Bike industry execs talk at Sun Valley product launches

Specialized’s head of US business Jeff McGuane talked to BikeBiz at the Impact Media Summit which was staged last week in Sun Valley, Idaho. He is one of the execs to be featured on the Spokesmen podcast recorded at the new event. 

Also on the podcast is Orbea’s e-bike brand manager Jon Gantxegi and Arsenal Cycling’s Thomas Prehn, author of Racing Tactics for Cyclists.

There’s also audio from a People for Bikes "Draft Meet-up" staged at the Limelight Hotel in Ketchum, Idaho, including e-MTB contributions from land manager John Kurtz, journalist Zap Espinoza, as well as Rebecca Rusch talking about her six-year-old gravel bike event, Rebecca’s Private Idaho.

CrankTank’s first Impact Media Summit attracted 13 bike journalists – 11 from the US, two from the UK.

(The 11 were: Josh Patterson of Bikeradar.com, Steve Fisher of Bikerumor.com, James Huang of Cyclingtips.com, Road Bike’s Zapata Espinoza, Matt Furber of MTBR, Aaron Gulley of Outside Magazine, Pinkbike’s Daniel Sapp, Red Kite Prayer’s Patrick Brady, Jeff Barber of singletracks.com, Simon Silver of mtb-mag.com, and Gearjunkie’s Tom Puzak. The two were myself and Singletrackworld.com’s Hannah Dobson.)

CrankTank is based in Ketchum, Idaho, the town next to the Sun Valley resort, and on their doorstep is some of the best mountain biking in the world, "bucket list stuff" says the company’s Lars-Erik Johnson. The resort has over 400 miles of singletrack, including the resort’s lift-serviced gravity trails. (The first ski chairlift in the world was created by a rail engineer for the new-build Sun Valley resort in the late 1930s.)

Day one of the event included riding BMC and Brose-equipped Specialized electric mountain bikes on the famous Greenhorn-Imperial trail (it’s one of Idaho’s many world-class trails that’s open to e-bikes) and taking the new Specialized Stumpjumper down the resort’s new flow trail on Sun Valley’s Bald Mountain. 

Day two was a ten-mile gravel ride on bikes from Turner and Moots to the Galena Lodge for lunch and then riding on the Galena Summer Trails on Stumpjumpers and BMC’s Speedfox and Agonist MTBs. (There’s a 47-mile network of trails north of the lodge.)

The editor’s bikes were shod with Maxxis tyres on wheels from the carbon wheel-brand Reynolds. Editors were supplied with MTB riding kits from 7Mesh and road riding gear from Wattie Ink. Shoes were supplied by FiveTen, and tech socks from Swiftwick, which makes in the USA. The editor’s heads and eyes were protected with helmets and sportswear from Rudy Project. Skin was protected with sunscreen and lipbalm from Beyond Coastal. Lubing was covered by Squirt Lubes. Hydration – which is key in high west desert conditions – was sorted with packs from Dakine. The summit’s beer sponsor (media summits have to have beer sponsors) was local craft brewery Sawtooth brew pub. Energy bars were supplied by Redd Bar.

The 52-minute podcast recorded at the Impact Media Summit can be listened to as an MP3 or via iTunes and other podcast aggregators.