?
Am I not? You know? Am I? Am I missing it?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Is? This is?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
You know? Is?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
This?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Is?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
This?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
It for me? And I have so many things and
I still want to do, but there's this fear that
like when you have to take a step back, that
you're not going to be able to make up that ground.
How how do you navigate that fear?
Speaker 3 (20:51):
The first thing I kind of got recommended to do
was to start speaking to a like a sports psychologist
or a mental skills code so I did. I now
work with a mental skills coach and he's been great
for me. So I think a lot of that has
come from I think I handled that first race so
(21:13):
much better than I if I would have handled one
thanks to a lot of that.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, because I've.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Always been the person to be like, no, I'm fine,
like by myself. I don't need the you know that
extra someone else saying something, But Yeah, I think I can,
hands down say part of that work that we did
helped a lot going into that race. And yeah, I
think obviously once you start like going and you do
(21:41):
the first practice day and everything kind of starts to
feel normal again, or it all clicks, and yeah, it's
just like that nice feeling of I'm back.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
What are some of the tours share it with us?
Some of the sports sake tours that we can incorporate
and our own arsenal. We're afraid that we're falling behind
or afraid we're not going to be as good as
we once were, afraid that we're not going to keep
up with the competition. What are some of the things
that you've learned to either say to yourself or ways
(22:13):
to prepare to kind of quiet those voices.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
I think the biggest thing that I've been really good
at reminding myself is to stay in the present rather
than thinking about the future. That was kind of the
key thing we worked on.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
It's just it's so funny how so many of the
like right, because how many times have we heard in
our life, stay present, stay present, stay present. I feel
like that is like that is a tale as old
as time, Right, like that is like, and that is
not the first time that you've been told that advice,
and yet for some reason, in the right moment, it
just hits in a way that you're like, oh, yeah, no,
(22:55):
that's exactly what.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
I need to tell Yeah, which, yeah, you're very right there,
because for sure I've had people tell me other things
along those lines, and I'm like, yeah, but yeah, in
the right time, it definitely clips and it worked. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
So now we're in twenty twenty five. You've made you
come back to mountain biking. Turns out you're not five
steps behind while everyone else is five steps ahead. So
we can quiet those fears, we can quiet those voices.
Where can we route you on next? Where can we
continue to watch the comeback? I've just blew it.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
The next so we've actually just had a little bit
of a well currently we're still in it. We've got
a little summer break I would call it, and then
we are racing. I can almost call it my second
home race. The next World Cup is in Lage, which
is literally I can jump on a bike and it's
(23:56):
a twenty minute people away. So yeah, we're there and
then yeah, still about four more World Cup races and
then World Champs as well. So yeah, that's the rest
of the season for me.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Nice Okay, So, and I want to talk a little
bit about the specialty events Rampage, Hardline Formation. You've been
a part of the mountain biking community for at least
the last six years. So many of these events that
I just listed and more have started incorporating a women's division,
have started inviting more women to compete in these events.
(24:32):
How much you've seen this sport grow just in the
last six years that you've been a part of it.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
It's kind of crazy. When I started, there was maybe
three girls, and I think like just even on like
a local kind of you know riders within New Zealand,
like the women's side or like the female side in
New Zealand has grown crazily. And so now we've also
(24:59):
been seen obviously this dick with yeah, women at Rampage,
women at Hardline, we've got slope style events for the
woman now, Like it's all just kind of happened within
the last couple of years, but I mean it's been
coming for a long time. So yeah, it was only
a matter of time really before we did see this.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
We talk about it in so many sports and in
so many situations, and obviously right now women's sports is
having a moment. Well it's not having a moment, it's
creating a movement of realizing the value, the business, the
opportunity in women's sports. How have you felt that wave
impacting mountain biking.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I think that's why we see, like, I think the
whole movement of all of these events is what's really
drawn in a lot of these younger girls. But then
for sure also just you know, the growth of seeing
that this person can do that, they're like, okay, so
(26:06):
why can't I also do that? So it's kind of
just like that rolling flow of I don't know what
the word is here, but yeah, it's like that roll
over if this person can do that, like.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
A snowball that starts really small at the top of
the hill, and then as it rolls, it's just like
picking up people along the way, picking up opportunities along
the way. Yeah, and I feel like it's so cool
to see that coming to fruition in the WNBA and
the NWSL with these Olympic sports that just went off
(26:40):
in Paris last year, and hopefully we'll see more of
in Italy. But the in between here is where the
mountain biking and the you know you guys don't stop
just because it's not an Olympic year. And so it's
so incredible to see the females like the women of
mountain biking continue to raise the level year in and
(27:02):
year out, and you know, I think that, I know,
it's I know, it's so hard to talk about the injuries,
but seeing you get back up over and over and
over again. I don't think you can understand how big
of an impact that has on somebody who's in the
middle of it, you know, because somebody's in the middle
of it and they're going, I don't know if I
(27:23):
can do this, and then they see you come back
from broken T one trans process, a T twelve break,
a concussion, a collar bone, whatever it is, and they say, well,
wait a minute, if she can do that, I can
do that, right, Because it's not just about competing, it's
about when things go wrong. Who else has been through
(27:44):
this to prove to MI, to just give myself an
iota of proof that it's possible.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah, even though it seems terrifying in the moment, but yeah,
and not very nice.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
But no, I know it's really.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
There's always there's always a way. That's yeah, there's always
a way.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah. So I was gonna ask them, what would you
say to somebody who's in the thick of the injuries,
who's wondering, am I going to get back up? Do
I have it in me? Why should I do it?
What would you say to them as somebody's who's been
in that in that deep part of an injury.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
I think it's the one it's hard to say, like,
of course it's personal. I don't feel like preferences the
right word, but it's definitely like personal choice. Like if
you have this injury and for you it's like I
can't do that again, that's totally fine, and I think
(28:50):
like being okay with that is also fine. But then
if there's part of you that deep down is like
this isn't going to stop me. You know, I've got
these goals that I want to achieve, like one hundred percent,
you can still do it, like can easily say easily,
but you can definitely put yourself back up and come
(29:13):
out the other side bitter. And I feel like for me,
I almost grew into like a bitter person, and I
knew so much more about my body and just all
these things that loop together to create a bitter outcome
for me have come after these injuries. So yeah, it's
(29:36):
been like a little bit of a learning curve as
much as it's sucked.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So yeah, yeah, I feel like we really saw that
in the film that you have coming out. I got
a chance to screen it your film coming out with
Mophy that really walks people through what you went through
and what it took to get back up and do
it again. What is thing that you want people to
(30:03):
walk away from that film knowing?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I think knowing that obviously it's not an easy none
of it's easy, and the sport is yeah, you know,
it's tough, but it has these great outcomes that also
come out of it, and I think that, yeah, we
(30:27):
can come out the other side of injuries like this.
But yeah, I feel like for that one though in particular,
it's like, obviously the brain is such an important thing,
So I think the biggest thing more for me is
like people need to take a brain injury more seriously.
And I think that hasn't really become a thing until recently,
(30:52):
I know for sure, And like mountain biking, that's only
really become a thing recently. But I knew about this
obviously way back when I was skiing, and we already
had life protocols for hid knocks back then. But yeah,
I just think, yeah, they're no joke. Really Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, Well I cannot wait for everybody to watch the
film because I walked away from it knowing for certain
that no matter what I was going through, I was
going to be able to get back up because you
were so vulnerable and showing how hard it is but
also how worth it it is to get back up.
And whether that get back up means you go back
(31:37):
to what hurt you in the first place, right in
a sport, or if getting back up means choosing something else.
I think that that for me is what I stuck,
like stuck with me was that it's not about it's
not about it's not really about the fall, and it's
not even about really where you where you go once
you get back up. It's about the proof that you
(32:00):
can do it. And you showed us that and I'm
really really grateful, thank you. Yeah, all right, we're going
to switch gears now. This is our something to sip on.
It is brought to you by the sports Bra sports
Bra is the very first women's sports bar in the
world as far as we know of, in Portland, Oregon.
And so this is where we have a cocktail or
(32:22):
mocktail that is called the Jests. And I want to
know what are we sipping on? Wow, post race day,
post practice, what's our celebratory sip.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
My friends will know that I like an apperl sprints.
So can it be an alcoholic drink?
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Absolutely, cocktail, mocktail, girl, whatever you want. Yeah, I think
I love an apparel sprits. It's a good one.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah, an approl would be the post celebratory drink. Yeah,
I think.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I love it. I love it. All Right, we're gonna
have it. We're gonna have an Apple all sprits in
honor of you and your recovery and rooting you on
the rest of the season. Okay. Our next segment is
called the Powered Up segment. This one is brought to
you by Mophi and this is where I ask you
a few semi off the cup questions about what keeps
you powered up for your sport. So the first question
(33:24):
I have for you, Jess, is what is the thing
that you do at the top of a race course.
It can be checking equipment. It can be checking the
course one more time. But what is the one thing
that you do at the top of every course before
you go down?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Well, we do a wom up A wool up, Yeah,
like a warm up before my race wrung.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
I like it.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
I think, is yeah yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Or like, is there like a tradition at the top
a warm up?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Yeah, not really a tradition, but like before like race wrong,
holy practice, everyone does a warm up and that's kind
of I guess how you yeah, get ready to drop in.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
I like it. What is the one aspect of your
sport that if you could explain mountain biking to people
downhill competitive mountain biking to people, what is the one
thing that they need to know about what you do
and what it takes to be the best.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I think a lot of people underestimate how much time
you still need to put into training. I think from
the outside, people like, ah, you're just going downhill really fast,
like that it must be so easy, But it's not.
And I think it's hard obviously, both mentally and physically.
So uh yeah, there's a lot of work that goes
(34:51):
into obviously being able to perform well and do well
and downhill.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
You mean it's not just like riding a bike.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
I mean, yes or not.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I feel like I can't be the worst thing for
a sport. You're like, no, it's not just like riding
a bike, because that's everyone's go to of. Like, oh,
and I'll come back to you. It's just like riding
a bike. Mm hmm. Yep, you're like so different, you
should be good at it as as Yeah, oh my gosh.
And then the last question is, and one of my
(35:25):
favorite things about mountain bike courses is all the different
names for the elements that you guys tackle. What is
the name of one element on a one course that
will always stick with you? Where is it? And what
is that? What is that element?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Are we talking the name of like a feature or yeah?
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Just I think like the name of a feature, I can't.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
I don't think I'm tight attention to the names of them.
Can it just be a track in general? Yeah? Absolutely,
I'm gonna say valdasoul it's is. Yeah, it's called without
a soul, not the soul.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Oh. I was like, hold on, who's nurse without a soul?
Oh my gosh. Although now maybe that's maybe that's what
we call its.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Initially yeah, okay, but it is one of like the
yeah nihilists, so toughest.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
What makes it what makes it one of the earliest?
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Actually, hey, before that question, they call it the Black Snake,
so it does have a bit of a name.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
They call it, course in Italy, the black Snake.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Like it's yeah, rooty, rough, massive holes, rocky, just gnarly. Yes.
And when it rains it is terrifying.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Oh my gosh, it sounds terrifying. Period, any weather sounds terrifying.
And then the last question I have for you, my dear,
is it's been so great to have you on the
Powerful Podcast. I want to know what does powerful mean
to you? When do you feel powerful?
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Oh? I think when I when I achieved something so
like way that that was yeah, me coming back from
these injuries. That's that's a powerful mate.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, yeah, I like that. Yeah. The moment that you've
realized you've done it, the thing you've been working on,
the thing you've been working towards made it. That's awesome. Well, Jess,
thank you so much for joining us on the Powerful Podcast.
I cannot wait to root you on in the rest
of the World Cup season. Hopefully catch up with you
(37:51):
at one of these cool specialty events and definitely everybody
check out her film it's coming out with Mophy. It
is one of those ones that just is like, the
reason we love sports is because of the vulnerability, the
tenacity and the way that you get back up and
bring us into it. So thank you for your vulnerability,
(38:11):
thank you for your bravery, and I can't wait to
root you on everywhere you go.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Thank you appreciate it. It's been great speaking on the podcasts.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
It's been awesome. Thank you so much for being here.
Powerful podcast. We'll be back next week. Thanks so much
for being here.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Reminder to check us out every Tuesday everywhere you get
your podcasts, And if you really enjoy this and don't
want to miss an episode, be sure to hit that
subscribe it
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