No Sweat

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:18:58 -0800

By Ian MacNeill

Since I love bicycles, I jump at the chance to chase my dream job – working at Norco, which has been making bikes since 1964. As perverse as it is to admit, I’m less interested in company president Jim Harman’s corner office than the mobile desk occupied by product tester Ryan Leech. Unfortunately, I might have a better chance at the former than the latter. In addition to having been with the company for 10 years, Leech, 27, is one of the world’s premier “trials” riders, which is to say he can hop around on the rear wheel of his bicycle like it’s a pogo stick and jump over cars like a superhero in a comic book. He also sets his own schedule and gets to take home any bike he wants. I ask him for some tips on how to ride like a pro but he looks at me apologetically and shrugs. “I don’t know how it works,” he laughs. “It’s kind of weird.”

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No Sweat