Thirty-seven years ago, my daughter Cailin was born in Brattleboro, Vermont. While we waited for her lengthy arrival, Peter went window shopping downtown. He spied a bicycle that intrigued him — a Miyata hardtail mountain bike.
In 1986, mountain biking was just appearing on our radar. Peter was intrigued by tales and videos of the West Coast craze. He decided to purchase his first mountain bike the day my daughter was born, 37 years ago.
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