Second Nature

Martyn Ashton spent two decades as one of the most influential trials riders in the world — making the smallest, most niche discipline of mountain biking accessible and exciting for a global audience through videos, shows, and a personality that made everyone feel like they could try it. In 2013, a crash during a stunt show left him paralyzed. Now he's doing the exact same thing all over again — this time for adaptive mountain biking.
In this conversation, Martyn walks through the founding of Rideable Now, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities and life-changing injuries access adaptive mountain bikes. He explains why modern adaptive bikes aren't a watered-down version of mountain biking — they're genuinely terrifying, capable machines that unlock every trail in the world for people who never thought they'd ride again. He also gets into the economics of £25,000 bikes, why the e-bike power race could go too far, and the moment he gave away Rideable Now's first complete bike to a father of three who had no idea it was coming.
Show Notes:
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly for Athletes: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Martyn Ashton: https://www.instagram.com/martynashton/
Rideable Now: https://www.rideablenow.com/
Bowhead Bikes: https://www.bowheadcorp.com/
Cole Bernier: https://www.instagram.com/cbreezyrides/
Annijke Wade: https://www.instagram.com/geodesicdome/
Random Tandem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onoeq45G6ec
Dirty Tricks and Cunning Stunts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd3n8-0tuHU
GMBN: https://www.gmbn.com/
Rideable Now Membership: https://www.rideablenow.com/join
Disabled Dad Of Three: https://www.instagram.com/disableddadof3/
High Fives Foundation: https://highfivesfoundation.org/
BPC - Brand, Product, Content
Topeak Digital Tire Pump: https://backcountrycreator.tnu8.net/DWBMvq
Stashed Spacerail (10% discount link): https://www.stashedproducts.com/superrider
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Ross McGraw has had one of the more interesting career arcs in the outdoor industry — from Nike's NYC Run program to Vice Media and Viacom, to helping build Hammerhead through its acquisition by SRAM, and now leading commercial efforts at CORE, the company changing how elite athletes think about heat.
In this conversation, Ross breaks down the science of heat training in plain language — why 80% of the energy athletes generate is thermal, how heat zones work, and why the world's best cyclists and runners are training in heat suits before major races. He also gets into what it felt like to go from being a cog in a media machine to betting on himself in sports tech, why triathlon taught him more about business than any corporate job, and how to know when you're doing the "social run" version of your career.
Show Notes:
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly for Athletes/Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Ross McGraw: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossmcgraw/
CORE: https://corebodytemp.com/
CORE Heat Suit: https://corebodytemp.com/products/core-suit
CORE Heat Zones: https://help.corebodytemp.com/en/articles/10447111-heat-zones
Hammerhead: https://shop.sram.com/pages/hammerhead
Zwift Bike: https://us.zwift.com/collections/equipment/products/zwift-ride-smart-frame
Wahoo Software Update: https://www.bikeradar.com/news/wahoo-elemnt-firmware-update-2026
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
World Cup - Adidas ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJY53qhJe0
Breathe (Book): https://amzn.to/4eBoX0f
Respire Mouth Tape: https://respire.com/
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

Mattie Sims has built brands at Lululemon, Electronic Arts, Reef, and Rally Pickleball — and along the way developed a framework for brand building that most founders skip entirely. Now she's applying everything she's learned to two ventures at once: Courier, a performance sock brand built around the idea of the "Renaissance athlete," and Mate the Agency, a brand strategy firm working with founders across industries.
In this conversation, Mattie walks through the muse framework she learned at Lululemon and has refined across every role since — why the most important question isn't "who buys this product" but "what is this person worried about when their head hits the pillow at night." She also gets into why looking branded is not the same as having a brand, what happened when Rally discovered their customers weren't there for pickleball, and why having her son was the thing that finally convinced her she could be an entrepreneur.
Plus: why niching down is the thing every founder is most afraid of, how Courier is building a cultural movement around versatile excellence, and the Red Bull receptionist whose casual suggestion became a billion-dollar product strategy.
Popfly For Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Show Notes:
Mattie Sims: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeline-sims-83385823/
Courier Socks: http://couriersocks.com/
Mate The Agency: https://www.matetheagency.com/
Rally Pickleball: https://www.rallypickleball.com/
Mate IG Carousel Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/DYW4_SVEU8b/
Carrie Rheaume (Mate agency co-founder): https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-rheaume-6376521a8/
Matt Sims: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-sims-9b716450/
Gartner Hype Cycle: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwerner/2024/07/18/the-trough-of-disillusionment-and-four-outliers-on-the-gartner-hype-cycle/
Morgan Tuohy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-tuohy/
Dera: https://rundera.com/
Ryan Thrower: https://www.instagram.com/ryanthrower/
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Seniq: https://seniqbrand.com/
Summer Edition - Red Bull: https://www.redbull.com/us-en/energydrink/products/red-bull-summer-edition
Billy Oppenheimer's newsletter: https://billyoppenheimer.com/
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

Tom Austen is the founder of Pelotan, the world's first sun performance brand, and co-founder of Chance, a trail running apparel brand he's building with pro athlete and serial entrepreneur Christian Meier. Both brands are based in Girona, Spain — a two-square-kilometer pocket of world-class endurance athletes, cafes, and startups that's become the Boulder of Europe.
In this conversation, Tom walks through how Pelotan went from a sunburn problem on training rides to winning two Tour de Frances with Team Sky in its first year, and how the brand is now pioneering something entirely new: treating the sun as a performance variable rather than just a health risk. He also gets into the Chance origin story, why cross-pollination across categories is the key to building something original, and what it's like to run two high-growth startups at the same time from a city of 100,000 people.
Show Notes:
Popfly for Athletes/Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Tom Austen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomausten1/
Pelotan: https://pelotan.cc/
Chance Running: https://chancerunning.com/
Second Nature - Sea Otter Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLk1LGIthPc
Christian Meier: https://www.instagram.com/christianmmeier/
The Gartner Hype Cycle: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwerner/2024/07/18/the-trough-of-disillusionment-and-four-outliers-on-the-gartner-hype-cycle/
Pelotan Apres Aftersun: https://pelotan.cc/products/pelotan-apres-200ml
Pelotan App for Second Nature listeners: https://pelotan.cc/secondnature
Broken Arrow Skyrace: https://www.brokenarrowskyrace.com/
Lael Wilcox: https://www.instagram.com/laelwilcox/
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Nomio: https://drinknomio.com/
Adidas World Cup ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJY53qhJe0
Nike - Airport soccer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGalnbiGDW4
Insta360 GO Ultra: https://store.insta360.com/product/go-ultra
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

Bill Shufelt was a hedge fund analyst who didn't drink, couldn't find a non-alcoholic beer worth ordering, and one night his wife spun him around on a sidewalk and told him to do something about it. Eight years later, Athletic Brewing has 300 employees, four breweries, over a million barrels of capacity, and has almost single-handedly turned non-alcoholic beer from a stigmatized afterthought into 20% of all beer at Whole Foods.
In this conversation, Bill walks through the full journey: the two years of research before he quit his job, the valley of darkness where no brewery, distributor, or investor would take his calls, finding his co-founder John Walker through a brewing forum post (with the words "non-alcoholic" deliberately removed), and the grassroots field marketing strategy that built the brand one race, one taproom, and one six-pack at a time. He also gets into the competitive explosion that followed, why he views 200 brands entering his category as a positive, and what it's like to redefine success once the business reaches cruising altitude.
If you've ever looked at a category and thought "why hasn't anyone fixed this yet", this is the episode that shows you what happens when someone actually does.
Show Notes:
Popfly For Brands
Popfly For Creators
Bill Shufelt on LinkedIn
Athletic Brewing
John Walker on LinkedIn
1000 True Fans (Article)
Do Things That Don't Scale (Article)
Two For The Trails
What It Takes (Book)
The Obstacle Is The Way (Book)
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Dirt - Ireland
Gramicci
Hopa Hopa Climbing Wall
Kawa
Raide Research - LF 5L Vest
The Modern Substitute
Kids Ride Shotgun
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