I took some time out to meet, Gary Fisher, one of the most renowned individuals in the world of mountain bikes. This interview looks at a range of topical discussions centered around the mountain bike. Offering opinions such as the ‘poisonous automobile’, his views on American politics and the relationship between mind, body and bike.
Meet Gary Fisher, the man behind the bike.
Nick: Do you think there is something with cycling… its physical its you, its your body, is there a political body statement… your physically using yourself as a statement.
Gary: Its like what’s going on it the cities, I’m taking back the streets. You know screw this. The auto industry has taken over our cities, come an invaded it, convincing us all it will be a good idea. It’s a bad idea. San Francisco, we’re talking about, they want to take out 1/3 of the streets, you know pavements, we want to put in little pathways and gardens. It would be nice. I mean right now we have… people spend a great deal on architecture …
Nick: Nottingham used to be a city, a fortress city, with knights, it was always invaded, all around the city there’s little gate system, so it’s designed to keep people out. The problem is when you try and bring your cars in, isn’t it so difficult to get into Nottingham with cars? Bikes are the best way to get into the center.
Gary: Places where we live shouldn’t have cars because cars are extremely dangerous; I mean 40,000 people plus a year die in the United States due to the automobile. They’re poisonous. They ought to be parked on the outside, the periphery of the city.
Nick: Obama, he has very strong green issues. They’re saying that in America actually the lead at the moment is coming from individuals; small groups are making changes as opposed to the government.
Gary: That’s called grass roots movements, the bike scene is true grass roots movements. Those are the things that do work. The reasons that they work so well is its only logical.
Nick: Is the relationship with the automobile impossible to break?
Gary: Well Obama broke it with regards to the funding… your going to take care of those who take care of you, your big funds are coming from oil guys, the pharmaceutical guys, you’ve got to take care of those guys. That’s what’s happened. Now Obama broke that chain but now he’s got another problem, and that it, politically he has to make things happen… The democrats aren’t all incredibly green either.
(Political parties) are a little bit more the same; we have a two party system, that’s a problem. (Met) Gonzales was a neighbour of mine, he almost got elected, he’s a green party guy, and he almost got elected mayor of San Francisco. That happened because of the San Francisco bike coalition, which is the largest political force in San Francisco with over 10,000 members and they’re so politically connected. Any Politician that wants to get elected, they’ll send a questionnaire, they’ll send the answers out to the membership, the membership will vote on who they want to support. Bicycles now are 16% of all trips, in San Francisco.
Nick: I saw you on a YouTube clip, you said that [in America] 80% of car journeys are 3 miles and then drive round the block 5 miles to actually go somewhere.
Gary: The other day I had some friends visiting and they had this stupid rental car and I had my Dutch bike in the city. We’ve got to go two and a half miles away, well I’ll see you over there. I’m over there for like 20 minutes before the show up. Dutch bike is a single speed 50lb bike you know, poof. They’ve got to fight traffic; they’ve got to find a place to park. That’s not lost on people, the petrol prices, they’ve gotten more people kick started [into cycling], they’ve gotten more people into it but they don’t get out of it now that the petrol prices have gone down. Forget about it, I love this, they’re so in power, I can get around and do what I want to do and I’m not a slave.
Nick: Even in England we had a petrol inflation, the lorries blockaded petrol stations and there was a nation crises in 24 hours. (People) bought down the government, I think its this relationship to petrol and the car, its so deeply ingrained in the psyche that that has to be removed more than anything, because it could just bring down a government and a nation so quickly.
I think the more awareness out there…rather than try to preach to people, more people could see a sense of fun with cycling, sense of enjoyment. I mean mountain bike wasn’t done as a safe sport; it kind of started up like we need to go down that mountain instead of the bus. It had to have been done for some kind of human body art type of spirit.
Gary: With the mountain bike, the original appeal was like, are you crazy that sounds insane. Then at the same time the reality was that the bike itself was very practical, very easy to ride.
Nick: Was there enjoyment in the risk of it?
Gary: Oh yeah, well people, they want to take it out on the edge. I mean it’s a (sublime) body thing; we’ve gone into a separation in the last 200 years.
Nick: There’s this thing about we don’t have risk in life anymore, but taking a bicycle to work in the city is risky, but some people enjoy that. Quite often the cyclists are the ones that actually enjoy risk.
Gary: There’s very little visceral experience left. You don’t live the real experience, you know, your watching it. The last 200 years has been a grand experiment and we’re the guinea pigs. The sedentary lifestyle is probably the biggest disease of the last 20 years. You just think mind body, mind body; people realize the bike is great. You feel like shit, your head spinning, you go out and ride your bike for an hour it goes away. That’s the mind body experience; you have to have more balance. We’re out of balance as a civilization.
Nick: When I was a kid, I grew up in Devon, we all grabbed our bikes and cycled to school – 5 miles, we loved it. Today, parents wouldn’t let their kids out because of the dangers; they’re going to be abducted or something. Again it’s the element of risk isn’t it, and how free we are.
Gary: Its also the element of entitlement, I am absolutely entitled to a fair shot. I don’t want to take the risk of my kid not getting a fair shot and getting run over or something like that, or some kind of risk. There is way too much of that protection, they call it being a helicopter mom; every time shit happens you come (swooping down). The kid consequently never learns.
Nick: What we are trying to do with this article is, its avant-garde, it’s the future of cycling. Not because its going to save you money, because it’s a bigger statement than that. I think health, fitness and sport…
Gary: … it’s about the people that are doing it, it’s about taking back our streets.
Nick: I think we also have to go to locally specific issues, you talk about San Francisco being very avant-garde and progressive and it sounds cool. It would be great to see Arnold Schwarzenegger dump his Humvee for a mountain bike. That would be a great message.
We’ve got Boris Johnson in London… it’s a statement when the mayor of London turns up on a bicycle to work.
Holland’s another story, it’s like taking your life in your hands with the other cyclists…
Gary: I talked to a guys that does rentals there (Holland) and he said that half of the Americans who rent a bike come back in half an hour saying that they can’t do this, because they’re not skilled enough.
Nick: So is this a bike for unisex?
Gary: Well we’ll make a step-through frame if a woman desires one but otherwise its unisex…
Nick: Seems like an easy bike to ride doesn’t it?
Gary: … This ones not that equipped, other models they have more equipment on it. The equipment that I’m taking about is that if you’ve got fenders and a chain guard, then you have the freedom to ride with any type of clothing because you wont get it dirty and greasy. Also fenders really help in the rain and in addition you get yourself a cape, an old school Dutch cape
Nick: There’s a lot more cycling culture out there… (I’m looking into cycling subcultures) and you go to one block like Copenhagen fashion or another block. In Athens they’ve got these beautiful bike races…I had no idea, its such a dangerous city of cars and they’re actually going to do that.
Gary: With Copenhagen, girls on bikes I like to call that, the whole movement velo vogue, so looking good on a bike. There’s like 35 website and blogs on that now.
Nick: I think that’s going back to, again, the body being a vertical statement, you’ve got this whole thing where cycling looks to embrace the body, its attractive, you should look good, cool when cycling a bike. You shouldn’t cover yourself up in these yellow fishermen’s clothes. I was looking at these interesting sub cultures out there, the different fashions and it’s very much, if your in a place like Italy and Paris, if you’re young, good looking you go out there on you’re bike, you show you’re legs off.
Gary: Its physical, you feel good and you meet other people, you know, not in a glass box, you can actually talk to them. You know that whole culture; you are what you’re driving…
Nick: Again, it’s a very stiff upper lip thing in Britain… The idea of a cyclist is now, its cheaper… this is one barrier I’m going to break down. There is high fashion with cycling, couture.
