WTB's extended family of early mountain bikers spreads far - planning a road trip, better yet a ride trip, is always easier when you've got a free floor to crash on. Somehow, money spent at the gas pump doesn't seem as steep knowing that once there, cash can be saved for beer rather than bed.

Hank Barlow, an original Marin local, mountain biker and friend of WTB, had moved to Moab from Crested Butte after founding Mountain Bike Magazine with his wife Kimberly Schappert. Hank, along with the Canyonlands Fat Tire Festival, made for a perfect excuse for the WTB crew to venture out from Marin.

excerpt from WTB.com, link to the full story here

I'm incredibly thankful for the life that I have, I couldn't be luckier. But were I to close my eyes and picture pure expanse, uninhibited relentless and overwhelming adventure - deafening quiet, dark foreboding mountainscapes, unattainable faded yellow horizons, shadows of giants, and air that seems so open and pure it's tangible - were I to picture all of that, I'd be envisioning the life of Cass Gilbert.

If I chose another life, if I had to, gun to my head time, I'd be hard-pressed to find one more raw, real, and vividly lived than Cass'. Sometimes, I find myself musing, when I grow up, I wanna be like Cass.

Fortunately for all of us, Cass gives us that crisp taste of beyond in dramatic photography and crafted wording on his blog, whileoutriding.com, that transcends us beyond our screens and has meaning that resounds beyond its concise and honest text. His photos cause me to remind myself to breathe.

excerpt from WTB.com, link to the full story here

1985 was a great year for WTB. 4 out of the top 10 finishing placers were held by WTB SunTour racers at NORBA Championships held September 29th in Santa Barbara. In a fateful showdown, Joe Murray passed WTB SunTour racer and Marin local Roy Rivers on the eighth lap - there were ten laps total, securing first for Murray and second for Rivers.

Mark Slate, one of WTB's founders and current owners, shuttled racers about the country in the Team Vehicle, his own highly modified 1969 Pontiac LeMans, more or less a GTO after he'd had his way with it. Team WTB members gave Slate direct feedback on parts and WTB product evolved quickly as a result. This still happens today.

excerpt from WTB.com, link to full story here

I once met a wise man who told me he worked for WTB on the MP250 Project. Project. Hmmmm. That's certainly a curious word choice. Why not say I worked on the MP250 pedals, or the Stealth pedals? The wise man's name was Cameron Falconer and he chose that word with a great deal of thought, like all things he does. Here's why he chose it:

Because everything around that pedal created a project.

They were sweet and not so sweet at the same time. Here's why they were sweet:

- Themoplastic

- Thermoplastic

- THERMOPLASTIC

Here's why they were not so sweet:

- Themoplastic

- Thermoplastic

- THERMOPLASTIC

RoboCop probably used thermoplastic. I like RoboCop. Thermoplastic was so cool, I had no idea what it actually meant, but back then, I wanted it. I knew that part. GT made an LTS bike in thermoplastic, here it is:

excerpt from WTB.com, link to the full story here

Duuuude, it booms, echoes, reverberates, emanates, and resounds from within Spilly. Whether it's during a ride, recounting a ride, or on the way to a ride, you're going to hear it. When I first had the pleasure of getting shamed by Shane, we both laughed over being lucky enough to know Spilly and beyond that, hearing him say duuuuuude.

Spilly is one of the people I've been holding onto in my back pocket for this series - he, along with the others featured obviously, embodies somebody who deeply cares about riding and tirelessly implements it into his life. What really is the most boggling of all though is how well Spilly weaves it within being a well-rounded person. It's beyond that though, he's an exemplar person, a truly good person who shines in all he does. He runs a successful business providing constant attention and follow through AND he's a good dad. A stellar dad. If I had my sights set on dadhood, there would be nobody, I really mean no one, who I would rather model my meager attempt on than Spilly himself. It's incredible.

excerpt from WTB.com, link to the full story here

Driving a muscle car in the snow can be, well, hairy.  While I immediately assumed that Mark Slate couldn't help himself while driving the 1969 Pontiac LeMans equipped with a bigger engine and fiercer transmission, Slate patiently and kindly corrected me when I asked him about zinging the Team Vehicle off the road and into a ditch in the snow.  You see, I hear snippets from Fred here, who was in the car at the time and is still here to tell about it, and then I create my own story in my little head, more fun that way.

excerpt from WTB.com, link to the full story here

Hailing from the Northeast, residing in the true West, and riding everywhere in between, Noah Bodman can't avoid mountain bikes. He lives and breathes them despite "growing up," attending grad school, and getting a real job all situated curiously close to perfect riding. Take a look at where Noah went to college and you see the same story unfold. My favorite memory of Noah dates back to when he somehow convinced campus security to allow him to completely take over a dirt lot adjacent to the sophomore dorms that was patiently awaiting funding for construction of a fancy, state-of-the-art science center. Within moments there were dirt jumps. Lots. So many and so impacted that it seemed impossible to keep lines straight and on a couple of occasions, he and his crew of dirt soldiers dug too deep and hit the coax lines that supplied Internet and TV to dorms. Having previously worked grounds crew and being quite obviously a master of smooth talking, Noah calmed down those with hot tempers, Cushmans, and tool belts and sure enough the jumps stayed. Public jumps in the middle of a college campus, remarkable really.

excerpt from WTB.com, link to the full story here