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Bicycle fans, rejoice.
The founding father of mountain bikes, Gary Fisher, is in town thanks to the newly opened bike shop at BGC, Trek Bicycles. The groovy dude flew in Thursday night and will be in town until Monday evening, riding trails, doing promos for Trek, and having a good time.
This is Gary’s first time in the city and he’s not really surprised at how big and modern Metro Manila is. “The cities that most Americans think are behind of the times, are really ahead of the times. We have no idea,” he says. Coconuts Manila sat down with the man.
Before coming here, what did you know about Metro Manila?
I have a number of Filipino friends in San Francisco and when they learned I was coming, they were like, ‘Oh, you’ll have a great time!’ So I know I’ll have a great time.
And your first impression is?
It’s a big modern city. I’m not really surprised. The cities that most Americans think are behind of the times, are ahead of the times. We have no idea.
You’ve been doing interviews all day long. Is there a question you’re so sick of answering?
Well, about the beginnings of mountain bike and why and how I got into it. I really don’t mind telling the story, but the future and the present are more interesting to me than the past. I think none of us get to choose where we’re born or when so you give it that blessing and thank god you were born. It’s entirely rare that we’re born. We tend not to think this. You think of all the millions of babies that were never born and, you know, you think, ‘I’m so lucky to be alive.’
Okay, so let’s talk about the present and the future of mountain biking.
Mountain biking in North America, it’s doing great because people are building trails all the time. It’s remarkable how many trails have been built.
So you feel trails…
People ask me what’s the biggest innovation in the last 20 years of mountain bikes. Bikes have improved remarkably. There’s all kinds of science, real science. But I’ll tell you, it’s really the trails. There’s some real artists building them and they’re incredible. That creates more mountain bikes, places to ride.
The second thing is the school cycling programs. In the US, there’s a high school mountain bike league, 13-18yo, and it’s really taking off. Kids love it like crazy. The kids, and more importantly, their parents. And if you think about it, it’s one of the few sports you can do with teenagers. You can’t do any other sports with them, you’ll squish them. But man, they can ride a bike really well. That’s important. There’s not much parents can do with their kids anymore.
We know you’re a biking advocate. With what little you’ve seen of Manila, how do you think can the city improve so that people are encouraged to pedal?
Three things: infrastructure, education, and law. In the US, 5 years ago, people would wait until others get on their bikes and run them over. You won’t be charged because it’s ‘an accident.’ That started to change in terms of laws. There’s the vulnerable users law, that the person with the power has all the responsibility. It changes the way people think.
And then there’s a lot of security cameras and traffic cameras. So now they have proof. Before they call it an accident. Now they have proof. A lot more people are going to jail, getting big fines if they’re driving in an irresponsible way. If you think about it, getting in your car [and driving] is the most responsible and the most dangerous thing you do every single day.
What this city can do is be really bold. Get 1/3 of the streets and tear them out and put gardens. Take another third of the city and turn it into a bike lane. And the last third, transportation: driverless cars and use a technology like Uber.
That’s a lot of tearing out.
Yes, I’m talkling about a lot of changes. And with a lot of change, there’s a lot of vested interest. It takes a lot of fight but I have one fabulous thing on my side: The millennials. They know the system is broken. It doesn’t work. And they know this is not paradise, yet. But paradise attracts the best and the brightest. We can cross over borders. That’s what makes a city great. Cities a hundred years ago, kids could play on the streets. Now, you can’t any longer. They have to be ferried around in these big armored vehicles, you know?
We create this situation where we need the armor and the armor doesn’t work. And this is crazy. Colorado, it has the healthiest grown ups in the US, but it has some of the least healthy kids because the kids get ferried around in big SUVs. They don’t exercise, they don’t do anything.
You mentioned a while ago how mountain bikes have become so evolved, with so much science behind it. It’s easy to get lost in the jargon. Especially for newbies, what’s the one thing they should remember when buying bike?
You gotta find a group of riders that you like and learn from them and hang out with them. They have to be just a little bit more advanced than you. That’s the point. You don’t want them too advanced that it becomes so difficult. The whole world is so complex, there’s so much choices. So the best thing we can do is find a group that you can trust. That’s what modern retailing is about. It’s a community. You’re creating a community of like-minded people. People go there to get some knowledge.
Not many know that before all this mountain bike business, you hung out with the Grateful Dead! How cool is that?!
It was really cool, and I’m still in touch with some of them. Mountain Girl, she and I are really tight. She’s Jerry Garcia’s ex-wife. I used to go to Garcia’s house and he’d say ‘I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t come here when I wasn’t here.’ And then Garcia passed away and I got the wife for awhile. She was my girlfriend for a while, ha-ha. But I’m still, we connect every now and then.
How has that past influenced this whole era of mountain biking for you? How has it pivoted you toward here?
Every thing in your life affects other parts of your life, there’s no doubt about it. I think it’s the psychedelia. I had a few experiences with it, not too many. Got out of it quickly. It gave me the ‘no fear’ attitude. We’re all gonna die. Accept it and live life, that’s number 1. There’s a whole list. Medical science is discovering again there’s legitimate reason for that. That whole scene, I met Grateful Dead before they were big, but it got to be unhealthy. Cocaine came into the scene. That’s a nasty drug. I was like, I’m outta here. Forget it. It became really weird.
Pot is going mainstream in the States. Do you dabble from time to time?
Sure, but too much is too much all the time. That’s what’s different with riding a bike. It’s pure and you’re away from all that stuff. There’s purity and it’s really good. I’ll indulge in whatever but I spread it out. For instance, some people will have dessert after lunch, or after dinner. I’ll have mine a couple of weeks apart. Then it becomes really special. You know what I’m saying? It’s like you take all this gratification and you stretch them out and it becomes a bigger celebration every time.
Knowing your tolerance for what’s crazy, can you tell us: What’s the craziest thing you’ve done in a bike?
There are a few of them. A few years ago, I was in Portugal riding this historic ride. I was riding with 20 people, one of them gets a flat, I go ahead. I’m feeling great that day. I’m flying off the road. I drop the other guys, we’re flying off different directions. I go on and on and then I start to wonder, when will this thing end? I got nothing on me, maybe a couple of Euros in my pocket. And then I get a flat tire, and then I can’t find the end of the route. I turn around and start going back. And then I’m lost. I don’t see anybody. It turns out, I went past the first day’s finish and I was on the second day’s route. I didn’t know.
I don’t speak any Portuguese. I come into this little village and I go, ‘I need to get into a taxi’ and we don’t get each other. I take a pen and draw and he gets it. This guy off the street, he runs a taxi and I go down with them. Where do you want to go? I can’t figure it out and nobody speaks English. It’s dark, getting cold, and then he’s like, ‘hey my daughter speaks English.’ So he calls her up. Turns out the daughter is a film producer who did a story on a guy two days previous and she knew exactly the guys [I was with] and in 10 minutes they got me. I can tell you about 10 of these magical stories that happened to me. It’s crazy.
Trek Bicycles, G/F Two Parkade, 30th Street, Bonifacio Global City. 11am-11pm
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