Evolution of a Cyclist: From Skeptic to Believer

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by Allan Howard, PCI #001
Dayton (OH) Police Department (ret.)

Forty years ago on January 20, 1979, a documentary piece entitled “Mountain Biking” was filmed in Fairfax, California, for a local show called Evening Magazine. Quite literally, this was the first film/video of the predecessors of the bikes we ride today. From the very beginning, the bikes used to bomb down those old fire roads were altered for function, not form. They weren’t constricted by conventions of the past because they started with the idea of what they wanted the bikes to do rather than how they wanted them to look.

Without being tied to the way “things have always been”, they were able to drive the stodgy bicycle industry into making practical, all terrain bicycles (ATBs) that were more robust than the “traditional” svelte road bikes that were “what a bike should be”. Once the bicycle industry figured out there was a market for alternatives, the gates of the “Wild West” were opened. Development was fast and furious – long before the movie franchise of the same name. Most of it was good, some not so bad; but there was also the bad, the ridiculous, and the downright unsafe.

Despite being a USCF road racer, I tried my best to ride everything the mountain bike industry had to offer. At first, my motivation was to prove that anything that could be done on an “ATB” or “Mountain Bike” could also be done on a road bike with cyclo-cross wheels. Early ATBs/mountain bikes were crude in comparison to what we have today, but for rough terrain and urban concrete obstacle riding, they were better than anything that had been produced before. Alas! I went in a skeptic and came out a believer. I had no idea where it would take me, and thousands of other public safety personnel, decades later.

The first innovations to our beloved mountain bikes that were truly “game-changers” were suspension and lighting. These two things were major improvements to overall safety and launched a period of product development that surpassed what the bicycle industry had experienced in the prior 100 years combined. Notice I used the word “safety” in lieu of “comfort”. Sure, many of the new products made riding more comfortable, but when your employer is buying fleet vehicles, they aren’t interested in “comfort”; they aren't paying you to be comfortable. Safety, however, is an outright obligation. Remember that next time you’re trying to sell someone on a new idea.

Right now, our bikes are changing again. Disc brakes (hydraulic & hybrid), thru- axles, wider rear wheel spacing, different gearing (don’t get me started on the 1x thing) and electric bikes are becoming ubiquitous. Electric bikes, in my opinion, are going to be one of those things that quickly develops into a “why didn’t we do this before?” thing. Having been here a while, I can tell you why: batteries, charging devices, and motor designs were crude and bulky. Not all of us are lucky enough to be riding around on a work bike only laden with some basic stuff in a rack bag. We have many members who have to tote heavy medical equipment, and e-Bikes are the simple and correct answer to that.

Even if you aren’t hauling heavy equipment, riding an e-Bike on patrol that will leave you fresher for a foot chase or struggle could literally save lives – civilians, officers and suspects. Heck, even recreationally, e-Bikes make sense. You can’t go any direction from where I live and not hit a hill. I’m coming into my sixth decade of living and have had to change my gearing from a straight block (one tooth changes between cogs) to wide range cassettes, despite all my training efforts. There may soon come a day where I’m riding an e-Road bike like some of the guys who are using them to cheat in bike races right now . Will I get rid of my Campy-equipped Colnagos? Heck no, but nothing says you can’t have both something old and something new.

I recently took an IPMBA survey regarding e-Bikes. One of the questions was about training and whether more training should be required for e-Bikes beyond the regular P/E/S/C Course. Having ridden every e-Bike that was on display at the last conference, I gave a resounding “yes” to that question. Unlike an internal combustion engine, electric motors produce 100% torque at one RPM. They are immediately more powerful than anything we have today. That’s why freight trains use diesel engines as electric generators to power the electric motors that actually move the train; nothing else can pull that kind of weight from a dead stop more efficiently. Because of that instantaneous power, a little more specific training is needed so we don't have injuries to public servants or civilians. It’s an exciting time to be involved in our industry; I can’t wait to see what’s next.

With all this talk of change and progress, I have one final thought. The current name of the bikes we have now is “Mountain Bike”, despite the fact that many of us live hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from the nearest mountain. I’ve seen organizations go through name changes for all kinds of reasons; some good, some bad. Sometimes it nearly kills the brand. There are some very powerful organizations with names that are clearly from the past, but people understand and accept it.

Someday, the bikes public safety personnel will be riding will be called something else. The bicycling industry will see to it because people want to buy what is new, even if it’s only a name, like “gravel bike”, for instance.

In a little more than 30 years, I’d like to see this organization still called the International Police Mountain Bike Association, despite the fact that our members are comprised of firefighters, paramedics, security and other public safety workers as well as “police”. This isn’t a slight to those in our organization who aren't law enforcement officers, it is simply a nod to our history, the history of how “our” organization came into being.

By the time you read this, the 2019 IPMBA Conference will be history and we will have added another chapter to the story about what makes this organization great.

Allan

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