The waiting place
Every family has a geography. Zack’s family’s was the trail network east of Eugene — his dad on a 250, his brother on a 300, Zack on whatever bike was running that year. After the accident, the geography shrank to the gravel parking lot at the trailhead, where he would drink coffee and hold the cooler until the bikes came back.
He insists he did not mind. His dad, when asked, says they all minded.
Back in formation
The Rock Climber RWD was not bought as a toy; it was bought so Zack could stop being the guy with the cooler. The first family ride was kept deliberately easy — a 28 km loop of logging roads and flow trail, the kind of route nobody would brag about online.
Halfway up the first climb the formation settled into its old shape: dad on point, brother sweeping, Zack in the middle where the line choice is best. Nobody planned that. His dad later admitted he cried inside his helmet at the first vista stop, and blamed it on the wind.
I got to ride off-road trails with my dad and my brother — something I have not been able to do since my accident.
Zack
Rock Climber RWD owner · family rides
What the machine carried
The payload spec is 500 kg, which on that day translated to three folding chairs, a stove, and the same cooler — except this time it rode up the mountain with them. Lunch happened at the vista, not the parking lot. It is hard to explain to someone outside a riding family why that matters. It just does.
