There it stood before me, it was beautiful, dark cherry with gray accents. I had never saw such a complex yet sophisticatedly simple machine, I had to have it. I milled around the store, kicked a few more tires, contemplated some other more frugal choices but something kept drawing me back into that one machine, it had panache. “Dad, come over here, look at this one” I yelled to my father across the store as he to was marveling at the intricacies of engineering as well as the high price tags. “What do you think of this one?” I asked my dad. He proceeded to examine the price tag more than the machine itself. Holding the tag between his thumb and index finger he looked at me and replied, “this one is a little more than we had discussed, I tell you what, we’ll pay for half”. Knowing clearly I could not afford even half of such a striking piece of machinery, I started conjuring up financing plans in my head. I would have to work 6 months to save for this thing! Six months to a seventeen year old punk was almost an eternity. However, I failed to realize I had a high school graduation party just around the corner, and that meant gifts of money! Yes traditionally this money probably should of beeen put toward college expenses and other more responsible financial choices but I saw it as my ticket for my first “real” mountain bike.
A few weeks later we rolled a brand new, shiny 1996 Gary Fisher Joshua XO full suspension mountain bike out of Antoon’s Bike Shop, who would of guessed several years later, straight out of college and equipped with a bachelor’s degree in teaching, I would be working there full-time.
That bike was my introduction to the sport. It taught me what it meant to voluntarily engage in an activity that makes you suffer and keep coming back for more. At times, usually when it was all clean and propped up in my garage as I peered at it in lust, I loved it. Other times, usually just after I had puked from walking my bike up a hill at PLRA, I hated it and wondered why I ever wasted money on it. Nonetheless, that Gary Fisher mountain bike was the seed that grew into the Finkelstein of today.
In true nostalgic form, I am proud to announce that in 2009, I will be racing with the Gary Fisher 29er Crew. I have to admit that it is a bit poetic that in the year I step onto a world cycling stage for the first time, I am fortunate enough to do it with the support of the company in which it all started for me. Really, it's the name in which it all started for all of us.
Gary Fisher…the first and last name in mountain biking. I have big wheels, big ideas, and big aspirations in 2009.
