Before trail systems, before suspension forks, before anyone called it a “scene,” there was Tom Ruppel riding a Ritchey in the forests around Uxbridge, Ont. In a new short film by Next Level Media celebrating his 85th birthday, Ruppel reflects on his first mountain bike—one of the earliest Ritcheys built in the 1980s—and the magazine article that started it all.
It was a piece in Outside that planted the seed. He saw five riders bombing California fire roads on klunkers with fat tires and thought: I want one of those. So he bought a $1,500 Ritchey—an eye-watering sum at the time—and started riding the trails around Durham Forest. Then he bought bikes for his kids. And the ripple effect began.
A family story written in dirt
Cycling became the Ruppel family’s connective tissue. In the video, Tom says his sons were riding from the time they were three or four. Those early family rides turned into competitive racing, then into Chico Racing, then into the Ontario Cup series and 24-hour events that shaped mountain biking in the province.
Tom wasn’t just a rider. He was a builder, an event volunteer and—famously—the guy collecting half-drunk chocolate milk bottles from the field the morning after a race. According to his son, he would check to see if there was any left in the bottles, and drink it if there was.
“Why would I throw it out?” Tom says with a laugh. “Especially when you’re thirsty.”
He helped build trails across Ontario: Woodnewton, Albion Hills, Ganaraska, Dagmar, Mansfield. And when no one gave him permission, he built them anyway. “A trail pirate,” his son jokes. “And then they became legal.”
Legacy on two wheels
Still walking the trails twice a day, Ruppel’s out there. Not just reminiscing, but hiking, talking with trailers users and still walking the trails he once helped carve. The birthday video ends with a ride—his son Adam pedalling that original Ritchey, the same one he first ripped through the woods on four decades ago.
“Over 40-year-old bike, over 40-year-old man,” his son says, hugging him. “Love you, Dad. Thanks for everything.”
The video is a reminder that mountain biking in Ontario didn’t start with bike parks or GoPros. It started with people like Tom Ruppel, quietly putting in the work, one trail at a time.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…