Who Am I?
By Mike Sullivan

The man behind...

Since I’m going to be a regular contributor, the folks over at MBT asked me to put together a quick little profile so you know who’s writing some of the reviews you’re reading.

My name is Mike Sullivan and I live on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I’ve been riding Mountain bikes for almost 2 years now and can be found currently ripping the trails on a Trek Fuel EX-8.

I got into mountain biking after waking up one day and realizing that I had turned into a disgusting fat body! Having spent the previous 5 years parked in front of a computer, drinking like a fish and smoking like a chimney had not done good things to my body (or mind). I had ridden BMX as a young adult so I figured why not again… Yeah, I don’t think so. Age has a way of catching up with each of us! So I picked a K-2 hardtail and started down the path to MTB addiction. My first ride was to the end of my street. ¼ mile! And I nearly didn’t make it back. My legs felt like jelly, I couldn’t get any air, and my heart was clearly visible pounding through my chest. I wanted to cry!

Since then I have joined a local MTB club (Airborne) and racked up about 800 miles on the hardtail before graduating to the full suspension realm. Even though I only trail ride on alternate weekends, I try to get some good urban assault rides in on my MTB. Unlike my earlier days I can crank out 15-20 miles on the road (while riding an FS mountain bike no less) without too much difficulty and will usually rack up 20 miles of trail time on a weekend ride. Thankfully I don’t do it all in one stretch or I might have to be medivac’d out of the trail.

I definitively do not consider myself an XC rider even though that’s about all we have around here as far as trails are concerned. I don’t own a pair of spandex and didn’t even know what a chamois was until I bought a pair of baggies with the liner built in. I had to call the LBS to ask what to do with it… I also wear a skate / BMX style brain bucket instead of the typical cycling helmet and my cycling shoes have tread on the bottom. Not only do I not know what “Velo” means nor do I care. I only use my bike computer to confirm that I was going a lot slower than I should be. Just consider me a rebel without a clue.

I plan to continue pumping out trail reviews for all open South Florida trails as well as trying to get in at least one gear review per issue.

I hope that you guys and gals enjoy reading my articles as much as I enjoy writing them.