Julien Meunier: 24 Bicycles and the Birth of Street MTB
In the early 2000s, a brand put downhill riders on small bikes and sent them into cities to meet local riders and their spots. It was called 24 Bicycles, and it was one of mountain biking’s first adventures outside competition. Julien Meunier, known as Moon, was one of its riders.
It all started with a video of his crash in Canada, reposted by Nitro Circus without anyone knowing who the rider was. In this episode of the En Roue Libre podcast, Antoine Taillefer wanted to give him his story back.
From downhill to street
Julien talks about his beginnings in the wake of his older brother Laurent, his downhill career up to the French national team, and the day he gave it all up for street riding. You will also hear about the tours, the team spirit and the spots that locals had never looked at that way.
Big gaps, from Bercy to Canada
The conversation goes back over the big gaps, from Bercy to Canada, and why, according to Julien, the bigger it is, the easier it gets.
And then?
Then comes the after: the BE (French coaching diploma), discovering he is a gifted teacher, coaching focused on enjoyment rather than performance, a plot of land to develop in Auvergne, and a project mixing bikes, code and Twitch. The episode also explains why his shoe sponsor recruited him at the Futuroscope.
Find all episodes on the podcast page, or listen on Spotify.
This episode is supported by SFG, a bike insurer and partner of En Roue Libre: its ProtectBike insurance covers theft, breakage and damage, with a competition option for road, MTB and gravel (discover ProtectBike). To stay in the loop, subscribe to the En Roue Libre newsletter (in French).
