So one day, in 1981, Dan White shows up at my house with magazine in hand. Dan was almost breathless with excitement. I usually only saw Dan this excited when he had found a firearm he had been searching endlessly for. I was surprised when Dan showed me a Sharper Image catalogue. He normally eschewed anything that might be in that type of catalogue.
Dan showed me the back cover as he jabbed at it with his blunt index finger. It was a full page spread showcasing two peculiar looking bicycles. One was a Specialized Stumpjumper for $750 and the other was a Stumpjumper Sport for $425. Dan waxed poetic about the virtues of these newfangled mountain bikes and easily convinced me that we should have them. I was an easy sell as Dan and I both had road bikes and knew their limitations for many kinds of riding.
Dan and I went down to Valley Cyclery, in Twin Falls, and began to twist the owner's arm to order them. John Houser was very hesitant as he had recently been drawn into the aero bike and components fad that had fallen flat. We managed to convince him to order them although you had to order at least six bikes. (As a footnote.....because of our insistence about how big this mountain bike was going to be, John ordered a ship load of mountain bikes. Folks came from all over the northwest to buy them as they were very hard to get for a couple years.)
Dan and I decided the $750 model was just too expensive so we ordered the pearl blue Stumpjumper Sport. We couldn't wait for them to arrive.
They finally showed up and we were able to get on them and ride. Wow. We were like 6 year olds at Christmas. The moment Dan and I got off work every day, we would be on our bikes riding into the night well past midnight.
The Stumpjumper Sports were beautiful steel frames and forks with all the braze-ons and cable housing guides one could want. Investment cast lugs and fork crown. The components were a mix of Sugino triple cranksets, Suntour derailleurs and shifters, Mafac cantilever brakes matched with Tommaselli motorcycle brake levers. Bullmoose handlebars, SR Laprade seatpost, Avocet seat, Araya rims and Specialized sealed hubs rounded out the package. Sealed hubs ! Original Specialized Stumpjumper tires. Big "bear claw" Suntour pedals were also on the bikes and would rake your shins if you weren't careful.
Everywhere Dan White and I rode we were instant celebrities. Since our Stumpjumpers were probably the first mountain bikes in Idaho, as they had come in the first ever U.S. shipment, everyone wanted to check them out and see the strange bikes we were riding.
One of our favorite rides was to go across the Perrine bridge and ride the motorcycle trails in the desert on the northeast side of the bridge along the Snake River. We would ride with our .357 pistols and hunt rock chucks from atop our steel steeds. Dan was wise and switched his rear brake lever to the left side to facilitate using his strong hand for his pistol. I was not as wise and flew over the handlebars, in a spectacular fashion, when shooting at a rock chuck. It seems you reflexively squeeze your left hand when pulling the trigger with your right hand.
The Rock Creek Canyon ran right through the middle of town and we rode that chasm many times a week. The Times News, local newspaper, even did a story on mountain bikes and then joined us once with a photographer for their story. Night time, however, was the best time to ride.
We would also ride in packs with our families. Matthew would sit on my bike's top tube, covered with a bmx pad, with his feet on the flat investment cast fork crown. Everyone else was on their own bikes as we rode down Main Street. Arthur had a custom made Sting BMX bike that he still owns. We would ride for hours.
At night, Dan and I would do slow speed maneuvers around the fixtures in downtown Twin Falls and knew every alley, street and park. The whole experience sparked my road bicycle riding again but that's another story.
I have had many mountain bikes since. Some of them Stumpjumpers but some made by Tom Ritchey, Trek, Cannonade and Schwinn. But none of them have carried as much joy as that very first Stumpjumper that Dan had discovered on the back of a catalogue.
It's ironic.....The mountain bike hanging out in my garage is....you guessed it....a Stumpjumper.
Dan took all the Canyon Rim pictures. He did not like having his picture taken and I have very few photos of him.
It is fitting that my best friend ever was the impetus for such a life changing experience aboard those two wheels. I miss him every day. Every day.
