My first "real" MTB was a sweet 1991 deep purple Rocky Mountain Fusion! I was 13 years old and badly wanted to upgrade from my used Louis Garneau department store bike. Parents told me they'd pay for half if I went and got a job... so I did. Man did it feel good rolling that baby out of the Bike Barn in Penticton! Actually raced cross country on that baby for a couple years in the Okanagan. Races were funny back then... Did one race where we did four races in one day... an Uphill Race so that we could then turn around after an hours rest and race back downhill on the same course. Followed by a cross country race which was followed by this super fun and weird 4X "criterium" on a really short but technical (basically no trail, kinda overland style) course.
Upgrades included a Girvin Flexstem... and I promptly went through 4 of them in a single summer... haha. Also had some crazy long double-bend bar-ends, which just looked so cool! And of course the requisite Panaracer Dart & Smoke tire combo! Also upgraded the fork to a straight legged butted aluminum affair after I bent the first set of forks backwards by a good 40 degrees when I nailed a huge, unseen hole while bombing down through an orchard in Naramata... good times! Oh and of course... toe clips.
But alas, 15 year old me, sold that bike so I could buy a skateboard, snowboard and all the gear. Didn't get on a bike properly again until I just happened to be living in Whistler when they opened the bike park... "Huh, that looks fun."
And 28 years later, this past summer while visiting my parents in Naramata, I took one of my 8 year old sons on an awesome ride up and down Campbell Mountain... my old stomping grounds. The circle of mtb life!
Nov. 6, 2019, 2:46 p.m. - IslandLife
My first "real" MTB was a sweet 1991 deep purple Rocky Mountain Fusion! I was 13 years old and badly wanted to upgrade from my used Louis Garneau department store bike. Parents told me they'd pay for half if I went and got a job... so I did. Man did it feel good rolling that baby out of the Bike Barn in Penticton! Actually raced cross country on that baby for a couple years in the Okanagan. Races were funny back then... Did one race where we did four races in one day... an Uphill Race so that we could then turn around after an hours rest and race back downhill on the same course. Followed by a cross country race which was followed by this super fun and weird 4X "criterium" on a really short but technical (basically no trail, kinda overland style) course. Upgrades included a Girvin Flexstem... and I promptly went through 4 of them in a single summer... haha. Also had some crazy long double-bend bar-ends, which just looked so cool! And of course the requisite Panaracer Dart & Smoke tire combo! Also upgraded the fork to a straight legged butted aluminum affair after I bent the first set of forks backwards by a good 40 degrees when I nailed a huge, unseen hole while bombing down through an orchard in Naramata... good times! Oh and of course... toe clips. But alas, 15 year old me, sold that bike so I could buy a skateboard, snowboard and all the gear. Didn't get on a bike properly again until I just happened to be living in Whistler when they opened the bike park... "Huh, that looks fun." And 28 years later, this past summer while visiting my parents in Naramata, I took one of my 8 year old sons on an awesome ride up and down Campbell Mountain... my old stomping grounds. The circle of mtb life!