Bonus Content- Thermalling!
I’m doing a 5 part YouTube series of deep dives on certain chapters of my new book “Advanced Paragliding” with Ari Delashmutt. This first one is on Thermalling. Hope you enjoy!
Read More...The Cloudbase Mayhem podcast is dedicated uniquely to Free Flight and your support makes it possible. These extra segments, Ask Me Anything Shows, Full length shows and other bonus material are a little extra to thank you for your support. I’m tremendously honored to have a community of people who value what we do. Your generosity enables these conversations and I believe they go a long ways towards helping our community.
If you can’t support us financially that’s TOTALLY OK, we get it. We will NEVER put any content behind a paywall. Just email me and I’ll set you up with a lifetime account, no questions.
Thank you,
Gavin McClurg
Want to listen to the bonus content on your phone or via whatever podcast app you use? Simply “subscribe” using our bonus content RSS feed (copy this):
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On many apps you just paste this url into the search bar, the show will load and ask you for your username and password (this is the same that you use on cloudbasemayhem.com) and you’re all set.
For example to add to Apple Podcasts: go to your Library, tap the three dots in the top-right corner, select Follow a Show by URL, paste the feed link (https://www.cloudbasemayhem.com/feed/ask_me_anything/), and tap Follow. It will then ask you for your username and password.
HOWEVER- on some players/apps- if it doesn’t ask you for a username and password you will need to encode the above URL with your username and password, or add the Apple Podcasts URL (hover over three dots upper right corner in apple podcasts and “copy url”). Note that if your username or password has special characters you will need to use “url safe” characters- just copy either and ask google what the url safe characters are, then copy and paste. FOR EXAMPLE- the @ symbol in your username must be converted to “%40” without the parenthesis.
Log in to build your personal podcast feed link.
So an encoded url would look something like this:
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If you are still having and problems, or cannot log into the Cloudbase Mayhem website, just email me, I will get you up and rolling. Again thank you for your patience! Here are specific instructions for some of the bigger podcast apps:
Cross-Platform Apps
Pocket Casts: Works on iOS and Android
Castbox: Supports custom RSS link additions on both mobile platforms.
Player FM: Available on Android and iOS, though you must register an account first to import private feeds.
Podcast Republic: Android app with robust manual feed and URL support.
AntennaPod: Open-source Android app that handles any custom RSS source seamlessly.
iOS-Only Apps
Apple Podcasts: Go to Library, tap the three dots, and select “Follow a Show by URL”.
Overcast: Tap the “+” icon or search field to add a manual URL.
Castro: Paste the private feed link directly into the internal search box.
Downcast: Select the “+” or manual add podcast option to paste the link.
Android-Only Apps
Podcast Addict: Offers dedicated options to add custom RSS/auth-token feeds.
PodcastGuru: Simple interface that accepts direct manual feed entries.
I’m doing a 5 part YouTube series of deep dives on certain chapters of my new book “Advanced Paragliding” with Ari Delashmutt. This first one is on Thermalling. Hope you enjoy!
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st of the “Soaring the Sky Podcast” dedicated to sailplane flying, but he reached out to me recently to talk all things flying to get a paraglider’s perspective on doing what they do but with a very different aircraft. We had a blast and the conversation went into some really fun directions, including the Red Bull X-Alps, Alaska and a few scary moments I’ve had over the years.
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Logan Walters (creator of USAHIKEANDFLY.com) has been sitting down with pilots who have good stories to tell in a YouTube series we are going to release as bonus content for our subscribers. His latest is with Mitch Riley. Mitch raced in the 2019 Red Bull X-Alps, represented the US in the Worlds in Macedonia in 2019, is an Ozone team pilot, and is an excellent advanced paragliding instructor and very passionate pilot. Enjoy this fun talk!
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On August 19, 2020 veteran World Cup pilot Joerg Ewald lost control of his wing very low on the terrain during a World Cup in Disentis, Switzerland and the world went dark. Literally. Joerg has almost no memory of the crash because of the hard blow and is incredibly lucky to have survived the crash. His recovery has been slow and considerably brutal.
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A few months ago I interviewed Bastienne Wentzel about her book “Paragliding, The Beginner’s Guide” and at the end of the interview Bastienne turned things around and interviewed me for her magazine about the upcoming X-Alps, my history in flying, preparing for this campaign vs previous campaigns, why learning is so addicting, flying and family, making a living through flying (sort of!), the book (Advanced Paragliding), why the X-Alps and flying itself is so addicting (and could it be without the risk?), comparing the Alaska Traverse and the X-Alps, what the spectators miss in the race, the most memorable days, how to eat for the race, dealing with the physical trauma, the wonderful impact of the fans and a lot more.
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In this bonus episode I take on listener questions. We talk about coring thermals, Red Bull X-Alps preparation, the dream bivvy line, fear injuries, weather planning tools for bivvy flying, line and glider degradation, what qualifies as “big air”, risk changes when you have children, flying performance under pressure, team flying tips, hydration and energy tips for big flights, how to not be a “freezer” when anxiety jumps, Flow state and transferable skills from other sports, the “Survivor bias” and more!
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This is the third and final special episode of the Cloudbase Mayhem to give all of the fans of the race a little insight into the greatest game on Earth directly from the perspective of the athletes. Live Tracking is amazing, but it misses a lot of the emotion and the background, and these interviews with the athletes take us behind the curtain. In this final installment we hear from Adrian Keller (SUI 3), Marko Hrgetic Hrga (CZE 1), Willi Canell (USA 2), Maxime Pinot (FRA 1), and yours truly (Gavin McClurg- USA 1).
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Nik Hawks sits down with Australian meteorologist, channel 9 weatherman and paragliding pilot Gavin Morris to talk all things weather, forecasting and identifying good days in this 3rd and final bonus episode in our weather series. Gavin started his weather studies as a surfer in the 80’s then moved into reporting for snow and surf forecasts and is now who many Australians see on TV every day to get their daily weather. Gavin says we can think of ourselves as weather balloons as we soar up through the atmosphere.
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Jeff Shapiro returns to the podcast to share his weather forecasting flow in this awesome bonus episode (using various weather tools, figuring out lapse rate, identifying wicked days, etc) and he shares some incredibly valuable information for managing risk and what the sport has taught him over the years. Jeff brings us along with him on his X-Pyr campaign in 2018 where a questionable call turned out ok and reminds us to “never hope for the best or try to get away with it.”
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This is the first of three shows in a bonus series for our subscribers dedicated to building an understanding of the weather and forecasting. Emi Carvalho studied physics in school, but it wasn’t until he began paragliding that applied physics interested him. He talks about the basics of weather, focusing on island weather and the possibilities inherent in an island with mountains over 2,000m. Emi talks about where he turns to first for weather (Windy and any local knowledge), and what he usually looks for (wind intensity, direction, and temps at different altitudes.).
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