#20 - Christina Chappetta - on staying grounded, leaving negativity out of riding, and life at PinkBike!

On today's episode, I got to have a chat with Christina Chappetta. Christina is a bit of a local legend in the Whistler mountain biking community, known for her incredible energy and passion for the sport. 

With her background in enduro racing and current role as a video producer and presenter at PinkBike, Christina has a wealth of firsthand knowledge about the highs and lows of mountain biking.

During our conversation, we dive into Christina's philosophies for a successful and fun ride, as well as the tactics she uses to stay present and level-headed when faced with pressure. 

We also explore what it's like to work behind the scenes as an MTB presenter and how Christina has overcome self-doubt and limiting beliefs to fully embrace the incredible experiences that bikes can bring.

Don't miss out on this insightful episode - Christina's stories and insights are sure to leave a lasting impression. Enjoy!

You can find Christina on Instagram @cchappetta and follow along for the ride by subscribing to the @PinkBike YouTube channel. 

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DISCLAIMER: The opinions, thoughts, and views in the content created by The Mind Mountain, the Grit With Wisdom Podcast, and Jake Johnstone, including the guests they interview, are solely their own and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other organization, person, or company mentioned or featured in the podcast. ...

Transcript

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Jake Johnstone 0:06

Welcome to Grit With Wisdom. This is the podcast that delves deep into the inner psyche of mountain bikers from all walks of life in order to discover the tools and the tactics that can help us have more fun out on the trails more often. Our aim here is to help you understand what it takes to push our own personal boundaries in the sport we love from a mental and emotional perspective. Today on the show we have Christina Chapeta. Christina is a huge part of the global mountain biking community and brings this infectious energy to the table with her strong and competitive background in Enduro racing. Combined with her present day work as a video producer and presenter at Pink Bike, she has a wealth of firsthand knowledge and experience when it comes to some of the ups and the downs we all experience within mountain biking. We dig deep into her philosophies for a fun, successful ride, as well as some of the tactics she uses to stay grounded in the present and think objectively under pressure, say in a racing scenario or when sussing out a new line. I definitely recommend listening right through to the end of this one as I learnt a lot from this conversation and I'm sure you can as well. Enjoy. Hey, Christina, welcome to the Grit with Wisdom podcast. It's great to have you here.

Christina Chappetta 1:35

Thanks so much for having me. I'm stoked that you guys reached out.

Jake Johnstone 1:37

Yeah, I'm super excited to dig in a little bit to the work you've been doing and some of your background, uh, in mountain biking and other mountain sports. I'd love to start by maybe dialing things back and going right back to the start. Can you tell us a little bit about, who you are and where you grew up?

Christina Chappetta 1:56

Totally. So, I'm Christina Chapeta. I currently work at Pink Bike and outside TV as a video presenter. Uh, mostly pretty strictly in the mountain bike kind of category, but before that I actually moved to Canada from Colorado and then before even that, I grew up in Louisiana. So it's always fun when people are like, oh, where are you from? Louisiana? I didn't know there was mountain biking there. Well, there is. That I, I've learned that actually. And, um, but that's not where I got into mountain biking. So we've traveled many lives since then.

Jake Johnstone 2:32

There we are. So growing up in Louisiana, what were you into if it wasn't bikes?

Christina Chappetta 2:38

Yeah, so in the South, uh, it's, it's a lot about team sports. So I started playing soccer when I was probably like 11, 12 ish I would say. Um, my brothers grew up playing football, baseball. After soccer, I got into like track and field. And then eventually, um, I did end up moving to Kansas at some point and I did a year of college soccer there. And so that was kind of like the first section of my life was just like getting into sports, um, realizing that I love sports. I like to be active, I like to be outside. We grew up in like a really heavily wooded area, so we were just kinda like always playing outside. Soccer was my big, my big thing.

Jake Johnstone 3:25

Rad. That's really cool to hear that, know, you've got that background there as well, that competitive team sport background. And I'm curious, is this kind of where your love of competition started?

Christina Chappetta 3:36

Uh, it probably started when I was way younger. I've got three older brothers, so it's like my whole life was just a competition. Like a competition to keep up with them, a competition to just even be included in the things that they were doing. Cuz they were the boys and I was the little girl. Um, it was a competition at the dinner table, you know, it's like, well what if I want seconds or I wanna finish my meal and then you guys just like eat everything. So I think it was kind of always a little bit there from my brothers. But then finally, like when I started playing my own sports and doing my own thing, that is when I realized like, Oh, not only do, like, I really like to be active, I like to be physical with other people. I like to, you know, push a little on the soccer pitch or, or whatever that is. But ironically, like I've never been a really independent, competitive person, if that makes sense. Like it's, I wouldn't say it's like in my head that I need to compete and win and do really well. I just enjoy being active.

Jake Johnstone 4:40

Yeah. Yeah. Totally. That makes sense. So you're saying like, you are out there for fun, but if you're in like a team environment, everyone's competing, that is fun.

Christina Chappetta 4:49

Yeah, I think more than anything, I guess I like to maybe just compete with myself. Hmm. And I think that's, like when I started, um, riding mountain Bikes for instance, it's like I didn't think I was gonna be any good. I didn't start riding until later in my life. So it was constantly just me versus myself just trying to like get better or. You know, having inspiration from what other people were doing, but then just trying to like bring that back into my little bubble and, and better myself or get stronger or get fitter. Um, so yeah, it's kind of ironic that I did move into mountain bike racing, but I think that's just because that's all there was available when I started riding.

Jake Johnstone 5:31

Yeah, totally. Like winding, the clock back a little bit, there wasn't so many other avenues to pursue mountain biking on a high level, without competing. Right. And yeah, I really like what you're saying there. I think it's probably one of the, the healthiest relationships we can have with competition is competing against ourself. Cause that's, at the end of the day, the only thing we can actually control. Right, exactly. The controllables. Yeah, exactly. I love it. And that kind of leads into the next question I wanted to ask you. You know, fast forward to today, you're riding bikes. It's obviously a big part of your life. I wanted to know like, what is your why when it comes to riding bikes?

Christina Chappetta 6:06

Hmm. Deep, deep question. Yeah. Straight into the deep questions. Yeah. I think for me it's always been about just like going a little bit further or just having access to places that my feet couldn't take me. Like for instance, I didn't even know what hiking was like. Literally just hiking until I moved to Colorado and I was like, wow, people really like their hiking here. Like they hike up 14,000 foot mountains and they're crazy. And then when I started biking, I was like, oh, I can go further. Like I can go different places. And I think for me, like using my bike, whether it's my whatever, road bike, downhill bike, gravel bike, mountain bike, Using them to kind of give me an avenue to explore new places. Um, like nowadays, like if I go, like I just don't go on vacation without my bike, like it's no really if about it. And it's just, I don't, I don't do it because the bike for me is like this common thing that wherever I go, I'll start that sentence again. That's all good. Um, bike for me, it is just a common thing of wherever I go, there's always people there that, you know, see you on a bike and they wanna strike up a conversation or, um, it's just a barrier breakdown. So I think that's a lot of like why I bike, but also just an excuse to like be out in nature. Um, Again, I'm not like competing with myself, but I do like to go on big adventures. It's like, oh, let's see how far I can ride today before I just crack. Or let's see how much descending I can do in the bike park before my arms just like fall off,

Jake Johnstone 7:44

if that makes sense. Yeah. Fantastic. And I wanna know how much you can do if you've tested that, how many laps? We're still testing. We're still testing. Still. Still? Yeah. I don't think you ever stop. That's awesome. Um, so cool to hear a bit of the background there and what really gets you going when it

7:58

comes to bikes. I'd love to shift gears here and talk about how you ended up working

Jake Johnstone 8:04

with pink bike and outside.

Christina Chappetta 8:06

Yeah, so this, um, this job opportunity came around and it was like the fall of 2019. And at that point I had been, you know, racing for quite a while. Um, I live in the, the cedar sky area, we call it up here in BC and. Some people from Pink Bike literally just reached out and were wondering if I was interested in like, joining a mountain bike website. And at the time I was just like, I don't even know exactly what you're explaining to me, but yeah, it sounds great. Like this is something I've always, you know, kind of looked up to. It's where I bought like, some of my first bicycles was like through Pink Bike. So just to like get an invite into that world, I was like, yep, sure. Like whatever it takes, let's do that. Um, at that time, I mean, I had never hosted a video. Like I, I never had written a script or planned a shootout, you know, I just always kind of showed up and did the thing and en enjoyed the moment. Um, so when they reached out with an opportunity to become a video presenter, it was, it was a lot of emotions. Like, it was kind of scary because I had never done something like that. So I was almost wondering like, why, why did you, why are you choosing me? Um, but then. I was like, holy crap, this is, this is different. You know, like there's not a lot of women in the sport that get this opportunity to be a public figure on a video that like thousands and hundreds of thousands if not millions of people are watching. So yeah, that was a little, it was a little intimidating. Um, but yeah, that was just over three years ago. So we've learned a lot. I would say my role has changed quite a lot since then. Um, and I think coming into that family, it was, it was partly because I had Enduro racing experience, you know, I could talk to the viewers and, and kind of make sense of it all and be like the middle interpreter person, if you will.

Jake Johnstone 10:06

Yeah, totally. I love hearing that background there and winding the clock back three years. Had you been playing around with cameras and doing filming and, and stuff like this, or were you literally just race in and, and hanging out within the community?

Christina Chappetta 10:19

Um, I had done little tiny projects. Like I shot a little project with, uh, my one friend Matt, just for fun. Like, just cuz where we live, there's a lot of aspiring photographers, um, cinematographers and, and athletes of course. So any opportunity you get to like, try to work together and hone in on your craft, I was all up for that. Um, I did have like a really cool opportunity to film some product stuff with Shaman before I began with Pink Bike. And then I think what, like, really there were two projects I did with Pink Bike before I got offered the job. Um, one of those being a hot lap segment where they like pick some, some riders in the area, they take 'em to this track and then basically just put you down a hot lap and see how you do. And somehow, like I did okay. I didn't die. My time was pretty okay. And I think that was when they, they saw me on camera as potential like, oh this girl. Kind of speaks. Okay. She somewhat knows complete sentences. I don't wanna toot my own horn, but maybe they were just desperate. Who knows?

Jake Johnstone 11:25

No, I love it. I, I think it's good energy and kind of encapsulating that fun vibe of mountain biking in. as I said to you at the start, that was one of the reasons I wanted to sit down for a chat today. so hats off to you for embracing that challenge and, and some of the nerves that came with, embarking on a new career, uh, in the mountain bike world there. and I'm curious, like what was the learning curve like for you there? You know, you've gone from mainly riding your bike, racing and hanging out to like learning how to be a videographer.

Christina Chappetta 11:52

Yeah, I'd say it was a really big learning curve for me as well. Um, I mean, I had never spent time in front of the camera as the authority. On the topic. And so I think the biggest thing for me was dealing with imposter syndrome, which a lot of people can relate to. And almost just like the feeling of, do I deserve to be here? Do I even deserve to talk about these topics that I'm not the professional or the know it all about, but I'm the person that's delivering the news to the audience. And I think that, and it still is, it's still hard for sure, depending on the topic that I'm talking about, to, to feel confident that, you know, the keyboard warriors aren't gonna tear me apart. And just to have like my own personal satisfaction, um, on the products that I'm delivering. I'd say that was, that's been the hardest learning curve, just having confidence. Um, next to that though, I mean, I didn't, I didn't even know what I looked like on camera. So just learning like what you think you look like on camera versus like what's actually getting portrayed out there to the world or like two totally different things. And so I think, yeah, just kind of honing my craft of public speaking, even though when it's like me and a camera person, I feel way more relaxed than speaking in front of an auditorium of people. Um, I could always just be like, cut, edit that. Redo it again. Totally. Um, and then I think too, like literally just writing a script for a video. I mean, there's a lot of professional people in the video world that maybe still don't write scripts and they just kind of go off the cuff and they create good content. But for me, just learning. How to get the point across that I'm trying to make and, and kind of round it all up at the end of the day. I think that was, that's been pretty tricky and it's something that every video requires different, you know, research or speaking tone. So just kinda getting comfortable with that really.

Jake Johnstone 13:58

Yeah, totally. Thank you for sharing that. you're certainly doing a good job at it and I can, certainly relate with, the imposter syndrome and some of the confidence issues we face. I think when we're embarking on anything new, be it, on the bike or off the bike in a situation like this can be really tough dealing with some of the stuff in our own head and almost just like getting out of our own way so that we can do what we're ready to do.

Christina Chappetta 14:20

for sure, and I think like, to, to add to that is the comments and stuff that you read online, whether it's on your podcast or on YouTube or on pink bike or whatever, social media. It's almost like those people that are leaving the bad reviews on Yelp, you know, they're always the people that are upset or offended in whatever way. They're the ones that are like going to pipe up and say something about it. Usually the people that are happy and satisfied and appreciate the content or whatever you're saying, they're not gonna say anything. They're just like, yeah, sweet. Good video. Moving on. Um, so I think it's been a big learning curve just to realize that, okay, of these negative comments or feedback that I get, that's just such a tiny, tiny percentage of the reach of what I'm doing. Like those people are probably gonna be upset no matter the situation. So I think, yeah, just, just learning to deal with those as they come has been really helpful.

Jake Johnstone 15:16

Yeah, absolutely. That's a really good point. And I know it's been a bit of a common, common topic or common, comment on this podcast lately with a lot of the guests I've been speaking to. It's just like, yeah, some of the keyboard barriers and how they've had to learn new techniques to deal with that stuff. I really like your point there about Yelp. I think that's a really good analogy. It's like almost speaks more about the person who's commenting than about the creator a lot of the time. I think. So, you know, looking, on the more positive side of your job and all the awesome things that happen within that, I wanted to ask like, what's your favorite part of this job with Pink Bike?

Christina Chappetta 15:53

That's a deep one. Um, I, I think I'd say my favorite part is just the impact that I am making in the mountain bike world. And it sounds so weird because. You know, I live in Whistler and some of the best riders in the world come here and ride and live here, but on days when I'm in the bike park lineup with my bike and my friends and somebody from like two lanes over is like, oh, it's Christina Chapeta from Pink Bike. Like, I love that video you did on whatever. And it really got my girlfriend into mountain biking or, oh, I watched Pink Bike Academy with my whole family and we love you on there. That's been my favorite part by far, because it's just so cool to see the reach that our content has, um, to know that I am literally responsible for like inspiring people to get into biking or maybe get back into biking or try something new, like whatever the case may be. I think that's been for sure, like the biggest, the biggest thing for me, it brings me a lot of happiness to know like, oh my God, not only do people actually like watch these videos, like the numbers can tell me that, but because. It's usually just a cameraman and myself out on the trails and doing the thing. It's hard to grasp the, the reach that you're getting and the impact that you're having on the industry. Um, a lot of it is literally just seeing a female on screen, and it's crazy to say that, but there's, you know, it is still a very male dominated sport. Mountain biking and cycling in general. And so to have the ability to, to reach little girls or, you know, girls my age, I didn't start biking till I was 21, so it's definitely been the best part of it is like, to actually make a difference.

Jake Johnstone 17:39

Yeah. That's so good. Like I love that it is amazing, isn't it, when you've, you've been creating, you've been creating, putting all this hard work out there, and then eventually it finally comes back to you and someone says, Hey, thanks. That work you're doing is rad. It's inspiring

Christina Chappetta 17:51

me. For sure. And when that happens, I always like remind the people like, yeah, I don't just live on the internet, like I'm a real person. I go on bike rides, I go to events, I mess up, I have DNFs, I get hurt. Like I'm a real person. So yeah, just respect

Jake Johnstone 18:09

that. Totally. And I think some of that stuff is sometimes some of the best content as well, isn't it? Cause it's relatable, it's real. Mm-hmm. Um, and I wanted to ask you, you know, a bit of a, a funny question about being on camera so much. Um, I know a lot of people experience camera courage, whether they call it that or something else. But I'm curious, do you ever feel like a bit of camera courage when you're on film? And if so, how do you manage that?

Christina Chappetta 18:32

Uh, I don't know if I know. Camera courage. What do you,

Jake Johnstone 18:34

so the idea of, as soon as your buddies or your workmates get out the camera, you're like, oh yeah, I, I have to do this, I have to do this drop, even though maybe you wouldn't if there wasn't a camera around, that kind of thing. Yeah. Equivalent

Christina Chappetta 18:46

to liquid courage perhaps. Yeah.

Jake Johnstone 18:47

You've got it. But rather than that, we've got a camera out.

Christina Chappetta 18:50

Um, oh. I would say over the years, I've learned not to give in to the camera courage. At the end of the day, like I am my biggest competitor, I am my biggest critic. So if I wanna do something and I know that I can do it, then I'll probably give it a go. Whether or not the camera's rolling. Like probably some of the biggest, most exciting things I've done, like on the bike, there's not been a camera rolling because I'm just confident in my, in my area. Um, I trust the people I'm around and, and everything's like lined up. I've had a lot of like silly injuries over the years. I call them like silly, they're not stupid. I mean, stuff happens, right? But just stuff that you're like, oh, I was just riding along and I broke my foot. So I really try not to put myself in too much risk when the reward is not worth it, if that makes sense. So for instance, like the shaman shoot I did back in 2019, I got to work with um, Sterling Lawrence, who's like one of the best photographers ever, hail from North Vancouver. And he, he kind of taught me or solidified the fact that like, hey, if you're not feeling it, don't do it. You know, if you don't, if you don't like this feature today, just don't ride it. Like it's not gonna look good on camera if you're not feeling it and you're not confident. And the worst thing we need right now is for you to like get injured in the middle of a shoot because you're trying something new and you're trying to impress us when literally just a shot of you riding down this rock or whatever is gonna be good enough. So yeah, camera courage. I try to stay away from that. Um, I have enough risk in my life to, to not do it for the camera.

Jake Johnstone 20:37

Yeah, that's really wise advice there. I'm really cool to hear that some of the people you're working with, are kind of giving you that advice and they're not just like, Hey, we need to get this shoot. You need to do this today. So, that's right. I think it's something, a lot of us experience, whether we're working in the industry or we're just out with buddies these days, there's always an iPhone ready to film someone. Always an insta story going up. So it's an important thing to remember that, like, listen to your gut. Don't do it if you're not feeling

Christina Chappetta 21:01

up. Yeah, and I think something to add there too is, is just the ability to like, see yourself doing something, whether that's a feature or a jump or whatever. And I think that's part of the process of like building up and trying new things and, and ticking the boxes is you have to physically see yourself doing it. If I look at a feature and I'm just like, ah, I'm not feeling it today. I feel like. You know, my tires are a little bit slick for that rock roll, or, oh, I have too much psi. Like I can make any excuse in the book. But what it boils down to is if I don't see myself doing that thing right here, right now, then it's not gonna happen no matter how hard I push.

Jake Johnstone 21:41

Yeah, I love that. Thanks for adding that. And it kind of leads right into my next questions. I wanted to dig deep into your mindset and your mental processes when you're riding, when you're assessing features. So you're talking there about visualizing things, seeing things before you do them. Can you walk me through your entire process? So you're, you're walking up to a rock roll you're not quite sure about. What does it look like from the start?

Christina Chappetta 22:05

I mean, I guess first of all it's, is it a new to me rock roll? Um, if it's a new to me rock roll, I'll kind of look at it and I'll usually consider what I'm capable of before I watch somebody else do it. So then I'm not, um, what's

Jake Johnstone 22:22

the word? You're not comparing yourself to that one. More comparing like Yeah. Your performance to their performance,

Christina Chappetta 22:29

Exactly. So if it's a new to me feature, I'll usually consider like my skillset and how I'm feeling that day. Um, the conditions obviously. And then before I even watch somebody else do it, cuz I don't want the pressure of say my best friend hitting the feature and then it's like, ah, shit, now I have to do it. It's usually I have it in my mind of like if I'm gonna do it or not. Um, and then I just really break it down to like, What is real? Not like what's in my head so much, but like, how long is this rock roll? Have I ever done something this length before? Um, is it really slippery today or is the grip really good? Is, I mean, for jumps in particular because I've been building up the size of jumps I'm hitting over the years, I literally measure them like with my arm spann and, and it really helps break it down like, oh, sick, okay, a 20 foot step down. Okay. I've definitely hit a 20 foot step down before, um, I kind of think back to like, what did it feel like? What was my body position on the bike and the air? And also like, I mean, I've done stuff before that's like a really big feature. Maybe I rode my bigger bike. So even though I've done certain features in the past and I'm using that to kind of like build up the courage to ride a new feature. Again, like the risk and the reward, like it has to balance out. So if I'm showing up to something super spicy on my tiny little cross country bike, there's really no point in me like riding the feature and proving to someone else that I can do it. It's like, no, I'll come back when I've got the right equipment. You know, maybe I want my full face helmet for this just in case. And I kind of break it down like that. Um, just trying to think of like the last time I hit something new that like kind of spooked me or scared me, I guess. Like, yeah, run-ins, run-ins definitely help, whether that's, you know, practicing my runin to a big rock roll or practicing speed for a run-in, for a big jump. Um, I definitely practice that a bit, do a couple of those, but then I don't like to, I don't like to do too many run-ins, you know, like if it gets to be two or three and I'm getting into my own head, then I'll usually just call it, because what it boils down to is what I know that I'm capable of. And. Where I'm comfortable pushing that. I'm not gonna take it from like a green level feature, straight to a red level feature,

Jake Johnstone 24:56

Does that make sense? I I love that. Yeah. So much wisdom to unpack, uh, within your process there. Like there's so many, important points that kind of stuck out to me and going right back to your point at the start about like having a look and visualizing the feature before you have any other writers to compare it to, I think is so sound. I had a, a moment of self-awareness recently and I was like, I'm attaching my self-belief to the other writers I'm writing with. I'm gaining confidence from my friends and I'm like, Hey, if, if he can do that, or if she can do that, I can do that. And that became a problem for me because all of a sudden when they weren't there, that's like, wait, I don't have that confidence anymore. So yeah, something I'm working on is just that, like trying to be that the first one in the, in the crew, that, that hits the feature so that I can assess it through my own lens versus looking through the lens of someone

Christina Chappetta 25:44

else. Yeah, I think there's two points I could add to that. And you can edit these out if this, it's too much, but No, not at all. Um, for sure, like one of my favorite riders, and I'm, we might talk about this more in depth, but is Hannah Bergman because she is such the Guinea pig. Like she, she has so much experience. I wouldn't say it's like all boiled down to courage, right? Because courage can get you in trouble. I think she has so much experience hitting features for the first time and unlocking features for other people that I just love watching her process. And she, she takes some big hits along the way, but she almost always gets back up and tries it again and fixes whatever went wrong. Um, and then second to that would be, I think just racing my bike in general. Like I didn't do a lot of downhill racing, just mostly the fun stuff up here at Whistler. Um, but Enduro racing was kind of the first time that I was like, Ah, darn. Okay. There's this feature on this trail. It's my nemesis. I've never ridden this feature, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna get off my bike in the middle of an Enduro stage and walk around it. And so I think that's taught me a lot about showing up to something that you don't know what to expect. Nobody else around you has ridden it. Everybody's kind of waiting, like, who's gonna be the first one to ride this feature? And so everybody else can see. And I think for me, like I just got more and more confident over the years building up my experience and saying, okay, like I'm on this random track in, you know, middle of nowhere, France, um, this looks super janky, super spicy, but I'm gonna visualize a line. And I'm gonna freaking do it because this is in the middle of a 15 minute stage. There is no stopping and getting off the bike like, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it now. So it's pretty crazy, like the confidence that you build up just from e exposure, exposing yourself to these unknowns.

Jake Johnstone 27:40

Totally. Yeah. Thanks for adding that in there. Like I love, what you're saying about racing, almost like forcing you to just be really objective and be like, right, this is a rock roll. I've done rock rolls before and almost like cut the fat out of our mental process. So it's almost like you didn't give yourself any time to let fear or doubt or hesitation or any of those things seep in. You're just like, there's this rock roll and I need to do it because it's in the race stage. I know I can do it. Let's go.

Christina Chappetta 28:06

Yeah. I hate on like especially E W S courses. Because you can only practice the stage once. You usually get like a huge cluster of people at one zone of just like, how are we gonna make it through this rock garden? And I just hate that feeling cuz everybody's looking and watching and critiquing your line and it's like, if you're gonna mess up, you're gonna do it right here while 50 people are watching you. So I usually just like take those moments, do the thing, and then carry on and get out of there. I love it.

Jake Johnstone 28:34

And how do you feel like, you know, there's everyone standing around the rock yard and there's maybe other riders sussing it out when you just ride straight through, you find the courage to do that. How do you feel afterwards?

Christina Chappetta 28:44

Um, I usually feel really good because in those situations, like especially blind racing, you just have to go with what you know. You have to really trust your instincts on the bike, your capabilities of picking a good line on the fly and trail scanning. And so when I blast through there, I'm like, Sweet. That was great. Nothing scared me. Um, there was no like big thing to worry about and stress about for the rest of the day. But then usually what happens is later in the day everybody's talking about that feature or that rock garden, and I'm like, oh yeah, I just like rode through it, mainline with confidence. And they're like, oh, but you should have looked at the left line. It was like, so much faster and you could have done this, that, and the other. And I'm like, yeah, that's just not how I ride. Because again, at the end of the day, like I'm competing with myself. I'm not necessarily trying to find like the fastest line in every single section. I just like to go through a run and know that I'm in control. I trust my skills on the bike and I trust my decision making in those situations.

Jake Johnstone 29:45

Yeah, I love that. And obviously there's an argument either way, but I think if you are overanalyzing things in a race run, it's not gonna be faster anywhere. I wanted to dive a little deeper into your processes around managing courage there. You mentioned that obviously, courage is good, it's getting you through some of these tough stages, some of these tough features, but you also mentioned that courage can get you in trouble. What did you mean by that?

Christina Chappetta 30:11

Uh, I guess just trying things that are maybe without trying things that are just outside of your comfort zone. Uh, one of my coaches on the indoor cycling, he always says the comfort zone's comfy, it's great, but nothing grows there. And so you do have to leave that zone if you want to get better or faster or just challenge yourself. But. I think getting like too much courage, whether that's, you know, your pal has a camera out and they're doing it for the socials or literally like I've, I've been with friends that ride something only because I've ridden it like guys and girls, and I'm just like, Hey man, like you, you don't need to ride this like super janky 180 degree left-hand corner just because I did like be your own person. Um, and I've seen, yeah, things kind of happen like that and people get injured and then, and then you're kicking yourself. You're just like, Ugh, why did I do that? Like, there was something at the back of my head telling me not to do it, but I didn't listen and I did it anyway. And, and then you're just kinda. You have that steaming? Does that answer the question?

Jake Johnstone 31:21

Yeah, totally. And I think, really good point you brought up there about sometimes we can maybe let our motivation come from external sources. Like, oh, Christina did it, so that means I should be able to do it. Cuz I think I'm, that's good. And we're doing all this comparison stuff, or like comparison to people outside of us that can get us in trouble, so, mm-hmm. Yeah, really good point there. And then, you know, we've got courage on one side of the scale or confidence on one side, and then we've got things like fear on the other side. Do you ever experience fear when you're writing?

Christina Chappetta 31:51

Uh, fear. Fear is, like, fear to me is hate. I don't hate anyone. I don't hate anything. There are certain things I dislike more than others, but I don't tend to use those words. Um, I don't, I don't ever use the word fear actually. Um, I'm very much into positive self-talk and what that does for the person and the brain and like just what you're capable of. Um, I have been around people before that are like, Ooh, that's scary. Ooh, I don't wanna do that. Ah, I can't believe you did that. That's so scary. And I'm like, I really just hate that word scary. I don't like when people say they're afraid of things cuz it's just a cop out. Like, just break it down, find out what it is that intimidates me or makes me feel unsettled about something and then just address it. Um, can't really remember the last time I was like, Uh, I guess, yeah, we did this fun, like, friendly race in the fall. It was like 15, 20 minute downhill, like literally from the top of a mountain down a thousand meters. And it was all just for fun. It was supposed to be, you know, whoever stop if you wanna stop and rest your hands, but don't, if you don't, and maybe at the end you win a high five, like there's no, nothing special about it. But there was something in my head that I was like, I don't actually remember this trail. Like, I actually don't know what's coming. They keep talking about this shoot. Like it's just building up in my head, this shoot, this shoot. And then before you know it, you're like, through the shoot and you're fine. And so I think I, I kind of treat fear and being scared or timid, kind of like that. It's like, just don't, don't let it build up in your head and give it any more space than it deserves. Um, if anything you can use, you know, fear or afraidness. To give you a goal to work towards, and I think that's kind of how I use it more. It's like, oh, I'm not scared of this feature. Maybe I don't like it. Maybe I'll never see myself writing the dynamite role or whatever it may be. But I'm addressing it in like a realistic way, not because I'm just scared or shut off or afraid. Yeah.

Jake Johnstone 34:04

That's a really interesting approach and I, I love, what you're saying there about not actually voicing these words, because of your awareness around the effect our language can actually have on how we feel, and then actually how we write or how we operate in life as well. It's, such good awareness there. And yeah, it kind of reminds me of a quote I really like, and that is that fear doesn't live in the present. Fear only lives in the future. So in these kind of imagined realities about potential, like bad things that we think could happen. So yeah, it's a really healthy relationship you have there with, potentially, if there is a feature or something that you don't like, just saying, Hey, it's not because of fear, I just don't like it, and that's okay.

Christina Chappetta 34:47

Totally. For me, that's just rock slab in general. It's a lifelong process Okay. Of just doing rock slab and getting more comfortable

Jake Johnstone 34:54

doing them. Yeah. Well that's really cool. You mentioned that, I wanted to ask, what's been one of your biggest challenges maybe in the physical realm on the bike? Would you say that's rock slab?

Christina Chappetta 35:05

I'd say if I was like breaking down my riding rock slab probably intimidate me the most. Like there's something that I do generally, like people think I'm lying when I say I talk to myself when I'm biking. But I think a lot of. High at level athletes do, like we're percent, we are talking ourselves down the rock roll. We're saying, okay, your, your rear brake is starting to lock up and skid a bit. So let off of that look forward body position, elbows bent, like these are literally things that just go through my head, especially when I'm doing something intimidating, like a big rock roll or, you know, riding Gua or In and Out Burger. Some of those like kind of famous big rock slabs. Um, it's like, I know my skills are there. I know my equipment is good, my tires are grippy, the brakes are breaking, and it's just kind of, yeah, trusting my skills on the bike. It's like, you know how to ride rock rolls, you're fine. This one's just three times as long as the last one.

Jake Johnstone 36:10

Yeah. I love that. I'm a, huge, huge believer in positive self-talk while we're riding as well. And I know, like I was doing some, uh, voice of the people, interviews at the BC bike show on the weekend, and a lot of people were kind of saying, oh, I don't think I just turn the brain off when I ride. And I think, that's, that's a really good process. Like when it happens as that sounds dangerous. It doesn't, it doesn't always happen though. I feel like, priming our brain with these like positive I can statements and I will, puts us in a place to potentially experience like the flow state or the quiet brain or, or whatever we want to call it. Mm-hmm. But if we don't put those statements there, we kind of leave the door wide open for things like doubt and hesitation and maybe negative self-talk to weave its way in. Definitely. Yeah. Do you ever experience any of that stuff on the bike or are you kind of so well trained mentally there that you don't give at any, any time? The,

Christina Chappetta 37:04

like self, self or doubt, I suppose?

Jake Johnstone 37:07

Yeah, like negative self-talk and doubt.

Christina Chappetta 37:10

Uh, I mean everybody, I think I can confidently say that everybody experiences that at some point. Um, but it's usually, it's like a little indicator of like, oh, is that a cramp I feel coming up on my quads. Like, can I make it to the top of this sprint? And just shifting your mindset and saying like, oh, I freaking love sprinting. I don't love sprinting. Nobody loves sprinting. I love hill colleges. Like, I try to just like really shift it into like a more positive thing. Um, just thinking back to like some race runs of the past, usually what, like really riles me up and gets me nervous in those situations is knowing that there's. Some big climbs coming within the stages. That's, that's not my strong suit on the bike for sure. Um, just extended like cross country vibes. And so usually I can kind of work myself up of like, ah, shit, there's like this 32nd fire road sprint in the middle of the stage. And then the whole time I'm like thinking, I'm like riding, but I'm thinking like, okay, the sprint's coming up. What gear should I be in? Like, am I, do I need to conserve energy for that? And kind of how I've adapted and gotten used to that over the years is I always tell myself, as soon as my like, attention starts to deviate, I just tell myself when you're thinking, when you're biking, you have to think about biking. When I'm biking, I do not let myself think like, what am I gonna make for dinner? Or like, oh, did I just hear a little bunny off in the bush? It's like, Going back to the risk of the reward, I put so much risk on the table just going fast on my bike, let alone like riding crazy terrain that like I need to focus in those times. And so I really, I try not to let any sort of self-doubt get into my head like so much so that I can't really think of a time where it has kind of taken over. Um, because at the end, like I just go straight back to like, I'm riding, I need to think about riding.

Jake Johnstone 39:17

yeah, that's, that's so awesome. Like, I love what you're saying there about, learning over the years to not even give self-doubt and things like this any time of day. so cool to hear that you are constantly, giving your brain these positive commands and kind of affirmations and getting really grounded in the present. I think that was kind of the key point there. And I'm curious, maybe after a, a long stressful day at work, if it ever gets stressful in the pink bike office there, um, you know, you add on a ride and maybe got lots going on in your head. Do you have any kind of techniques you use to wind down and get grounded before you start heading down The trail?

Christina Chappetta 39:56

Biking for me is, it's like I. Sounds kind of funny to say it out loud. It is that sacred place, you know, like, I don't want negative vibes coming up into my bike bubble because that's where I'm happy, that's where I'm safe. That's where I can let myself kind of go deep into a thought if I like, need to figure something out. But I really try not to, um, just because when I'm biking, like I wanna give it the respect that it deserves. And I kind of, I do that by not thinking about other stuff that's, that's bringing me down. Whether that's a bad day or, you know, I had a bad interaction with someone at the coffee shop or whatever it may be. I really try not to dwell on those things because I think it kind of coincides with what I said earlier, like the word hate. Like I just, I don't use that word. Um, There's nothing in my life that I can think of that I genuinely hate. And so I take like that positivity and I bring it into like every ride that I'm going on. If I'm riding with friends, I wanna make the ride about being there with my friend. Maybe. Maybe they need to talk about something and get it off of their chest. And I use that as a good time to just huff and puff, but then I can sit and listen and be there for my friend. Um, Yeah, I kind of, I really distract myself a lot when I'm riding so that I can just be on the bike and give it the respect it deserves.

Jake Johnstone 41:24

Yeah, totally. I, I love that idea of not bringing any baggage out with you on the bike and really keeping that as, like you said, like a, a sacred hobby. You know, I think a lot of people listening will be able to relate to that as well.

Christina Chappetta 41:38

just to give you a little bit of a little tea there for your cuff. It, um, the last kind of time I remember something getting into my head was, it was 2019, it was just before the e w s Whistler and I had a really good result the previous year. So I, like, I had a little bit of internal pressure to like, deliver on that result and do it again to confirm like, oh, it wasn't just a one hit wonder. Like I am a good rider and so I was training, training, getting super fit and I. Did the Fat Wednesday like downhill race the week before. And that's always like the hard one. It's Canadian open, downhill and to slayer and like, and for whatever reason, like I actually, I had an injured rib at that time and so I went and I did the race anyway. And I just always think back to this and I'm like, it was so stupid of me and I learned so much from this instance cuz I wasn't firing on all cylinders. Like I wasn't healthy enough to be doing a downhill race on a 29 er and Dro bike. Like I should have stayed home and rested so that I could show up at the e w s and feel good and perform, but instead I went and crashed because, I like ever so slightly cased this, um, double or whatever. And because my rib was injured, it then led to a series of crashing. And then I broke. I broke my rib, I broke my wrist, and it was just a really crappy day because at the back of my head I was like, you had so many red flags, like, you know, you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have been there. There is no reason you should have felt like you needed to prove yourself at this local downhill race when you had an opportunity to prove yourself on the world stage a week later. And so I really, I look back at that a lot and I definitely, like, anytime there's a little red flag or something in your stomach that's like, I don't know, I kind of think back to that and it's like, What would I have done at that time if I made smarter decisions?

Jake Johnstone 43:45

Yeah, totally. Sometimes life has a funny way, I guess you could call it, uh, reminding us to slow down and just listen to our body and what it's trying to tell us. Yeah. and it's really cool to hear that you've reflected on that and, incorporated it into your mindset for riding today. Mm-hmm. And I wanted to ask, maybe looking back a little bit before mountain biking was like your entire life, is there anything that you learned from the other sports you were doing or still do, like snowboarding, soccer, things like this, any learnings from those sports that you've taken and found useful in your mountain biking?

Christina Chappetta 44:19

Yeah, all of them. Literally. All of 'em. Okay. Whatever. Top three. Yeah. Everything's just a building. So I mean, snowboarding in particular, living in BC with like really steep terrain, snowboarding. It, what's the word? It almost desensitized me to steep, gnarly stuff in a way. It's like, oh man, I'll be standing on terrain like this. But if you trust the snow and it's nice heavy snow that you can drop into, control your speed, pick your next move, um, that has helped me a lot within mountain biking. Just being able to look at features and say, oh yeah, I can get down from here. Like, this is the line I'm gonna take. Um, that's really helped for sure. I'd say like soccer, I guess was the first time in my, like, competitive life where I could, you know, be physical, get some proper injuries, and learn how to deal with them. Especially, um, playing college soccer. It's like, you know, you train, train, train so hard and then as soon as you get that first injury and you're sitting out a game, you're like, ah. Like I could have done something different or just, just learning how to mentally deal with that stuff too has been a huge game changer moving into the bike world and, and having that competitive edge. And then I guess just like pushing through. Like there's been times when you're out in the back country on your splitboard and the sun is set and it's getting dark out and you still haven't gotten back to the car. And it's like, at the end of the day, I'm not gonna sleep out here. Like, I will use that determination and that grit to just push through and get the job done. And yeah, I think that's helped a lot when it's, you know, it's big back country rides and the chill curtains, or maybe it's a huge race day where I just feel like garbage. It's like, Nope, you can do this. You can get it done. Just do it. Like, stop thinking about it. Stop being your worst enemy and just do the thing.

Jake Johnstone 46:28

Yeah, totally. I love all of that. So many good learnings, from, so many different sports. It's funny like looking at soccer and then looking at mountain biking, like the two sports are so, so different. but it's really cool to hear that some of the stuff you learnt playing soccer is now helping you ride a mountain bike. Um, and I wanted to ask, you know, you talked a lot about injury there and kind of dealing with the mental side of injury over the years. Like Yeah. What's one of the biggest things that's helped you now when you get injured, approach that from a maybe more proactive place?

Christina Chappetta 47:02

Well, I'm dealing with a small injury now, so I just recently got reacquainted with all of those feelings. Um, the feelings of frustration, a little bit of depression. And then just tenacity to like, okay, let's focus and, and do what we can do and control the controllables. Because once shit hits the fan and you blow up your knee, blow up your elbow or whatever, it's like the damage is done. All that we can do now is start to rebuild. And so for me, it's like, I think just being an athlete, really relying on the team around you. Um, you know, anytime I'm injured, I'll, I'll go in and get a proper diagnosis from the doctor, from the emergency or whatever it is, because I don't wanna be just making stuff up in my head for no good reason. So I like to really get to the root of the problem, whatever that is, and then build up from there. It's like, okay, maybe whatever. If it's a bone break, that's easy, right? Bones heal in six to eight weeks. And so then it just becomes like a timeline of like, okay, the first week is probably gonna be the most painful. And then. You know, I'll start to see improvements and I'll go to physio. I'll do my exercises, I'll eat good. It's just, I think giving myself the tools to control the controllables is the best thing anybody can do. Um, especially coming back from an injury. Um, yeah, just not dwelling in, in the self-pity and the pain. It's like, do something about it. Give yourself all the tools you can to make this injury go by as quickly as possible.

Jake Johnstone 48:42

Totally. Yeah. it can be really tough if we don't, make a really conscious effort to use the tools available to us. And, uh, yeah, I like sitting in just a, a pool of pity and self-doubt. It's no fun for anyone. Right. I wanted to ask, you've had a, a lot of injuries over the years, but also like a lot of big goals. Have you ever experienced like any identity issues after having an injury and say, not being able to compete in the next e w S race, for example, or something like this?

Christina Chappetta 49:12

Whew. Yeah, for sure. I mean that the injury that took me out in 2019, that one sucked a lot because at that point I had been putting in years of work to. Be able to like properly compete on the world stage. You know, the dream was to have a factory team pick me up and join their team. And so there were like glimpses of that in 2018. And then when I got injured in 2019, I was like, well, there goes my chance. Like I'm not getting any younger, all of the best competitors are much younger than I am. And to come back from this and be able to like put down a good result, probably not gonna happen again. Um, but what I did that year to like give me something to work towards, I was already signed up for Trans Cascadia, um, like multi-day race in Oregon and I was like, you know what? Screw it. It's a couple months away. I'm gonna use this as like my little carrot to go chase to get better and get back on the bike and whatever. If I show up and I can only do one stage, then I'll still get to hang out with all these people. And so I kind of use that as my. Goal to work towards to get back on the bike. And then I, I placed really, well, I finished second at that event, so I was like, okay, maybe you like, don't suck at biking, but you just need to like build back up over time. Um, trying to think of like another one.

Jake Johnstone 50:38

Yeah. I, I love that story. While you're thinking that, it's so cool to hear about how you're kind of like, okay, yep, I'm here. This sucks, but what can I do now? And then almost like shifting your goals straight away so that you, you have something positive to work towards.

Christina Chappetta 50:53

Yeah, definitely. And then it's always, it's usually almost always bike related. It's like, okay, what thing can I do on my bike? Right now I'm a little bit injured and I'm looking forward to a small bike packing trip later this month. And originally it was gonna be this like, all right, let's go until I die and let's see how far I could go. Cuz I've not done this before and now I'm just shifting the goal a little bit. And it's like, well, Let's just go like maybe I don't make it all the way to where I thought I was gonna camp on night one, but I think it'll still be a good, a rehab adventure that gets me outside and

Jake Johnstone 51:30

Totally. And yeah, I think sometimes almost shift in your mindset to like, Hey, let's just have fun. No pressure. Sometimes I end up being the best trips, right? Or the best

Christina Chappetta 51:40

races. They're almost always, I would say they're always the best. Yeah, exactly. When you just take, yeah, take the pressure off your old shoulders. That's why I love blind racing. I love racing with my friends. I love doing party trains and race runs. I'm like, this is what biking is for me. And there just so happens to be a timer. Exactly.

Jake Johnstone 52:00

Yeah. It's so easy sometimes to get caught up in like unconscious pressure we put on ourselves. I think, when we're racing, we've been, doing all of the strength work off the bike. We've had a really good season all of a sudden. Like we really put these harsh expectations on ourself. Mm-hmm. Uh, but sometimes it takes just like one little thing to go wrong and we're like, okay, let's just see what happens. And then it turns out better than it would've anyway. Exactly. Yeah. So let's talk here for a second about, some of the highlights of your racing days. We've talked a little bit about crash in and about mental struggles, um, but I wanted to ask you like, do you have any favorite moments, uh, looking back on, like racing into e w s or any of the other big races you did?

Christina Chappetta 52:39

Yeah, I think probably one of the most fun times I've ever had on the bike was the first year I did trans BBC in d um, I think that was pretty sure that was 2018 and it was kind of the first time. Maybe the second time ever, like racing a blind stage, let alone six days of it. So I mean, over like the first stage, you just rip the bandaid off, you do it, you're buzzing. You just feel stoked that you just rodee a trail you've never ridden before. It was like pretty gnarly. You survived it and then it just kept happening again and again and again for like 20 something stages. So I think that experience for me was insane because again, like I'm relying, I've never seen these runs, so I'm totally relying on my own speed. Um, I have to be the gauge of like my speed, my capabilities, what I can do. And then just knowing like, okay, there's gonna be things on this trail that if I was just out on a ride with my mates, I'd probably stop and look at, but I'm not gonna do that today. Like we're just riding by eyesight and trail scanning and that, that week I always like refer to it as summer camp on the bike because. That week. Seriously, hands down, elevated my riding and my, my comfort level and yeah, all that on the bike. So that's probably one of my most fun times. I mean, obviously I was stoked to, to have a good result here in Whistler in 2018 at the E W s because it was, you know, in front of the whole crowd. And every single stage. I just had like so many friends yelling my name. It was, it was crazy. Unbelievable feeling.

Jake Johnstone 54:20

That would've been amazing. Mm-hmm. And where was the race? You were talking about before that the trans BC where was it

Christina Chappetta 54:25

that year? Trans bc that year we did, it was all interior BC so I think it was like fury, Rossland,

Jake Johnstone 54:39

wow. Yeah. Hot

Christina Chappetta 54:41

some, yeah, some proper, yeah, some proper steep and deep stuff.

Jake Johnstone 54:46

Totally. And how did you go from riding like, you know, nice lomi coastal soil to riding the dust

Christina Chappetta 54:51

out there? It was hard. Yeah, for sure. Cuz the race there is held in July usually, and so it was hot. Um, I don't love riding in hot terrain, overheating and that sort of stuff, so I think the terrain itself was great. Like some of the best trails, they do such a fabulous time of picking the course for that event because they really do pick the best trails. And I might be biased because I like the steep and deep trails, but that's, that's what they were for sure.

Jake Johnstone 55:21

That's great. There's certainly no shortage out there of steep and deep. You mentioned before that you really love, like racing, blind racing with your friends. I wanted to talk about the race you did last year down in Mexico, the Trans Sierra Norte.

Christina Chappetta 55:33

What was that like? That was for sure like one of the best weeks on the bike ever because. Like, I've traveled a lot of places with my bike and there are good trails, but it, at the end, it always boils down to like, uh, it's got nothing on Whistler, or Yeah, this dirt's good, but it's not as good as back home. But when I went to Mexico, like the dirt was that good, the trails were that fun, and I just couldn't believe that like Mexico of all places had these lush jungle lomi trails. Um, and then there's, we didn't race a lot of like, gnarly stuff. I'd say. It got rockier and grittier towards the bottom. So, you know, as you're tired from descending all day up in the mountains and you got to the bottom, it was kind of hard to like hold the front wheel steady. But there was nothing scary or technical that, that threw me off. So I knew that, like when I dropped into a stage there, I was like, oh, I can just like rip it and just have fun. And that event, I, uh, I convinced my best friend Hailey to come down with me. And we party trained every single stage over, it was four days of racing and 22 stages. So every single stage it was like she or I would lead us out and maybe we'd follow some other people. But I mean we did the whole race together and I think that was just so cool cuz she, she doesn't really come from like a racing background. She's more like free ridey and like super stylish on the bike. And I was like, come on, it'll be fun. We love going on big rides. It's just like a big ride. And so she had like the time of her life and yeah, the crew down there that put it on, they really know how to throw a fiesta.

Jake Johnstone 57:16

Wow, that's so rad. It makes me want to go down and do something like that myself. So much racing like 22 stages over four days. Yeah, And I love what you're saying there about like you and Hailey just following each other down the trails. Do you think that made it feel more like, you know, you were just down there riding for fun rather than like, oh, we're racing.

Christina Chappetta 57:33

For sure. Mm-hmm. Definitely. I think she and I both, you know, we just like to use excuses to travel with our bike, so I was like, oh, there's like this race going on that we could participate in. I've always heard good things, but really we just wanna like go on four big, massive days of riding. And I'm pretty lazy when I go travel. Like I don't, I don't wanna be the one to create the riding plan or decide what trails we're gonna ride. I'm just down for the ride, you know, I'll show up. So I like the blind races or any race really where you show up, the course is set, everything's marked out. You don't have to think about it. It's like, oh, we're just girls on holiday and it's gonna get a little messy. But we like that stuff. And I think too, like for me, it's hard to find people to train with because most people don't want to go do a thousand meter pedal. On the weekend, like most people don't want to drop into a 15, 10, 15 minute run and not stop, you know, like it, it's kind of hard to find those people to train and push with. So I knew that she'd be down for it cuz we loved doing stupid stuff like that together. And yeah, it really, it made it super fun. Like the hootin and hollering was hilarious. Like there were times when there would just be like a flat pedal. For who knew how long in the middle of a stage. And she's like, we're just trying. And I'm yelling at her like, come on, pedal. And she's like, I can't go any faster. And I'm like, me neither. You're doing great. Do you wanna pass? No, I really don't like,

Jake Johnstone 59:07

oh, it sounds like such a good time. It cool. Yeah. I love that. Like you're saying there, it can be tricky sometimes, like getting people jazzed for going out for like massive days on the bike or like riding top to bottom and not stopping and chat in. So I think, yeah, I love racing for all the same reasons. Like I don't have a competitive bone in my body, but I love all of the other good stuff that happens when you sign up for a race with a bunch of friends. Like such a great excuse to get out on the bike on a rainy day and go for a big lap regardless. Um, travel new places, all of these things that you mentioned there. I love it. I wanted to ask you about a, a video you made a while back. Um, you were out at a bike park somewhere interviewing a bunch of different rider and asking them about the idea of competition in mountain biking. Uh, and I know you were asking like, does mountain biking need competition? I'd love to know your take on that.

Christina Chappetta 59:56

Yeah, that was a super fun video. Um, I shot that at the Dark Horse Free Ride Invitational event that Casey Brown hosts and Revel Stoke. And the reason behind that video was because it's a jam event. You know, there's no competition, there's no, there's no awards being given, no prizes. It's literally just a way for particularly women to come together to level up the field. As, as a group, like it's so cool to see, I mean, the youngest rider we had there, I think was around 12 years old. And then some of the older, more experienced writers like Hannah and Casey in their thirties, um, hopefully early thirties, late twenties. I don't wanna date them too much, but yeah, that's kind of the vibe around it. And, and a lot of that sessioning and jam cell format happens, you know, more so in the men's field, but now it's being open to women and I having like followed these events, having followed formation, I've personally seen the level of writing and the camaraderie go through the roof since these types of events are there to like, you know, take away the competitive nature, um, and just work together as a team and help each other. I mean, I've seen it in the e w s world, like kind of how I was saying it earlier, you're stopped at one feature and everybody's like, who's gonna hit it first? What are they gonna do? Okay, who's the first girl to hit it? Okay. If she can do it, I can do it. And instead of like actually working together and the girls coming together and like trying something new and slaying it, it gets really competitive. Like it's, it's kind of a reason I'm not so interested in that discipline anymore because it's like, oh, this should be rad. Like, we all just hit the thing that we were like, scared of or intimidated by and, but that's not what's happening. Like we're, we're being competitive with each other and we're more so comparing each other. So going back to the question, does mountain biking need competition? Um, I think the girls did awesome in, in their answers. Like, of course we need competition within downhill racing and, and that sort of stuff. Or else. Or else we're just gonna top out and people won't continue to push the sport, push the products, push the suspension and, and make gains there. Um, but in general, I think it's when we take away the competition, when I go to a race and I'm not actually there to race, but just participate, that's where like so much growth and support and camaraderie comes from. So for sure mountain biking needs competition in some ways, but in other ways I think it's best if we just don't ever turn it into a competition. Like imagine Red Bull Rampage not as a competition.

Jake Johnstone 1:02:46

Yeah, that's a, it's really cool insight there and it's crazy to think about, isn't it? Like, I wonder what would happen just in like the general shift of psyche from like, we're not competing, we're just out here to see, like see if I can do something cool today and if you can do something cool that's rad, let's high five, that kind of thing. It'd be such a different vibe for sure. Definitely. But like you're saying, I wonder if it would, you know, the sport and the tricks and everything that's happening would also be pushed as far without the competitive nature.

Christina Chappetta 1:03:15

Yeah. I do wonder because for instance, like, um, David Sak is uh, a free rider that I love following, and he just posted a clip the other day of doing like a brand new trick at, I think it was Masters of Dirt. Don't quote me on that. Um, but it was a brand new trick and it's in a setting that's not a competition, it's just a place for these athletes to go push themselves with people around and just have fun doing it and be creative. And I'm just like, that's sick. To see that, you know, riders, not just females, but even still male, you know, dominated areas are pushing and trying to create change and just still be creative with their riding and they're not doing it because so-and-so did a seven 20, so now I need to do something better to win. It's like they're doing it because they want to and they think they're capable of it, which is cool.

Jake Johnstone 1:04:10

Yeah, it's because there's a goal there that excites them, that they want intrinsic. Yeah, I love that. And what do you think like YouTube and social media and stuff like this, what part do you think that's had to play in maybe a shift from Mountain Biking being solely like a racing sport to now having some other areas as well that are non-competitive, but are still moving the

Christina Chappetta 1:04:30

sport forward? Yeah, I think that's huge for sure. Especially like when we look at. The women's side of things. If we still played to the rules that only females that stand on top of race podiums in cross country or downhill or Enduro, only those people get paid or can make a career out of it, then, then that's just sad in my opinion. Like, I think where we've come from, that was the way, like you, only certain people could, could think about making a career in the biking world because they were racing. Whereas now you can, you can be whatever you wanna be. You know, like if you want to, I mean, I don't like the word influencer necessarily, like more content creator. If you wanna create content and that speaks directly to, you know, the viewers out there or the people in the community, I think that's huge. And I think the draw that certain athletes have that, you know, maybe they're not in the top five or the top 10, but maybe there's still a good competitive top 20, top 30. Like those people probably do more for their community and they're probably more, you know, hands on and, and doing the dirty work and hosting the trail nights and, and getting people gen genuinely pumped on biking. I think that's huge for our sport for sure. And yeah, whether they do it with a YouTube channel, whether they do it with social media, like yeah, I'm all for it. I think we need more and more of that just to create more awareness too, um, and kind of desensitize the rest of the world. And that's kind of how I look at certain projects I do is like, yeah, maybe this isn't like the most talked about topic, but it should be talked about and we should desensitize the public so that it's not so weird when we do talk about this, these things.

Jake Johnstone 1:06:21

Yeah, totally. It's, it's certainly enriched our whole community having, I guess, having like a microphone available to different people that maybe couldn't get onto the podium and, you know, have a voice before. Um, and I agree with what you're saying though, you know, one of the biggest reasons for this podcast was I was like, Hey, mindset's a huge part of mountain biking in, but no one's really talking about it. So I'm stoked with it. I had the opportunity to sit here and talk about it today. Uh, I wanted to ask you, what does the rest of 2023 look like for you? Is there any cool projects or races that you've got coming up? Yeah,

Christina Chappetta 1:06:56

2023. There's, there's definitely a few things on the calendar that I'm looking forward to. Uh, formation for sure is, I mean, I went last year for the first time for me, and it was the coolest week I have ever been a part of, ever like, To be there in complete support. I didn't pick up my bike once. Um, I was just there helping to dig, helping to introduce people of the world to these riders that are going out there and slaying it in Utah. And the free ride scene, that was for sure the coolest time. So I'll be going back to formation. Um, hopefully like my, my, one of my big goals would be to go to world champs in Scotland. Uh, I've never seen a downhill World Cup, let alone world champs, so I'm really kind of hoping to make it there for that just to again, be there and support. Um, If I could do some interviews with some rad female riders, that would be amazing. But more just go, yeah, be there, see it, feel the vibes. And uh, I'll be going back to Transi Norte. A big perk of winning the event is you get free entry to the event next year. So I'll definitely be going back to do that in the fall. And then, yeah, we'll kind of see all what happens in between now and then. Um, I'll be going to Sea Otter with work, but there's a lot of stuff that I just wanna do on my personal, personal goals. Like, um, I've been really into bike packing lately, and by into bike packing, I mean, I've been into watching bike packing videos and, and just seeing like how cool it is to like travel by bike. You know, I'm used to traveling with my bike. But to travel by bike, go a little bit slower, see some stuff up close and personal stop at random little coffee shops. Like I'm really interested in that. So I don't have anything like concrete in the works yet, but I think my, my vacation time will be spent looking into those kinds of adventures and just more reasons to like, be on the bike but not make it about racing. Yeah, totally.

Jake Johnstone 1:09:11

what a rad. You're ahead. I'm super excited for you for all those events. And I've gotta ask, I'm curious about the whole bike packing thing as well. After watching all the videos, doing all the research, what's one place that you'd really love to go bike back in one day? There's so many. Yeah. Tough question. I know no

Christina Chappetta 1:09:29

I mean, the Silk Road, The Silk Road looks pretty crazy and they, they do host like a race there. Um, I would never sign up for like a racing type event, but that part of the world looks pretty rad and I've always wanted to go to Africa. So I mean, those places, I don't say scary a lot, but they do sound pretty scary as far as like just traveling around on a bike in the unknown

Jake Johnstone 1:09:55

Yeah, totally. Like not only are you going for some mammoth bike ride, you're also in a new culture in a new place. Uh, yeah. Sounds exciting at the same time. Right. I love it. Uh, we're gonna start wrapping things up here, but I did just have a, a couple more questions I wanted to ask. I know a lot of people are watching you on pink, Bike and kind of looking up to people like you in the mountain bike world, but I wanted to ask, who do you look up to

Christina Chappetta 1:10:21

so many people? Um, Yeah, so many people I think in the biking world, I look up to a lot of different female athletes, um, for different reasons. And I was thinking about this the other day actually. And, and it's not just because they're female, it's because of like what they've done or what they're doing or their personality. Um, Hannah Bergman for sure is one of my favorite people just because she's, she's kind of done it all. Like she's a really great skier, comes from Oregon, but her ability to like show up somewhere like Utah and craft a line from scratch and see it and then have the courage to Guinea pig these features and just do it in such a boss humble way. Like she's for sure someone I look up to a lot. Um, Casey Brown. Definitely like Casey Brown was kind of the first girl when I started biking that I saw in mountain bike videos. Casey Brown and Claire Bouchard actually. And so they both kind of showed me that like, wow, it's not all about racing and this is what you've done with your career. You've helped mold generations be after you. And I think that's just incredibly awesome. But then both Claire and Casey have really totally stayed themselves. Like they've never, never let outside influences come in and change who they are. And I think that for me is like absolutely someone to look up to inspiration. And then, yeah, I mean the girls that are throwing the big tricks, the girls that are like really, I. Playing a really hard game of ketchup and decided like freestyle mountain biking. And that for me is like Caroline Buchanan, Robin Gomes, Harriet Verbiage Smith. Like those are girls that I look up to so much. But I also, I don't look up at, I don't look up to them in a way, like I wanna be that, or I wanna do that cuz I don't wanna do a back flip on a bike. Like I am not interested and even taking my hands off of the bars to be honest. Like maybe one day if I get really bored, but probably not. Um, but yeah, those are the girls that I think they're playing so much catch up and just trying to like get the tricks dialed so that it's normal. Like this is totally normal to see this in women's mountain biking and now you should just go off and do it yourself. So I think within the sport, like, I mean I could go on for days and days, but those are kind of the top girls that come to mind. Athletes.

Jake Johnstone 1:13:07

Yeah. Such good, inspiring role models there. And I think, it is such a cool time in our sport where, girls can grow up today and there is role models there and they can watch the videos on YouTube. And I think we're in a, like a really shifting time. Like we're still not there yet in terms of like a quality in our sport, but I think we are like on the verge, it's starting to accelerate, which is super cool to see. So we've kind of bounced around all over the place and I've asked you all kinds of different questions, um, but I'm curious if there was just like one thing that you hope listeners take out of this conversation, what would it be?

Christina Chappetta 1:13:42

Yeah, we definitely did cover a lot there. Um, I think a big one is just create the plan and, and stick to the plan. You know, if, if you see yourself trying something new or. Digging into the sport or trying to make a career out of it in some way. Like actually write, write that stuff down. Cuz when you see it, when you look at it, you can then build, build onto that. I mean, I started my biking career working in a bike shop and I always knew that the bike shop was going to introduce me to the people that I needed to know, or it was gonna give me the connection that I needed to create a career in this industry. And I don't think I'll be a video presenter forever, but I think just having like a small plan of like, okay, I'm gonna put myself out there. I'm gonna slave around in a bike shop doing rental bikes for a while because it's gonna show me that there are other opportunities out there. Um, and then, I mean, that could, you could take it to wherever, say if you wanna. Become, uh, a competitive racer or a free rider or whatever. It's like, again, make the plan, like these girls didn't show up in Virgin, Utah and do their first top to bottom run at formation. Like they've built up over years, they've crashed, they've dealt with it all. And that's all just part of the plan. It's part of the process, if you will. So yeah, just kinda make a plan, stick to the plan, and then it's, it's crazy what you can get done. Like thinking about stuff isn't, you're not gonna get anything done by just sitting around thinking about it. Yeah,

Jake Johnstone 1:15:27

exactly. Right. Such, such words of wisdom there. Like, yeah, the, the only real power in this life is action. It's like, what are you doing? I love that. And you mentioned they're like writing it down to make it real. Is that something that you do a lot?

Christina Chappetta 1:15:41

I do, I definitely, I make a lot of lists. I don't necessarily check off all the things on the list all the time, but for me, like seeing stuff and being like, ah, shit, I wrote that thing down like a couple months ago and I still haven't practiced my wheelie, or whatever it is, it's like now I'm holding myself accountable because it's easy to like find a cop out or blame some other external issue as to why you're not where you wanna be. But writing it down, looking back on it, and then just building, you know, like old school, like start with a little, uh, outline and then create your little bullet points and, and make the steps. Give yourself the steps to go and step on.

Jake Johnstone 1:16:24

Yeah, Such a good technique I think at allowing us to be accountable, like you said, and not like hide from our goals and just ignore them. Such a good one. And I love what you were saying about, you know, when you were working at the bike shop, you knew that that wasn't a forever thing, but you knew it was a stepping stone towards where you wanted to go, which was doing something else in the bike industry. Yeah. So cool to hear the background there. Hey, thank you so, so much for sitting down and answering all my questions today. Had an absolute ball and yeah, it's been really cool getting a different perspective. I've learnt a lot from your mindset and I'm sure listeners have as well. So thank you. just to finish off here, if people wanna follow along with your adventures online, where's the best place for them to find you?

Christina Chappetta 1:17:05

I use my personal Instagram channel to kind of post what I'm up to on the regular, and that is C Chapeta one. And then honestly, I don't do much filming outside of work because I spend so much time with that at work. But definitely follow us on Pink Bike and the Pink Bike YouTube channel because that's where all of my, my passion projects go.

Jake Johnstone 1:17:29

All right, thank you so much for that. The links to all of those socials will be down in the show notes below. Christina, thank you so much. It's been a blast, and I'll see you out on the trails this

Christina Chappetta 1:17:39

summer. Thank you so much, Jake. Thank you so much for the time and yeah, the dedication to a good chat and I really appreciate this opportunity.

Jake Johnstone 1:17:51

What's up guys? Just one last thing before you hit the trails. If you enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to subscribe and don't be a stranger. I'd love to hear from you about any topics, particular episodes you enjoyed, and even about any guests that you'd like to hear me have on the show in the future. You can find me on Instagram at the. Underscore Mind Underscore Mountain. This podcast, mountain Black in and mindset are all things that are very, very close to my heart. So I feel super grateful to be able to share these conversations with you. Much love to you all for taking the time to listen. See you next time.