As a child growing up in Nebraska, riding my bike in the country, I always had the desire to see what’s over the next hill, and it turned out to be another corn field… At 10, I rode 500 miles across Iowa, and was hooked. Then, at 13, I mowed lawns all summer to buy my first French racing bike. I worked in bike shops from the age of 14 through my 20’s. At 17, I was selected to go to the Olympic Training Center to compete in the World Championships, but realized you had to become a bike monk. I was a bike messenger in Washington DC, then rode through Southern Spain and Africa, where I met Marlène, my wife. In Ojai, I started and ran a recycled Community Bike Shop at Oak Grove School.

Greg Prinz grew up in small town Texas. Life in the country with modest upbringings made him resourceful and helped him develop a capacity for problem solving. He built, broke and rebuilt most of what he had and the bicycle was his usual project of choice. This desire to build led him to an engineering career with a degree from Texas A&M University. While working in the aerospace industry, he bought his first mountain bike. This simple purchase ultimately redirected his life as he then moved to California, partnered forces with a friend and started Cantina Mountain Bike Gear in San Diego, a high-end bike shop catering to the serious off-road cyclist. His engineering background later presented with him design and machine shop management opportunities with Cook Bros Racing, manufacturer of aftermarket bicycle components. Greg landed in Ojai in 2004 where he began several years working as a Rope Access Technician/Tree Pruner and wilderness educator. He was offered a job as Outdoor Director for the Southern France Youth Institute and moved to France where he spent 4 years, married his wife Emilie and became fluent in French. Greg moved back to Ojai with Emilie and has since managed a 13-acre organic farm. He has been friends and bike partners with Kelly for many years. He drives a biodiesel vehicle when he isn’t on a bike.

Tim Rhone was raised on a dairy farm in northeastern Pennsylvania. He developed a strong work ethic early in life, starting on the family farm at the age of 11. Soon after, he discovered a talent for running and a love for endurance sports, which led him to run competitively through his first year of college. Road cycling first inspired Tim in 1989 when his teacher, Dave Williams, sold him a black ’85 Peugeot and took him riding in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. His love of cycling was revived in 2007 after moving to California from New York City. He has attended 5 colleges focusing on theater, dance, biology and sustainable development. His most recent course of study was a certification in Green Energy Management with SDSU College of Extended Studies. His professional experience includes over 6 years of customer service and service management in the NYC restaurant industry, 6 years as a retail store manager for Patagonia’s second highest grossing store in the U.S., and 2 years as public relations professional and marketer at Patagonia’s corporate offices in Ventura, CA. Additional professional experience includes work with three grassroots non-profit groups: The Gaia Institute - focused on water quality improvement in and around New York City; OnGoing Transportation - focused on ecologically and economically sustainable transportation and; Kids vs. Global Warming - focused on activating young people to solve the climate change crisis. Tim doesn’t own a car, prefers to ride his bicycle wherever he’s going and only uses his 65-mile-per-gallon motorcycle or carpools with friends when necessary. His passion for cycling and bicycle advocacy is an integral part of his lifestyle.

Putting metal to the pedal since 1987.