Gnar Couch Podcast 177: Rob Brown (Loam Pass/Bike Sushi), Chinese Adam, Coach the Homeless?

This might be the best mountain bike podshow you’ll ever subject your bleeding ears to, but let’s not get too full of ourselves. If you’re looking for pro tips, life-changing inspiration, or anything more educational than a Snickers wrapper, you should probably tune out now. Welcome to the Gnar Couch Podshow, where “podshow” means we get away with even more bad decisions, lowbrow humor, and colossally poor life choices than your average podcast. Sure, we occasionally discuss bikes, but only if we get sidetracked from rating sushi in grocery stores, the science of adjusting your audio knobs, and discussing Cheef's mysterious and apparently imaginary friend, Chinese Adam.

On this special episode, we drag Rob Brown—the evil genius behind Loam Pass and the definitely-not-mysterious Bike Sushi meme page—into our den of degenerates. Yes, he appears to bleach his hair for maximum radness, and yes, his Loam Pass business is either the future of bike park access or a plot to take your beer money and run to Thailand (Just kidding, the MTB Pass lady already did that). He takes us deep into the beautiful hellscape of organizing a pass for 70+ (and growing) North American bike parks, fighting the Big Bike industrial complex, and trying to break into Colorado bike parks.

But rest assured, this is still the Gnar Couch Podshow: we’ll try (and fail) to talk about bikes, share sponsored hate for overpriced water, reminisce about having bikes stolen and miraculously returned and running over bike thieves, and find new ways to offend everyone from CrossFit dads to the trail police. Is this a good episode? We don’t know. We’ve literally never made one. So crank those headphones until your eardrums file a restraining order and settle in for a show that’s about bikes, about everything else, and, most importantly, about nothing at all. Guest info:

Loam Pass

Bike Sushi

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00:00 Podcast Sponsorship Blackmail Strategy

07:27 New Baggy Shirts at Narcouch

16:33 Epic Biking Adventures Pass

21:50 "Southern Adventure Hotspots"

24:20 Ski Resort Negotiation Challenges

32:36 Pass Usage Predictability Model

37:52 "Encounter at 45th Maverick"

42:10 Old-School Ski Pass Decline

45:45 "Excessive Honesty Dilemma"

50:40 Delayed Launch Success

56:15 Favorite Bike Parks: Spirit & Marquette

01:04:16 "Cody's Sudden GPS Failure"

01:13:05 "Bliz Eyewear Discount Code"

01:16:06 "Join Our Patreon for Extras"