Staff
EU Editor c_g´s Bio: German by nationality with just enough language skills to write in English, too. He has been riding bikes pretty much as long as he can remember – since ´89 on MTBs and dirt covered ever since. A learnt scientist by profession, which sometimes shows in the length and attention to technical details in his posts, but tempered with a deep love for the sport of mountainbiking.
He likes all sorts of mountainbikes but on his search for simplicity, has been a 29″er fan since 2005, long before most people (and the media) in Europe ever took notice about ‘Big Wheels’.
Epic, technical riding and alpine touring are my thing. At 183 cm and 85 kg (that would be 6´ and 195 lbs) this can be a good challenge for bikes and components.
US Editor Grannygear’s Bio: Granny is a native to So Cal and still resides there. Nestled North of LA, his family estate is shared by a wife, son, and a dog of questionable ancestry. He has been riding mountain bikes since around 1986 and has not stopped since. He is 6’2″ tall, about 190lbs geared up, and old enough to know better. He is an XC kind of guy, preferring endurance rides over huck-fests, but has enough skills to get down the trail and live to tell about it. He has a tendency to love single speeds, steel frames, big wheels on pretty much anything, and a well penned haiku.
He also is a black belt in TaeKwonDo, authored and co-authored two MTB guidebooks and co-founded an MTB trail access group ‘back in the day’.
Contributors
JeffJ: JeffJ AKA ‘Circus Bear on a Bike’ lives in So Cal as well in the same neck of the Hundred Acre Woods as Grannygear does. JeffJ is the resident ‘Clydesdale’ tester/contributor/breaker of freewheels. Jeff is 6’5″ and 260lbs and has been pushing pedals in earnest since around 1996. Yeah, he may not climb fast, but when the road tilts in his favor, watch out for the big man coming through. Jeff likes big wheels, big brake rotors, through axle forks, wide rims and small dogs with long wheelbases.
JeffJ is also a fine bike mechanic (works part time in a local shop) and builds his own wheels.
Navy Mike: Navy Mike loves single speeds and pretty much any cycling challenge. I usually see him at the beginning and the end of the ride, but not much in the middle where he just rides away from me. AT 6′ tall and 190-ish, he puts down some power into the bike. If the ride is long and the mountain is high, Navy Mike is happy.
Guitar Ted: Guitar Ted is a native of Iowa, and still meanders around in “fly-over” country. He was roped into writing about 29″ers back in 2005 for various websites and ended up here, finally becoming the Editor of TNI in 2008 and only stepping out in 2015. Guitar Ted goes about 230lbs these days and is 6″1″ tall. He has been big wheeling since 2003 and mountain biking since 1989 on a proper mountain bike. Before that he just rode any ol’ bike off road he could get his hands on. These days he also has a penchant for riding gravel roads, is an Editor at Riding Gravel.com and has put on the Trans Iowa endurance gravel road race since 2005, along with other shorter fun rides. Guitar Ted also works at a local bike shop as a mechanic with over 13 years experience in retail bicycle shops. Oh, and by the way, he actually does play a mean guit-box!