THOSE FIRST TRAILS
As the saying goes..."We all have to start somewhere..." and for me, it was with a 1995 GT Timberline mountain bike that I purchased with my first couple paychecks from my new teaching job at Northeastern Middle School . I had no idea what kind of bike I wanted....and I had no idea what I was looking for. I walked into Gung Ho Bikes (located at that time on White Street near West York) and met Jay Zech. I told him that I wanted "middle of the road." I wasn't even sure I would like this mountain biking thing. That first bike cost me a little less than $500 dollars in 1995 (which was $300 more than my first car...a 1979 Fiat Strada .) It had no front suspension (although I would upgrade to a RockShox front fork after massive crash in 1996 that mangled the my bike!), it had platform pedals (although I would eventually upgrade to toe clips), and I insisted on bar ends...the bigger and longer the better. I had absolutely no clue. My bike was...