It’s really been a long time since I was a mountain biker. My first “real” bike (after a hand-me-down clunker I used to get into shape in college) was a GT Avalanche. I saved and saved for that bike and the night before I went to buy it my car was totaled in a collision with a hit-and-run driver. For the two months that the insurance company took to pay out I rode that bike everywhere.
For a few years I ran a mountain bike site (years before “blog” would be a term, and years before the ‘net would be profitable) and I spent my time covering bike races, testing bikes and riding all the time. I had a customized Spooky Mothership that was my pride and joy.
When the mountain bike site went bust I got a bit burned out and turned to road riding, and that’s been my passion for years. But a recent Specialized contest for bloggers got me back into the saddle when I and several others received a free (that’s my disclaimer, remember, I get to keep this bike for a year for free. Don’t say I didn’t warn you) Stumpjumper FSR.
I’ve already vowed to not review it here, that would be a real journalistic violation, but I thought I’d post some of the videos I made on the bike, which I created for tutorials over at the imovie.MacCreate.com site