Welcome to the second of three post–Winter Olympics episodes in which I am examining the recent Winter Olympics from a variety of different perspectives.

In this second episode, I’m joined by Lesley McKenna, one of snowboarding’s great original thinkers.

A pro skier, snowboarder, coach and team manager, she is herself a three-time Olympian, and helped run GB Park & Pipe in the years when Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan won their medals.

She has spent the last few years working on a Phd that analyses the tension that exists between a traditional sporting structure as epitomised by the Olympics, and a none-conventional action sports culture such as snowboarding. She’s has called it the Risk Aesthetic Framework, and it is fascinating stuff.

Why does this matter? Because while snowboarding now looks fully integrated into the Winter Olympics, its relationship with the Games has always been complex — and at times uneasy.

In this conversation, we dig into judging controversies, cultural friction, performance vs. progression, and ask whether something essential is gained — or lost — when snowboard culture enters the Olympic machine.

As ever with Lesley, this is a mind-bending conversation: endlessly intellectually-stimulating, and full of the ideas and provocations that mark her work out as so original.

If you care about snowboarding and its culture, don’t miss this one.

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To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts.

Welcome to the first of three post–Winter Olympics episodes in which we’ll examine the recent Games from a number of different perspectives.

As a lifelong snowboarder, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the Olympics. The performances and spectacle are incredible. But beyond the hype, there are bigger cultural conversations worth having. That’s what this short series is about.

In this first episode, I’m joined by BBC Olympic commentators Tim Warwood and Ed Leigh — lifelong snowboarders and much-loved voices of Olympic action sports on the BBC.

In this riotous chat, we discuss their experience at the Games, their breakout moment this year, the cultural tensions between core snowboarding and the Olympic machine, the controversies, the progression — and what these Games really mean for the activities and cultures we love.

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To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts.

Alice Sainsbury is a designer, writer and speaker who in 2015 was diagnosed with an acute neurological condition called transverse myelitis.

Since then, she’s been on a mission to break down the barriers that stop people with disabilities participating in the outdoor sports and activities that so many of us take for granted.

In this episode, we explore the reality of life for a disabled person in 2026, and the systemic, societal difficulties disabled people face when it comes to participating in outdoor sports and activities.

We also discuss Alice’s own story, as well as her latest initiative UN[PARA]LD, which launches at the Milano-Cortina Paralympics with the aim exposing a hidden barrier in elite sport: the incredible fact that many Paralympic athletes are still required to adapt, alter, or retrofit their own outdoor and alpine clothing in order to train and compete.

This is one of the most illuminating and intellectually-stimulating conversations I can remember hosting on the podcast. I learned a lot, and I think you will too.

To find out more about Alice’s work, and the UN[PARA]LD initiative, click here.

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This week’s codes to use for some big old savings:

LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for HUGE savings on ski and snowboard hire with Intersport this winter.

LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre

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LOOKINGSIDEWAYS2025 for 15% off any Albion purchase

LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays.

LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order

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To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here. There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts.