Improve Your MTB w/ Yucca Surf Fins

Get in the Water and Your Trail Stamina Will Go Up!

Mountain bikers don’t only ride bikes on trails for outdoor recreation and good times. We also ride bikes on roads, and we swim, hike, ski, snowboard, surf, trail run …

Bodysurfing is my other favorite outdoor recreation activity. When I arrived to San Diego, I got in the water, lined up a few waves and quickly realized that I needed to get in the pool. I swim laps, following the black line, a mind-numbing passage of time that I find boring, but it has helped tremendously with breathing while bodysurfing … and … breathing while mountain biking.

For bodysurfing, swim/surf fins are pretty much essential, especially when the swell gets bigger and there’s a rip. Lifeguards will call you back in if you don’t have ‘em on your feet. In the pool, many swimmers use them for improving technique, as well as a way to “cross-train” their muscles, using various kicks. Bodyboarding/boogie boarding? Get fins and you’ll immediately feel the difference.

Sean Starky of Yucca Fins in Costa Mesa, CA is a bit of a legend in bodysurfing. He owns and operates Yucca Surf Fins, producing swim/surf fins that are fast becoming the “it” surf fins in California. Why? The fit is superb. The design, with regard to pushing water when you kick is second-to-none. They come in 3 flexes and endless color options. (The new lineup of Longblades comes in 4 flexes.) Did I say the fit is superb, meaning super comfortable? Also, Starky sources what he has researched to be sustainable rubber and even has fins that are made from the scraps of the fin-making process. Those fins are simply called: Scraps.

Starky is also an avid mountain biker. To get some perspective on that and its interconnectedness to bodysurfing, here’s a little Q&A with him:

1. You're primarily known as a bodysurfer, but you are a mountain biker, as well, among other things. What does mountain biking mean to you?

As I have gotten older, I have started to try and understand why I enjoy things that could potentially be risky or cause injury. When I was younger, it was all I knew, and I just assumed there weren't any consequences. For better or worse, I run kind of hot. The wheels are always spinning in my head, and I think this helps in running a business, but it can get overwhelming at times. As I have gotten older, I am starting to realize that those moments on the bike make me focus on the task at hand in order to survive. My friends and I call it the "flow state." All the distractions of life, drama, and concerns are gone. You're just fully immersed in the moment and what needs to happen. It's pretty much become a drug, and I am always chasing it.

2. Any similarities/connections between bodysurfing and mountain biking?

There is no better training for big surf than pedaling a bike. Additionally, there is the mental aspect of riding gnarly trails. The most exciting part about mountain biking is that you can ride as gnarly of trails as you want pretty much every day of the week, whereas with surfing at Wedge, it's weather-dependent. This routine helps keep that mental edge sharp.

3. You're in Costa Mesa. Any suggestions for getting in some trail time and bodysurfing in the same day where you are?

What's wild about living in SoCal is that I can mountain bike and bodysurf on the same day fairly regularly. I mostly ride at El Moro and Laguna Beach, both areas with amazing bodysurf breaks.

There’s a lot of wisdom in those words. Below is a clip that gives you more of a perspective on Starky. (I’m not endorsing the shades, as I have no idea about them.)

Why get a set of Yucca fins? For improving your MTB game, of course, and for enjoying swimming in the ocean, lake, river, pond and/or pool.

Check out Yucca Surf Fins here: https://yuccafins.com/ Currently, some of the regular/short fins are discounted on the website, but you’ll have to find your size amidst the various colors and flexes.

Sean is offering a Yucca discount to Paseando MTB subscribers. First, discounts are offered by the business owners and they make them available to paid subscribers. Why? Offering discounts to everyone who follows Paseando MTB might mean that for a small business, there’d be a lot of discounts/money that they are providing. It’s about margins, y’all. It’s also about not getting a free lunch, so to speak.

Want discounts? You need a paid subscription and the lowest price that you can get for a Substack/Paseando MTB subscription is $10.20/year. Use this link to get it:

https://mtbeer.substack.com/0fd4133e

Wouldn’t a set of Yucca Surf Fins, if not for you, be an outstanding holidays gift for a family member or friend?!

How to get the Yucca discount is after the paywall:

Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA