BY SAPNA PATHAK
Flying down the side of a mountain, reaching speeds of 50 mph, Erik Gosselin welcomes a bad fall every now and then.
Indeed, the Bedford High sophomore looks at each fall off his mountain bike as a learning experience, rather than a reason to give up the sport.
“I’ve had some pretty bad spills,” said Gosselin with a laugh. “I just go into it thinking it’s a part of the sport. It’s the only way to really learn how to handle the rough terrain and what it throws at you. My mom is definitely more nervous when I’m mountain biking than when I did motocross.”
Despite his mother’s nerves, Gosselin recently earned a first-place finish in the 16- to 17-year-old division at this year’s Dual Slalom USA Cycling Mountain Bike National championships. Gosselin, sponsored by Team Drop, also placed third in the Downhill, following the first-place winner by seven-tenths of a seconds.
The tournament took place at Mount Snow in Vermont, from July 18 to 22. It was the first national competition for Gosselin, who began biking around the house at age 4. After racing motocross until he was 14, Gosselin was introduced to mountain biking by his friend Evan Fineblit, also of Bedford.
“It’s the same as motocross except there’s no motor on the bikes,” said Gosselin. “But mountains are a lot steeper and the terrain is a lot more challenging with it being so rocky and rough. I eventually want to make a career out of this, either in racing or designing bikes, so I know I have to push myself to get there.”
Later this summer, Gosselin puts the finishing touches on his second custom-designed bike. Teaming up with a friend from Laconia, Gosselin decided to create a personalized bike after a free ride at Highland Mountain.
“His dad has a machine shop in the backyard, and one day after a ride at Highland, I realized I wanted a specific kind of bike that would handle trails with lots of dirt,” said Gosselin. “So that’s how we got the idea to design our own bikes. We haven’t got a name picked out yet, but someday, hopefully, we’ll have our own line of bikes out, and I’ll be racing them.”