Pinkbike Podcast: The Emergency Response Side

Amy Ertel and Steve Vanderhoek are two people who bring a lot to our sport: both in terms of their excellent riding and when it comes to their jobs and risk preparedness. Amy is a nurse, Steve is a firefighter, and both are extraordinary riders.

I first connected with Amy at Hangtime in 2022, when I crashed and sustained a bad head injury. She recognized that I wasn't getting the quick care I needed, stepped in to help, ended up more or less accidentally spearheading my evacuation, and very likely saved my life. Having Amy come into my world felt like very lucky chance.

Steve is a firefighter in North Vancouver who, for more than a decade, has balanced riding real gnar against responding to some of the worst that anyone ever experiences. He seems to balance those competing interests very gracefully and I think we all can learn a lot from his perspective.

I have a couple of notes about some of what I said: First, in the intro, I called Lachie Stevens-McNab a teenager, and after checking myself on that, I learned that he's 20. Still unbelievably fast on a bike, but no longer a fast teen. Second, I also want to add a caveat to my calling paragliding a slow-paced sport. After listening to that back, I realize that was a careless way to describe it, so I just want to add that it can very quickly turn fast-paced with high consequences, and I'd like to talk about the sport with the healthy respect it deserves.

Please enjoy the episode and let us know what you think in the comments.


Featuring a rotating cast of the editorial team and other guests, the Pinkbike podcast is a weekly update on all the latest stories from around the world of mountain biking, as well as some frank discussion about tech, racing, and everything in between.

Subscribe to the podcast via your preferred service (Apple, Spotify, RSS, Megaphone, etc.), or visit the Pinkbike Podcast tag page for the complete list of episodes.

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Podcasts The Pinkbike Podcast Amy Ertel Steve Vanderhoek