Episode 05: Ines Thoma, Enduro World Series racer

Canyon Collective EWS racer Ines Thoma is and always has been VERY competitive.

So it’s hardly a surprise that she’s regularly in the top 5 elite women in the Enduro World Series, or that she’s been getting those results from the very beginning of the EWS waaaay back from the first ever event in Punta Ala in 2013. Before that, she competed on the German national team in cross-country mountain biking, and before that she was a competitive skier!

Ines talks about her journey from skiing to mountain biking, some of the places she’s particularly enjoyed riding in, and talks about how enduro has changed over the years from grass-roots events to the super-professional sport it is today.

Mass-start mountain bike racers are clearly a passion of hers, possibly stemming back from her cross-country days, and she’s raced plenty of iconic events including the Megavalanche which she won in 2020.

She also shares her cycling and pregnancy journey, how she’s discovered a new love of eMTB, and how pregnancy is affecting her bike suspension tuning.

Giving back

Ines’ chosen good cause to highlight is World Bicycle Relief, and they really are something special. World Bicycle Relief provide sturdy Buffalo Bikes to individuals and communities in rural areas across South America, Africa and Indonesia. These bikes give people an easier way to get to school, to transport goods, to access healthcare, and that’s just the beginning. The bikes are designed to be robust and long-lasting, requiring few complicated parts, and World Bicycle Relief also trains up local people as mechanics, which means the bikes are both sustainable on the ground and provides careers and jobs.

Follow Ines Thoma and the Canyon Collective on Instagram.