FIVE THINGS WITH CYCLIST AMANDA BATTY
FIVE THINGS is a feature on the Banjo Brothers Blog. It’s a short interview about life and bicycles with a notable person. This week's notable person is cyclist Amanda Batty.
Raised on a farm just outside of Payson, Utah, Amanda Batty is a recently retired professional downhill and enduro racer. Described on the Packfiller Podcast by host Patrick Bulger as, "fast, opinionated, colorful, fun and as she says herself, feisty as f--k."
Batty's love-affair with the bike is eloquently chronicled on her personal website and it's just one of the many reasons she's a compelling subject for our Five Things project.
"Bikes have always been many things to many people and often are used as a form of transportation, but for me, it was a love affair that would never end. My first bike was a rusty red hand-me-down from an older cousin that my parents painted pink for my 3rd Christmas, and I adored that hunk of metal."
Amanda's book project: Cookie Watts: Baking With Rage The secret recipes of a pro athlete and pastry chef is scheduled to be finished this year. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to two of her favorite charities Little Bellas and NICA, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association.
We hope you enjoy this week's Banjo Brothers Five Things.
BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU RIDING?
AB: Due to the shattered Frankenfootleg, it’s currently a whole lot of knee scooter and the stationary bike/ trash bike on a trainer (at least until I get clearance to start riding again). Ha! My heart is set on January for real riding again and I absolutely cannot wait. 
BANJO BROS: WHERE ARE YOU RIDING?
AB: In circles... and terrorizing the aisles of Whole Foods. In my head, I’m climbing the technical trails of BC and racing down World Cup tracks, but I’m just in my living room for now. I do enjoy scooting to the fridge for some ice cream, but it’s a lot of foothills trail rolling on the knee scooter and way too much trainer time.
Due to the shattered Frankenfootleg, it’s currently a whole lot of knee scooter and the stationary bike/ trash bike on a trainer (at least until I get clearance to start riding again). Ha! My heart is set on January for real riding again and I absolutely cannot wait.
BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO, READING OR WATCHING?
AB: I’m in love with Michael Pollan’s books right now; ‘A Place Of My Own’ and ‘How To Change Your Mind’ are running concurrently, but I just finished ’Second Nature’ and I have to say that he’s one of my favorite authors — all of his writing is truly fascinating but so factual about some things most folks don’t give a lot of thought to, and it’s a very cool examination of different topics. I’m also a huge fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Revisionist History’ podcast for the same reasons. I can’t really get enough of either.
BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU COOKING EATING/DRINKING?
AB: A lot of cookies, quite frankly — I’m still slaving away on the cookie book (rage-baking.com) in order to have it finished by Christmas this year, so it’s been a lot of gingerbread, cinnamon rolls, sugar cookies, and tequila-testing. I’m a huge fan of all of those, however, so I guess there are far worse jobs to have.
BANJO BROS: WHAT'S STUCK IN YOUR CRAW?
AB: Currently? Right now? The a-holes on the internet who send threatening messages via my website’s contact form and then are surprised when I know their IP address and can find them. The stupid is so strong. It’s mostly comical, though — why are the angriest people always the dumbest? Ummmm… Other than that, I still hate the Fu*kface VonGropenFurher that’s in the White House and I’m baffled by the people in the bike world who still support him. BAFFLED. It blows my godda*n mind.
MORE ABOUT THE FIVE THINGS INTERVIEWS FROM BANJO BROTHERS
A big Banjo Brothers thank you to Amanda Batty for participating in this week's edition of Five Things. These short interviews about life and bicycles will appear every Friday on the Banjo Brothers Blog. If you liked this FIVE THINGS from Banjo Brothers you should check our full series of past five things interviews.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR FIVE THINGS?
Use the contact form on our website to send us a note. See you next Friday. Also, since you're here, we do need to mention, Banjo Brothers make a whole line of tough, practical and affordable gear for cyclists. Thanks for reading.