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Making a Mountain Out of a No-hill

Mountain bikers take to the streets- and parking garages.
By D Magazine |

“WHATEVER YOU DO, don’t lean,” mountain biker John Mc-Cauley warns novices about to take his favorite run: a spiral straight down 12 levels of a downtown parking garage.

Heed his advice. Though it’s been a popular workout for at least a decade, garage cycling is risky. You’re speeding at more than 30 mph through corkscrew loops, and since (technically) you’re trespassing, you’re doing it in die dark.

But, “they’re the only mountains on the block,” says Jay Hayes, 30, who has been racing around garages and evading security guards for four years.

Mike Bara, a 49-year-old sports store manager, prizes a $4,500 bike that’s designed for speedy garage runs, and has fad-crazed MTV calling him, seeking an extreme-sports documentary. “I’ve done it all,” boasts Bara, who magic markers every crash site he makes and whose last spill put 16 pins and two plates in a broken elbow. Bara and company have written a garage directory that lists the locations of security guards, cameras, tricky turns, even oil spots in 13 downtown garages-and tells how to get through locked gates and finagle out of a trespassing ticket.

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