Podcast
The NSMB Podcast - Steve Vanderhoek
Steve Vanderhoek has been riding the Shore at a high level for decades, but his name has popped up a lot more in the last handful of years. From extremely risky, technical lines to big mountain freeride segments, Steve's edits have racked up millions of views - not that he cares all that much about social media. Together with his wife Kelsey Toevs behind the lens, they have recorded some special moments we won't soon forget.
Balancing an equally risky and demanding day job as a First Responder in North Vancouver - one of the busiest jurisdictions in Western Canada - Steve brings a unique perspective to his approach as a rider. He and Deniz dive into a chat about risk, injury, mental health, and the importance of the two-way relationship that forms Steve's connection to the North Shore riding community.
Late in the summer of 2024, Steve and some of his friends ventured into the backcountry to build and document the "Chu's Your Own Adventure" zone, dedicated to Andrew Chu and all the folks working on making freeride mountain biking more fun and accessible to communities. The first line of the zone, called "Mr. Pepinillos", is a technical slab with a 35-foot drop on to a hand-milled cedar landing. Not for the faint of heart.
Join us for this episode of the NSMB Podcast and enjoy the chat with the one and only Steve Vanderhoek.
To read the story about building and riding Steve's Mr. Pepinillos line, check out Deniz's photos and article here.
See the video capture and some more photos of Steve riding Mr Pepinillos.
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Full podcast transcript is available here.
5'8"
162lbs
Playful, lively riding style
Photographer and Story Teller
Lenticular Aesthetician
Comments
Allen Lloyd
1 week, 6 days ago
Just listened and have to say Steve's approach is spot on and I will be assigning listening to this to my kid's whole crew of riding buddies. The past two years I have watched as his ability moved past mine. We are both improving, but his pace is way faster and my lead wasn't that great. I have preached a very careful approach to risk and for the most part it aligns to what Steve talks about. The whole thought process of if I miss:
Short = getting bucked into a pile of pine needles
Long = running into a bunch of trees
Left = falling on the inside of a berm
Right = flying over the top of the berm into a huge drop
When any of them involve death or serious injury you have to be 100% confident that you can avoid that option. We have looked at features and said not today. We have also looked at things and said it is safe to do it if X, then worked as a group to ensure X can happen. When the group is teenage boys this is scary as they default to I am 50.5% sure I can do this so lets all send it. One of the highlights of last year was finding the crew working through the process without me. Another highlight was having my son coach me through the process on a couple of features he hit comfortably, but knew I was nervous.
Having Steve reinforce this stuff is awesome.
The other thing that rang true is the sponsor stuff. My son's crew creates edits and they do it to have fun and show off what they are doing. I am sure they would all love to have sponsors, but they really just want to ride together and help each other progress.
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