I took up the sport of mountain biking in serious way in June of 2011 after attending the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Festival Grand Opening. I bought a 2011 Trek Gary Fisher X- Caliber 29’er and joined IMBA upon my return. I’ve been hooked ever since.

I actually first began mountain biking back in 1990 when we bought bikes for my three teenage boys. We rode for a few years but riding on hiking trails grew old after a while and we gave it up. I refocused on riding mototrials (motorcycle trials) which I’d done since 1975.  Once I discovered that mountain biking offered all the technical riding challenges of mototrials but with the addition of going fast on purpose-built flow trails and pumping/jumping in bike parks, I sold my trials motorcycle and haven’t looked back.

This blog site is about my mountain bike adventures, the people I’m meeting, issues related to the sport, and what I’m doing to try to improve my skills and help others do the same.

Other history

I served as a Minnesota Off Road Cyclists (MORC) board member for 2014 and stepped down when I co-founded Cannon River Offroad Cycling & Trails (CROCT) where I’m currently Vice Chair.

In the summer of 2014, I began including blog posts related to my venture, Thick Skull Mountain Bike Skills. In January of 2016, I stopped work on that and began collaborating with Ryan Leech at his Performance Mountain Biking & Coaching website, RyanLeech.com where I’m an Ambassador and a marketing affiliate.

In the spring of 2016, I became an IMBA ICP-certified Level 2 instructor and a PMBI-certified Level 1 instructor.

In December of 2016, I created the Mountain Bike Skills Network (MTBSN), an online community of mountain bikers dedicated to helping one another develop our riding skills.

My wife Robbie and I live in Northfield, MN USA where we raised our four now-grown-and-gone kids. My Griff Wigley Facebook Profile has more about me than you want to know.