Mountain biking was never supposed to take over our lives. Daniel had found a mountain bike on sale from Craigslist and wanted to spend the money on something I thought he could just pick up new from Wal-mart for way cheaper.
“It’s not the same,” he explained.
“Who are you going to ride bikes with? There’s nowhere to go in our neighbor and ‘Lil Ripper doesn’t even wanna sit on his bike.” I tossed the facts at him and turned back to the dishes.
At the time our five-year-old had yet to be convinced to actually put his rear end on the tricycle seat he’d had for years. Instead, he lived for pushing it around on the porch. He had a 50cc quad that we planned vacations around and he loved it. Pedaling something to get somewhere, though? Um, no thanks.
And I wasn’t much of a bike rider. I had done some riding in college to get to and from class and home, just off campus, so it felt more of a chore than anything thrilling. Plus, I identified as a runner; can’t switch teams, right?
Daniel convinced me, though, and he brought home the bike. After watching Dad ride it around a bit, inspiration hit our son. A neighbor was kind enough to give him a little 16″ Transformers bike with training wheels and he couldn’t get enough. In about three seconds flat we were taking the training wheels off and he was riding without help.
Pretty soon, the both of them were riding everywhere that little bike would go (and some places it shouldn’t have).
I was left chasing after them. Literally. I would run the two track that they rode.
Because of that, Daniel encouraged me to get a bike. But I was picky. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a “little hobby” that I was sure we were going to grow out of.
Here we are: several years, seven nine bikes, and two sold quads (including Daniel’s beloved Cam Am side-by-side) later.
We wanted to share our experiences with family and friends in a convenient way, and it’s morphed into helping other shredders who may not be expert riders, but aren’t necessarily newbies, either. We’re always excited to welcome newcomers to the sport and are happy to point you to some resources to have you shredding in no time.
As a family we’re always learning something new, improving skills, and getting faster. We strive to orient our content to family, fun, and gearing you up with hints and tips we’ve learned along the way.
We’re here to help you see that even if you’re an ordinary rider, you can still ride an extraordinary life.
Keep Shredding!