Justin Leavitt

Howdy.  Grew up in Orem, UT.  Went to Mt. View High School here, and ran cross country and track.  You could say I'm a distance runner, but I might be slightly offended by that.  Haha, runners are weird.  Anyway, I did alright in school, good enough for a scholarship to Southern Utah University in Cedar City.  While going to SUU, I studied history, and some biology.  I also worked as an EMT.  Right now I'm taking a little time off from running and SUU, and I'm enrolled in the Paramedic Program at the University of Utah.  Needless to say, I love EMS.

I started biking in high school, as a sort of cross training thing.  I got started on a hardtail that my brother borrowed from a friend... and never returned it.  I had no problem calling it my own.  Before my junior year, I made a new friend who had just moved from Etna, California.  This crazy mug would ride logging rodes to the tops of mountains, and just bomb straight down the slopes.  He got me into biking, and pushed me along.  I met Jared in the summer of '06, when I was shopping around for a new fork.  As many of our customers have found, Jared is a very friendly and knowledgeable fellow.  After buying my first aftermarket fork, I kept going back to him, and learning about every aspect of biking.  Eventually, Jared asked if I would come aboard and help run Down Shift.

In exchange for my labors, Jared instructs me in the way of the Jedi... er... biker person.  l learn something new nearly every time I speak with Jared.

I suppose that my running background has influenced my riding.  I'm a mostly XC rider.  I'm expanding my riding with my new Chumba EVO project that I'm currently working on.  Should be a fun and/or painful experience.

Have a safe and productive day.