All this indoor time has me thinking of spin class, the one aspect of cycling I despise more than anything else. For me, exercise has always been a way to get out of the mundane and see the world. During these quarantimes, I have had to reshape how I look at my outdoor pursuits and what exercise really means to me. I personally have been stretching my legs and exploring the roads in the Walla Walla Valley.
This is an intro post, so why don't I give you a little more background on who is behind the biking section of our blog.
My name Ivan Snyder and I identify as a rogue XC Mountain biker who likes to dabble in downhill and road biking. Some may question my loyalty to any one sect of the pedaling community and they have good reason.
If we cranked back time to the very first shredder I learned to ride
we would find little pink bike with princess decals that was nicknamed "The Fly". Those white tires routinely had to be replaced because skidding had to be the best way to stop, or so I thought. The most fond memory I have of that bike was riding across a grassy field and dropping the front tire into a hole. I promptly flew over the disappearing handlebars and learned how hard it is to breathe when you have the wind knocked out of you. And to this day I must say that experience taught me well because I have yet to go over the handlebars since..... *knock on wood*!
I had a somewhat limited view into the world of bikes until high school came around and I decided to get a brand new mongoose bicycle. That was definitely one of my biggest mistakes and learning lessons of my life. Not all was lost though because I was able to sell it to someone who was a better fit for its abilities. Next up came a $200 Trek 3700 with a messed up front shock, but that didn't keep me from sending it into the unknown with my first true taste of mountain biking.
Around my sophomore year of high school I joined a team that was planning and building a trail system close by. My free time was soon filled with building trails and working for my next bike, a Specialized Hardrock Sport Disk 29er. I honestly think I liked the bike for the style more than anything else. This bike carried me into the realm of mountain biking and I will forever be grateful for the trusty steed. Over the years my dad and I put over a thousand miles on this bike and we only had to rebuild the rear hub 2 or 3 times after the factory did it originally.
But as we all know, one cannot stay riding the same bike forever. So after another 100+ hours of trail building, another noble steed was bred. Part Gary Fisher, part Trek -- my first full-suspension workhorse. 100mm's of air front and rear felt like a dream after coming off a hardtail with a poorly working 80mm spring fork.
Days kept ticking and so did the miles. Riding for Scott's Bikes with my friends was definitely to blame for my passion of 2 wheeled beasts. That Trek HiFi Plus served me well for many races and climbs. Growing up in TN, the trails can get technical but they rarely require excessive amounts of suspension. And after completing two years of college in TN, my move to the west coast warranted an upgrade... back to a hardtail. I knew that 100mm of travel would only get me in trouble, so when I spotted a used 2008 Gary Fisher Rig Single Speed I couldn't help but smile as I thought about all the pain it would bring me over the coming years!
I hope you have enjoyed le tour des vélos d'Ivaan.
Please leave comments and questions. I am happy to write on many different topics so let me know what you want to hear about. If you have stories to share or pictures from a sweet trip, send them on over to our email aswwu.outdoors@wallawalla.edu and we will get them shared. Posts will be bi-weekly and I am just the curator, I don't have all the best content myself.
Tschuss!