The Gnar Couch Podcast

Ethan Nell is back, and apparently lifting heavy shit and running businesses wasn't enough to keep him away from throwing himself off cliffs on a mountain bike.

The former (and most likely future) Red Bull Rampage competitor joins Gnar Couch as we get into his time away from professional freeride, life outside mountain biking, his obsession with fitness, business ventures, and his return to a sport where the consequences of a bad decision are considerably worse than DOMS after leg day.

Naturally, the Gnar Couch crew brings its usual combination of questionable journalism, unnecessary interruptions, inappropriate humor, and absolutely no qualifications to discuss any of this.

Come for Ethan Nell. Stay for the stupidity.

REAL TALK. RAW TAKES. NO FILTER.

SHRED TIL BED!

🔥 SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS 🔥

VEE TIRE CO. | @veetireco
https://veetires.com/
Premium mountain bike tires without the premium bullshit pricing. From BMX to downhill, we've got Vee tires on our bikes.

SAVE 20% WITH CODE: GNAR

TANNUS | @tannusamerica
https://tannusamerica.com/
Tire inserts and flat protection that keep you riding instead of walking your expensive bicycle back to the truck.

SAVE 20% WITH CODE: GNAR

TRP CYCLING | @trpcycling
https://trpcycling.com/
We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

EXT USA | @extusa
https://extusa.bike/
Premium suspension for people who expect their bikes to work harder than they do.

CRANKBROTHERS | @crankbrothers
https://www.crankbrothers.com/
Pedals, wheels, tools, and other things that make mountain biking more fun.

HYLAND CYCLERY | @hylandcyclery
https://www.hylandcyclery.com/
Salt Lake City's legendary bike shop, keeping local riders rolling since 1942.

BLIZ / ENJOY WINTER | @enjoywinter
https://www.bliz.com/en-us
https://enjoywinter.com/
Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with code SPONCHESMOM.

💰 SUPPORT THE COUCH

Want more Gnar Couch stupidity? Join our Patreon for as little as $4.20/month. Get exclusive content, old episodes, downloadable songs, and raw, uncut shows.

https://www.patreon.com/gnarcouch

FOLLOW GNAR COUCH

Instagram: @gnarcouch
Website: https://www.gnarcouch.com/

Like, subscribe, and share this episode with somebody whose mountain biking career peaked the day they bought a gym membership.

#GnarCouchPodcast #EthanNell #RedBullRampage #FreerideMTB #ShredTilBed

GNAR COUCH PODCAST | WADE, VEE TIRES & TANNUS We've got Vee/Tannus on the Gnar Couch, and we're doing what we do best: not being good at podcasts.

We're talking bikes, tires, and the expensive little decisions that keep this ridiculous sport rolling. Then, we teach you ways to save money on tires and inserts.

Grab a beverage, park your backside, and enjoy another episode of questionable professionalism and top-tier, low-tier broadcasting.

Like, subscribe, and share it with your buddy who insists his tire pressure is the only thing keeping him off the podium.

🔥 SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS 🔥

Go to our Patreon and give us money. We've added old episodes, downloadable songs, and give you early access to raw, uncut shows for only $4.20/month.

Save 20% on Vee Tires, and Tannus Inserts!!! Use the code GNAR to save on tires that are already the best value in MTB and the best inserts in the industry!

We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

Gnar Couch:
www.gnarcouch.com
@gnarcouch

Thanks to crankbrothers and Hyland Cyclery and EXT Suspension for always keeping the bikes running.

Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with the code "sponchesmom".

FOLLOW GNAR COUCH

Instagram: @gnarcouch

https://www.gnarcouch.com/

#ShredTilBed #GnarCouchPodcast #VeeTireCo #Tannus #MountainBiking

11-year-old freeride phenom Wes Lukens is the youngest person to ride Freeride Fiesta, the Cam Zink invitational, the Reece Wallace Invitational, Swatch Nines, and the Backyard Battle.

This week on Gnar Couch, we're joined by Wes and his dad, Shawn. Wes has been sending ridiculous lines, throwing massive tricks, and generally riding like he forgot to download the fear update for a couple years now.

From Whistler to the Virgin, this kid is doing things that most mountain bikers will never do in their entire lives.

And behind every kid launching himself into orbit is a dad who's somehow keeping the whole operation rolling.

This kid has serious mountain bike talent and a father who knows how to develop and manage it perfectly.

Guest: Wes Lukens

SHRED TIL BED!

Go to our Patreon and give us money. We've added old episodes, downloadable songs, and give you early access to raw, uncut shows for only $4.20/month.

Save 20% on Vee Tires, and Tannus Inserts!!! Use the code GNAR to save on tires that are already the best value in MTB and the best inserts in the industry!

We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

Gnar Couch:
www.gnarcouch.com
@gnarcouch

Thanks to crankbrothers and Hyland Cyclery and EXT Suspension for always keeping the bikes running.

Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with the code "sponchesmom".

Seven years after Rampage tried to kill the dream, Johny Salido is back for unfinished business.

@johnysalido joins Gnar Couch from the Utah desert as he prepares for his return to Red Bull Rampage in 2026. The last time Johny earned his way to Rampage, he was a 19-year-old Mexican kid trying to figure out big-mountain freeride. A massive crash, a ruptured spleen, and one extremely shitty hospital visit later, the dream got put on hold.

Now he's back.

Since 2019, Johny has spent seven years riding some of the biggest shit on Earth, traveling the world, building Freeride Fiesta into one of freeride's sickest events, and becoming an entirely different rider.

We get into the comeback, fear, risk, the mental game of Rampage, what he's learned since his first shot, growing freeride in Mexico, Freeride Fiesta, and why apparently almost dying once wasn't enough to make him pick a safer hobby.

It's Johny Salido. It's Rampage week. And we're sitting on a couch talking about riding bicycles off cliffs.

Real Talk. Raw Takes. No Filter.

SHRED TIL BED.

Go to our Patreon and give us money. We've added old episodes, downloadable songs, and give you early access to raw, uncut shows for only $4.20/month.

Save 20% on Vee Tires, and Tannus Inserts!!! Use the code GNAR to save on tires that are already the best value in MTB and the best inserts in the industry!

We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

Gnar Couch:
www.gnarcouch.com
@gnarcouch

Thanks to crankbrothers and Hyland Cyclery and EXT Suspension for always keeping the bikes running.

Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with the code "sponchesmom".

Five freeriders. One podcast. Absolutely no responsible adults.

We're loading up the Gnar Couch with Bienvenido Aguado-Alba, Chelsea Kimball, Connor Gallart, Tylor James, and CJ Selig for a Red Bull Rampage roundtable featuring more talent than our podcast hosts have accumulated on their bikes in six years.

We're talking big-mountain freeride, Rampage, digging in the Utah desert, pushing boundaries, throwing yourself off enormous cliffs, and the questionable decision-making required to call any of this a career.

These people have dedicated their lives to doing things on mountain bikes that most people wouldn't attempt with a parachute. Naturally, we thought we'd invite them onto a podcast hosted by four idiots who can barely manage a group conversation.

Come for the Rampage talk. Stay for the inevitable derailment. 

**FOLLOW THE GUESTS:**
Bienvenido Aguado-Alba: @bienvenidoaguado
Chelsea Kimball: @chelseasendsit
Connor Gallart: @connorgallart99
Tylor James: @_tylor_james
CJ Selig: @cj.selig
Gnar Couch: @gnarcouch www.gnarcouch.com

👉 Like the podcast
👉 Subscribe to Gnar Couch
👉 Comment 

Gnar Couch:
www.gnarcouch.com
@gnarcouch

Go to our Patreon and give us money. We've added old episodes, downloadable songs, and give you early access to raw, uncut shows for only $4.20/month.

We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

Thanks to crankbrothers and Hyland Cyclery and EXT Suspension Vee Tires, and Tannus for always keeping the bikes running.

Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with the code "sponchesmom".

The Mallen Twins are back on the Gnar Couch, and somehow Luke and Alex have gone from terrifyingly fast Utah groms to terrifyingly fast World Cup downhill racers while the rest of us have gotten older, angrier, and developed health and attitude problems.

We get into life racing the UCI World Cup, traveling the world chasing tenths of a second, representing Outlaw INTENSE Racing, the reality of trying to make it as a young American downhill racer, and what happens when some of your biggest competition also happens to share your DNA.

The boys talk racing, crashes, progression, growing up in the Utah bike scene, the FOX US Open at Deer Valley, and what it takes to keep pushing when your “normal teenage experience” involves throwing yourself down mountains at a verifiably dangerous speed.

Meanwhile, the Gnar Couch crew contributes its usual collection of highly (mis)informed questions, questionable observations, unnecessary interruptions, and absolutely no useful guidance whatsoever.

Two twins. Two downhill bikes. One couch full of rapidly declining chopped uncs.

This is professional mountain bike journalism at its finest.

👉 Like the podcast
👉 Subscribe to Gnar Couch
👉 Comment which Mallen twin is faster so they can fight about it at Thanksgiving.

Follow these three rad dudes.

Luke Mallen

Alex Mallen

Gnar Couch:
www.gnarcouch.com
@gnarcouch

Go to our Patreon and give us money. We've added old episodes, downloadable songs, and give you early access to raw, uncut shows for only $4.20/month.

We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

Thanks to crankbrothers and Hyland Cyclery and EXT Suspension Vee Tires, and Tannus for always keeping the bikes running.

Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with the code "sponchesmom".

The Deer Valley Dig Crew joins Gnar Couch to break down what it took to build the 2026 Fox US Open Downhill course, a track riders were calling the steepest, loosest, and most savage downhill track in the country.

We get into the whole process, from the original design and build complications to changes requested by Clay Harper and the Monster Energy Pro Downhill Series, the infamous moon dust, wild off-cambers, and the challenge of constructing a world-class race track during one of the hottest Utah summers on record.

Oh, and when they needed wood features, they didn’t just order lumber. They bought a damn sawmill and started milling trees directly from the property.

All of that while somehow keeping the rest of Deer Valley’s bike park running.

If you’ve ever wondered how a major downhill track goes from an idea on a hillside to something that makes professional racers initially question why the hell they're racing, this one’s for you.

Follow these three rad dudes.
Deacan

Ben

Joe

Gnar Couch:
www.gnarcouch.com
@gnarcouch

Go to our Patreon and give us money. We've added old episodes, downloadable songs, and give you early access to raw, uncut shows for only $4.20/month.

We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

Thanks to crankbrothers and Hyland Cyclery and EXT Suspension and Tannus for always keeping the bikes running.

Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with the code "sponchesmom".

We caught up with @nekomulally at the @usopenmtb to talk about the track, life as a World Cup racer, and what happens when you decide racing bikes isn't enough work, so you start @rideframeworks and manage @frameworksracing too.

Neko gives us the rundown on building Frameworks, running a race team, and somehow keeping tabs on an absolutely ridiculous roster featuring @aarongwin1, @asavermette and @annanewkirk_.

We also talk race lines, team management, bike development and how Neko manages to do approximately 47 jobs while the Gnar Couch crew struggles to organize four microphones.

Actual mountain bike knowledge was exchanged. We're as surprised as you are.

Gnar Couch:
www.gnarcouch.com
@gnarcouch

Go to our Patreon and give us money. We've added old episodes, downloadable songs, and give you early access to raw, uncut shows for only $4.20/month.

We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

Thanks to crankbrothers and Hyland Cyclery and EXT Suspension and Tannus for always keeping the bikes running.

Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with the code "sponchesmom".

We're getting TAKEN. Taken Cycles' Jeremy McGlathery, Matt Mundy and Chris Canfield join us to talk about the Boise-built Taken Encounter, CBF + i-Track suspension, and how to make a bike climb well without ruining all the fun on the way back down.

This week, we've also included the second hour for free, which is usually reserved for Patreon. Thanks to Chris Canfield for sticking around. Hear his takes unfiltered for free this week!

Guest:
Taken Cycles
Instagram: @takencyles

Gnar Couch:
www.gnarcouch.com
@gnarcouch

Go to our Patreon and give us money. We've added old episodes, downloadable songs, and give you early access to raw, uncut shows for only $4.20/month.

We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

Thanks to crankbrothers and Hyland Cyclery and EXT Suspension and Tannus for always keeping the bikes running.

Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with the code "sponchesmom".

Connor Gallart joins Gnar Couch today. Connor grew up riding the legendary Aptos Post Office Jumps, stepped away from bikes for six years to serve in the US Coast Guard, then apparently decided normal life was overrated and came back to freeride. Now the Evil Bikes rider is headed to Red Bull Rampage as a rookie rider after going absolutely enormous in his Fair Winds submission.

This week, we've included the second hour for free. Usually, this is a Patreon-exclusive show. Hope you like it. Check out our Patreon at patreon.com/gnarcouch for as low as $4.20/month!

Guest:
Connor Gallart
Instagram: @connorgallart99

Gnar Couch:
www.gnarcouch.com
@gnarcouch

Go to our Patreon and give us money. We've added old episodes, downloadable songs, and give you early access to raw, uncut shows for only $4.20/month.

We all ride TRP brakes. They're the best. Buy some.

Thanks to crankbrothers and Hyland Cyclery and EXT Suspension and Tannus for always keeping the bikes running.

Get 30% off BLIZ sunglasses and more with the code "sponchesmom".