Gabe Ferencz - Roll Models
Gabe started riding bikes in 1985, mostly riding streets, yards, and wide paths. In 2007, a great friend introduced him to where mountain bikes should be ridden: singletrack! He got really into it for several years, but then fell back out after his daughter was born. In 2018, he started teaching his daughter and son to ride, and fell back in love.
Then, he was lucky enough to find a great group of friends who were serious enough to ride multiple time a week year round, but laid back enough that no one has to worry about getting dropped. The connection of people to ride with is so important to the whole experience, and he's looking forward to ROOTZ giving his kids a chance to find their group of riding buddies, and even expand his own circle of riders.
Gabe is not a racer and is not into riding fast or aggressively. It's mostly about the mental health of getting out in the fresh air, getting some exercise, and exploring. The challenge that drives him is riding as much as possible without having to get off the bike, but not being too proud to walk it whenever he's "not feeling it". When COVID regulations freed up some time, he started working on skills development, rather than just riding in survival mode as he's done for years. He's progressed a lot, but still has plenty of room to grow.
By day, Gabe is a Robotics Engineer. When not working or running his kids around, you'll regularly find Gabe out on the local trails year-round (often at night after the kids are in bed) or somewhere exploring on his gravel bike.