Guide shares thrills of mountain biking

On the way up, the hills are relentless, leg numbing, exhausting. On the way down, they are sheer exhilaration. The air rushes by, the wheels spin as fast as you let them, and the tree branches and sky become a blur. Think quick -- there's a 6-inch-thick root across the trail. Every bump and twist in the trail is a challenge to stay in control.

And then there's the moment the bicycle stops and the landscape stops moving. The green blur becomes individual birch trees and rose hip bushes, and the rush of air settles into the cheerful calls of robins and chickadees. Adrenaline gives way to calm.

These are the moments Tony Berberich is working to capture and give to his mountain biking clients. These are moments the Valley resident discovered for himself more than 15 years ago.

"When I first started, I hated it. I was out of shape … I was always left behind and couldn't climb anything," Berberich said during a drive back to Palmer from a recent biking excursion. "Seriously, it wasn't fun."

But with his friends pushing him, Berberich kept going, and one day it clicked. He was with two other bicyclists on the Gold Mint Trail in Hatcher Pass. He was no longer dragging behind and the three were riding in sync within feet of each other.

"And we were going really fast," he said.

When the leader veered off the trail into the bushes, the other two automatically followed.

"We just packed into each other. Nobody was hurt or anything. We just busted up laughing," Berberich recalled. "That's what it was -- friends, friends and riding."

During the next decade, Berberich and his friends rode a lot, conquering local trails and those on the Kenai Peninsula. On these trips, they would often see tour vans from Colorado or Montana bringing bicyclists to Alaska.

"We were like, 'We should be doing this,'" Berberich said.

While these out-of-state tours were sticking to the road system, Berberich and his business partner knew off-road trails that would provide a more adventurous, Alaskan experience.

"Who wants to just ride down the road?" Berberich asked.

So, with $19, rented bicycles and a van that could barely make it up Turnagain Pass, Mountain Bike Alaska -- Alaska's Backcountry Bike Tours was born. That first season, the guides took out just five people. The next year, 25. This year, they had 50 clients from all over the world.

Even with these obvious signs of growing success, Berberich admits it hasn't been easy. He and his wife now run the business and have invested a great deal of time and money in the venture. There are the guiding permits required by national and state parks, and there is the insurance. They have advertised in national magazines, distributed rack cards to hotels and set up a Web site -- www.mountainbikealaska.com. They have also purchased 20 mountain bikes at more than $1,000 each, as well as two vans and a trailer.

So far profit has not been part of the equation. But Berberich doesn't seem to be discouraged. He insists his aim isn't to be rich financially, and that he is already rich in other ways -- he's doing something he loves.

While some who turn their passion into a job find it ruins it for them, Berberich instead says guiding has opened up a different realm. On the trail with clients, he's going a little slower, noticing a little more. All of his clients so far have been from out of state, even out of country, and they want to know about Alaska.

On the trail, Berberich finds himself pedaling along and talking about local plants and animals, geology and history. He points out bear tracks, takes his clients to salmon streams to watch the fish jump and, when it is time for dinner, he spreads out a table cloth and serves up a home-cooked meal of grilled halibut.

His friends may tease him about such catering, but he said it is the details like a clean windshield on the van and a professional looking guide that he hopes will bring clients back.

From Eklutna Lake to Cooper Landing, the tour group offers both day trips and longer excursions. Some of the clients are experienced. They have their $5,000 bicycles shipped from home and they know what they're getting into when they hit the trail. Others come less than equipped.

Berberich described a client from the East Coast who was staying at Alyeska Resort. When he showed up with the van and bicycles, he found her dressed in clothes most Alaskans would consider formal and she confessed she had never seen a gravel road before. Most of her bicycling experience had been indoors on a stationary machine.

"When we were done, she was covered from head to toe with mud … and she was smiling," Berberich recalled. She told him that when she was back home riding on her stationary bicycle, she would be thinking about this trip.

For Berberich, this is success. He wants his clients to have a good time, maybe learn a little along the way, and fall even more in love with mountain biking.

Turning the sport into an occupation hasn't dampened his own enthusiasm, either. He still rides for fun, sometimes as often as every day, and he still crashes occasionally.

"They say if you're not crashing, you're not trying," Berberich said with a laugh. "That's what I keep telling myself -- 'I'm trying. I'm trying.'"

This season is nearing an end and when fall comes, Berberich will hang up his bicycle for the winter. By next April, he will be getting antsy. He'll watch biking videos and read biking magazines and, as soon as the weather warms enough, he'll be chipping ice off the trails so he can ride again.