Local mountain biker takes a wild ride

Steve Ray talks about his passion for the sport.

Published online on Wednesday, Apr. 08, 2009

For a decade, Steve Ray has been one of the Fresno area's top mountain bikers, winning a slew of expert-level races against local competition.

Fresh off his victory in Saturday's Big Sandy race on the San Joaquin River Trail, The Bee's Marek Warszawski spoke with the 34-year-old Ray, an employee at Steven's Bicycles in Clovis, about his fat-tire passion.

Question: Do you remember your first mountain bike?

Answer: I was a freshman in high school. It was a Costco bike, which is better than a department store bike but not quite a bike shop-quality bike. I had it for a few months when I was going up to the mountains with my buddy and his family, and we got rear-ended by a Channel 47 news truck. ... The truck damaged our bikes and Channel 47 had to pay for new ones. After that, I got a real mountain bike, a Cannondale.

Thank goodness for Channel 47 ...

Yeah, it's a funny story.

So while the rest of the kids were playing football and baseball, you were mountain biking?

Yeah. I stopped doing organized sports in junior high when I got into bikes. First BMX, and then I think my brother and his friends got into mountain bikes first. This was about 1990, during the mountain biking boom.

What were those early rides like?

At that point, mountain biking to me was just riding 26-inch wheel bikes off road and goofing around in orchards near my parents' house on Avenue 10. We'd play follow the leader at Woodward Park, ride through trees and stuff, and if the guy in front of you put his foot down, he'd go to the back of the line.

What do you enjoy most about mountain biking?

Just the experience of being out in a forest on a trail, just flowing down it and enjoying the scenery. I know it sounds cheesy, but you really become one with nature. At the same time, there's the adrenaline rush you get from downhills and runner's high from climbing. It's a lot of stuff that's hard to put into words.

How many races have you won?

I don't know. Never kept track. I've won a lot of local races and done well in some bigger ones. Like at Sea Otter, I've been on the podium a few times but never won it. ... My problem is that I don't take it as seriously as I should.

Why is that?

What separates the really fast guys from the pretty fast guys is discipline. Your life is just about training. Everything you put in your body and every bike ride you do, for the most part, contributes to the ultimate end of winning big races. For me, it's more about riding and having fun. Winning is great -- don't get me wrong -- but I'm not willing to drop everything else.

You're known as a great bike handler who really pushes it on downhills. Is the fear of crashing always in the back of your mind?

Crashes are a bad thing to think about when you're riding. If you don't want to hit the rock that's coming up, don't look at it. Look at the line that goes around the rock. If a big rock is coming up on the trail and you look at it, chances are you'll be drawn right to it. You don't want to think of what could happen.

What's your favorite local trail?

It's hard to say because there are so many cool ones. Lewis Creek is one of my favorites, for sure. It's completely shaded, so you can ride even when it's hot, it's all lush and green and there's a nice flow to it so you can carry your speed without having to slow down. Even going up the trail from Highway 41 has such a nice flow that you don't even think you're climbing.

How did you get the nickname "Pack a Day" Ray?

I forget who gave it to me, but I got it because I smoked cigarettes and still did these big bike rides with everybody. I'd still be right there with them. It's a terrible habit.

Do you still smoke a pack a day?

Oh, no [laughter]. Like the night before Big Sandy, I might have had one cigarette. But that's only because we were out having a couple beers. I'm trying to quit. I've been trying for a while.