Guest Author 2: Ivan Chiu
My first real bike was actually a mountain bike. It was a 1993 GT Tequesta,
fully rigid, double butted tange chromoly! But it probably saw dirt a
handful of times. I realized that I was a roadie at heart. Hence, I got
into road cycling, got my skin tight lycra, shaved my legs, followed
professional European cycling and the tour de france religiously.
It wasn’t until about 2000, I started working for SunRace, which is a Taiwan
manufacturer of bicycle drivetrain, that I started really riding mtb. We
would have our friday “product testing” rides up in the Berkeley hills at
Redwood Regional park and Joaquin Miller Park. Then some of us would ride
in Marin, Mt Tam, China Camp. Then when the office moved up to Napa, we
would ride at Skyline park, where they had the XC world cup a few years
back. We’d also ride at Rockville. I also got to observe the SunRace/Santa
Cruz factory riders tear up the professional Norba and World Cup downhill
circuit. All that exposure to riding MTB helped me develop better technical
skills, especially when descending… But, let me tell you… I still
descend like i’ve got a parachute on…. yeah… not still the most
technical rider… Yes, i’m still a roadie at heart…. then I didn’t ride
mtb for a few years and moved down to Socal.
It wasn’t until I met jeremy at church and he told me that he was getting
into mtb. His excitement made me realize that I missed mtb… and I bought
a AL hardtail. It was a great chance for me to ride with some guys again.
plus I didn’t know anyone who’d ride road with me… =D Now, I ride more
mtb than road… go figure…