204 – Chatting Women In MTB with The Air Maiden Lynne Armstrong

Today’s Guest:

Founder of The Air Maiden Women’s Freeride Festival, Member of ‘The Clan’ Stunt Tour, FMB Judge and all round awesome human being, Lynne Armstrong.

On episode 204 we are chatting to Lynne Armstrong about how she got into the bike scene, working alongside Danny MaCaskill on ‘The Clan’ travelling stunt show, founding the Air Maiden Women’s Freeride Festival, moving to live in Whistler and the future of women in MTB. plus much more.

Thanks for being here and enjoy the show!

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Find Out:

How Lynne got into mountain biking
What she loves about it so much
How she got into the dirt jump scene
How being a stunt rider for ‘The Clan’ came about
What it was like working alongside Danny MaCackill
The type of stuff they got up to
How Lynne got to compete at a women’s only Whistler Crankworx Slopestyle event
Why this inspired her to start the Air Maiden Women’s Freeride Festival
How the festival changed over the years, got bigger and better
How Lynne saw this help lady riders grow in confidence and become better riders
When Lynne moved to Whistler
What she thinks about the Whistler scene and how she has seen it change over the years
Why Lynne became a Qualified FMB (Freeride Mountain Bike) Judge
Why she enjoys watching these young kids doing amazing stunts
What Lynne has planned for the future
How to get in contact and find out more

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Lynne has been around the mountain bike world for a number of years. She has seen the scene change loads, not only in her home country of Scotland, but also where she lives now in Whistler. There are more people riding, more trails and much better trails, but the difference between the Whistler scene and the UK scene is still very different. Whistler has a tonne more women riders of all ages and seems to push that side of the scene much more than we do here in the UK and Ireland. That is not to say things have not got better here for women riders wanting to get into the sport, because they have.

After competing at a women’s only Whistler Crankworx Slopestyle event some years ago, Lynne decided when she returned home to Scotland that we needed something similar, so she quickly founded The Air Maiden Women’s Freeride Festival. The Air Maiden was a women’s specific mountain bike coaching and events company, aimed at providing opportunities for women to come together, improve their riding skills and have a jolly good time doing it. It was a huge success over the 10 or so years Lynne operated it. She has reinvented it a couple of times when she returned home to Scotland for a stent and those also became a huge success.

Lynne truly believes that a women’s only event is a great environment for women to start mountain biking if they are feeling intimidated by the male persona the sport may portray. They can relax, meet like minded people, ride and improve at their own pace and have a blast while doing it. Lynne however hopes that in years to come we will not require lady only camps and that we can all ride together nomatter what your skill level, sex, colour or relegion etc. Lynne believes the day is coming and that the sport will be much better for it.

It was great to get Lynne on the show and have a chat about how things have changed over the years, how we are seeing more women on the trails and why the young talent is just crazy these days. So join us as we chat about bikes, Danny MaCaskill, Whistler, judging for the FMB and how you can get yourself to a festival similar to The Air Maidan events and get in a tonne more bike time.

Thanks for tuning in and for your support. Enjoy the show!

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To Connect with Lynne:

Instagram: theairmaiden

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/166260392896

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Other Companies Lynne would like to mention:

Sweet Skills: sweetskillsbc

Endura: www.endurasport.com

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Resources in this Episode: