Grow Cycling Hosts First Ever Aspire Conference

by Mark Harrison

At age four, his older brother Andrew gave Eliot Jackson a hand-me-down motocross bike, which set him on the trajectory of a life on two wheels. By age 15, he had won four MX National Championships, but like most teenagers, his mind wandered, and he wanted to try something new. At age 18, he started getting into DH MTB racing. Only two years later, Eliot lined up for his first World Cup Downhill at Val di Sole, Italy 2010.?

Fast forward to last night, and Eliot, the founder of Grow Cycling, hosted the first-ever Aspire Conference, presented by Outdoor Research at the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Center in Whistler. The event, integrated with and supported by Crankworx Whistler, allowed community members from multiple groups to meet, learn, and connect with industry professionals, sponsors, athletes, and content creators.?

Jackson, who spent seven years grinding in World Cup events before moving into more enjoyable competitions such as Crankworx and TransCascadia while pursuing broadcasting roles, has been on a mission for the last four years.?

Following George Floyd's murder, Jackson turned to Instagram with an eleven-minute raw post that called out the cycling community's false portrayal of inclusivity and the fundamental misconception that there is no racism in cycling. The post was a calling card for conversations with dozens, and the calling card turned into a game plan that resulted in the creation of the Grow Cycling Foundation to help create a more inclusive cycling community. As he grows his canvas and reaches, Eliot still competes, rides, races, and broadcasts.?

Jackson's first bold act was to raise over $ 1 million dollars to build a pump track in inner-city Los Angeles. A?pump track?is a playground for bikes filled with undulating hills, rollers, banked curves (often called "berms") and shallow jumps. Instead of pedalling or pushing the bike forward, riders make an up-and-down pumping motion with their body to maintain momentum. There are roughly ten pump tracks in Southern California; the closest ones to L.A. for many years were in Temecula and Thousand Oaks.?

The Inglewood Pumptrack, which cost $1.2 million, was fully funded by the cycling community for the cycling community with more than $300,000 in donations from individuals. Jackson says the rest came from founding partners, including brands such as?Yeti Cycles,?Ride Fox,?Pinkbike,?Santa Cruz Bicycles, the?Rapha Foundation, and?Adidas. (Jackson is also an ambassador for Santa Cruz Bicycles, Rapha and Fox.)?

Opened in September 2023, the Pumpt track has already welcomed 70,000 visitors, and Jackson plans to bid on World Cup events as well. In addition to his fundraising, mission-making and race commentating, Jackson also has a new podcast, Kickstand Podcast, where he and Neko Mullaly share their wild stories, irreverent opinions, and adventures from the world of professional mountain biking and beyond - a new episode released every other Wednesday at 6 AM EST.?

Eliot decided that Aspire should flip the script of the typical conference landscape by welcoming young athletes, families, and underrepresented communities to the audience and current athletic superstars to the stage. His focus on building connections and providing valuable introductions to the next generation of talent came to life as a warm invitation to industry professionals to engage in networking sessions. Attendees and speakers alike declared their Asipriations on name badges to facilitate conversation.

The event featured some amazing sessions, including a?Women of Mountain Biking: Aspirations for Women's Freeride?panel, with host Katie Holden and panellists Casey Brown, Patricia Drüwen, Hannah Bergemann, Caroline Buchanan, Athlete Athlete and Lucy Van Eesteren.?

Alisha Zellner from SRAM and the founder -of EpicStrong? - Excitement, Passion, Intensity, Curiosity Adventurer led the working session with a bold statement - "I want you to expand your comfort zone. Not just get out of it; if you get out of it, you will step back into it, so make it larger."

Setting up the content panel, Whistler Blackobs and bike park manager Wendy Robinson asked a profound question. "If a rider rode a trail and no one made content, would it be a trail?" A new twist on the line - if a tree fell in the forest. This panel, led by Eliot Jackson, featured Blake Hansen, Bas Van Steenbergen, and Jess Hana (Jess the Maker). They each navigate the art and science of content creation and enthusiastically share their insights on storytelling, audience engagement, and the technical aspects of producing compelling content.?

Other speakers for the event included Gaspare Licata, CEO of Crankbrothers, Mandy Davis, Founder of DHaRCO, and Greg Minnaar. It was a stellar party train, as the riders would say.?

To learn more about Grow Cycling and Eliot's vision for future events, check out https://growcyclingfoundation.org/pages/our-vision.