We love to ride. We ride in all sorts of places, on roads, paths, and trails. We participate in organized group rides, solo adventures, races and everything in-between. We want to share those experiences with you. We’ll tell you about our rides in and around Minnesota, and hopefully that will inspire you to Just Ride MN too.
John
I remember getting the feel of balancing my first bike while heading down a hill in front of my house in Anoka. It was exhilarating. A feeling I still enjoy today. That first bike was a hand-me-down that my 3 other siblings utilized before it was my turn. Interestingly it could be converted to either a girls bike or boys by moving the top tube to the respective position. Not long after I was treated to my very own bike. A red and white sting ray knock off from Zayre Shoppers City, and she was a beauty. The frame faded from white to red exactly the opposite of a 50’s era Schwinn. It had 12” riser bars and a two toned, white and red sparkling, vinyl banana seat. I later switched the handle bars to red bmx style for the off road look, but soon enough I out grew my kid bike. I upgraded to an Omni 10 speed from Huffy. Blue steel, with a blue seat, floating on the pavement on blue tires. My friend Hermie turned me on to better machines by letting me ride his Bianchi mountain bike back in 1987. It was such a novelty then to see someone ride in the Minnesota winter that my photo was printed on the front page of Moorhead State’s News Paper. That spring I bought a Bridgestone Mb5 from Tom at Island Park Bicycles in Fargo. It was white, and the first decent bike I owned. It was awesome, I loved it on road and off. It got stolen. Heartbroken and with help from grandpa I was able to replace it with an mb4 and loved that too. Those bikes were the bikes I’ve owned but no longer have. Two were sold, the other stolen. I keep acquiring more, but currently only have 4 that are rideable. Stay tuned for tales of rides involving my fleet, as well as updates on projects. In the meantime, Just Ride MN.
Sean
Sean Pease is from Anoka, Minnesota which is the Halloween capital of the world. Pedaling around that river town was one of his favorite past times. After graduating high school in 1993 he couldn’t seem to stay in one place very long. With a passion for motorcycles, he was drawn to Daytona Beach Florida to pursue schooling in motorcycle mechanics. While there his first child was born. Soon after graduating from American Motorcycle Institute he packed up and headed north to Rockford Illinois. Dabbling in mechanics for a short time and realizing this was not his forte, he then headed further north back to his roots in Minnesota and bought a small house in North Minneapolis. Soon thereafter kid #2 was born and he found himself living the dream and moving to the suburbs and driving a minivan, just in time for child #3. Life became busy and hectic and began to slip away. As the years went by, Sean realized that being blessed with children did not mean you had to lose yourself, so he took up cycling and triathlon. That was back in 2007 and he’s been back in the saddle ever since. Now mostly riding gravel and singletrack with the kids all grown up to teenagers or beyond, he has decided that even though fast is fun, being on a bike is one of the best things in life…fast or not. So, Just Ride!
