Fathers and sons: 10 Questions with Roger and Finn Murphy, Andrew and Tucker Volansky

Mountain biking is often a family affair, with parents encouraging their children to come along for the ride. Often, the kids quickly get better than the adults.

Here are two father-son duos following a long Stowe Reporter tradition: answering 10 questions.

10 Questions for Roger and Finn Murphy

Roger teaches social studies and English at Stowe High School; Finn’s his son.

Roger first

1. What do you like the most about mountain biking?

The exercise, the challenge and the community of mountain bikers.

2. How did you get involved in the sport?

I bought my first mountain bike in 1990 when a friend in college was racing for Yeti.

3. How many friends have you persuaded to join you in riding?

I try to get as many people as I can out biking!

4. What do you tell them about it?

I think that it’s a tough thing to explain to people, and that they really need to experience it before they make a judgment about becoming involved in the sport. So much of mountain biking is the physical experience of the effort of the climb or overcoming obstacles and the sensations of rhythm when you manage to sync your movements on the bike with the trail.

5. What other sports do you enjoy?

Skiing of all types, soccer, sailing, hiking, paddling, fishing.

6. How does mountain biking compare to those other sports? Is it like skiing or snowboarding?

It is a lot like skiing in the woods, especially backcountry skiing. The meditative climbs endured to capture that downhill joy and occasional feeling of being weightless are strikingly similar experiences.

7. Do you ever get scared out on the trail — going too fast, or the trail’s too steep or rocky?

I try to avoid dangerous situations and ride to the edge of my ability but not beyond. There is no shame in walking down or around a particularly challenging section of trail. I have four screws in my ankle from a low-speed fall a couple of years ago, so I tend to be a little more cautious these days.

8. If you could pick any three people to go mountain biking with, who would they be? Why them?

As cheesy as it may sound, I would pick my two kids and my wife. Because a family that rides together gets to share in the joys and challenges of being on the trail, and we can encourage and support and celebrate as a family. Our dog has to come, too. Grace loves going biking and chasing chipmunks.

9. What kind of bike are you riding right now?

A 2016 Transition Scout. Sometimes I just go out in the garage and look at it and smile.

10. What else would you like to tell people?

I hope that everyone who rides recognizes that there are a bunch of people who dedicate a lot of time and effort to making mountain biking the best it can be in Stowe for locals and visitors alike. Please consider joining the Stowe Mountain Bike Club and the Vermont Mountain Bike Association (half the cost of a single-day lift ticket) and participating in trail workdays. It’s a rewarding feeling to ride the trails you help to build and maintain.

The same 10 questions for Finn Murphy, age 12

1. What do you like the most about mountain biking?

The goal of getting stronger every time you do it, and it is just really fun.

2. How did you get involved in the sport?

My dad.

3. How many friends have you persuaded to join you in riding?

None yet.

4. What do you tell them about it?

N/A

5. What other sports do you enjoy?

Downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, soccer and hiking.

6. How does mountain biking compare to those other sports? Is it like skiing or snowboarding?

Yes and no. Mountain biking is like skiing because it is fun when you do it one time, but the next time you do it it is even more fun! It is not like skiing because you do it in the springtime and the fall and you get to do it on a bike, not skis. Also, these sports are similar because I feel really relaxed while I’m doing them both, and both are done outside, which is where I love to be.

7. Do you ever get scared out on the trail — going too fast, or the trail’s too steep or rocky?

Sometimes.

8. If you could pick any three people to go mountain biking with, who would they be? Why them?

My dad, my mom and my sister because we are family.

9. What kind of bike are you riding right now?

Norco Fluid 7.1.

10. What else would you like to tell people?

You can’t spend a lifetime without trying it. It is just that much fun!

10 Questions for Tucker and Andrew Volansky

1. What do you like the most about mountain biking?

Tucker (Andrew's son): What I like the most is the adrenalin and freedom it gives me.

Andrew (Stowe architect): Adrenalin rush.

2. How did you get involved in the sport?

Tucker: How I got involved in the sport was that my mom and dad biked and I got a bike when I was young so I picked it up.

Andrew: I started in junior high (about 1985) when I outgrew my BMX bike and a small mountain bike shop opened up behind the Green Mountain Inn, back when it was just a vacant lot (currently Green Mountain Inn carriage houses).

3. How many friends have you persuaded to join you in riding?

Tucker: I have probably persuaded a few friends but mostly I ride with three or four friends who already rode.

Andrew: Only a few over the years. Mostly I’ve made friends on the trails.

4. What do you tell them about it?

Tucker: I tell them that it is mostly fun and amazing.

Andrew: Just go for it; it’s a great sport.

5. What other sports do you enjoy?

Tucker: Soccer, lacrosse, running and snowboarding.

Andrew: Tele ski, fly fishing.

6. How does mountain biking compare to those other sports? Is it like skiing or snowboarding?

Tucker: Mountain biking compares to the other sports because you need to be fit and they are all technical sports.

Andrew: Quick thinking, imagination (picking the best, most fun line). You get to see some beautiful places.

7. Do you ever get scared out on the trail — going too fast, or the trail’s too steep or rocky?

Tucker: Yes, I get scared sometimes but it is not anything that will stop me from doing it.

Andrew: For sure. I still need to get up the nerve to ride Triple Threat at Perry Hill. 

8. If you could pick any three people to go mountain biking with, who would they be? Why them?

Tucker: Danny MacAskill, Brandon Semenuk and Dylan Conte. They have inspired me, and I learned a lot from Dylan Conte last summer when we rode together.

Andrew: Danny MacAskill, anyone that rides Red Bull Rampage. 

9. What kind of bike are you riding right now?

Tucker: Norco Fluid, full suspension.

Andrew: Transition Bandit.

10. What else would you like to tell people?

Tucker: Do not overthink things.

Andrew: Speed equals balance. Try riding a little faster than you are comfortable riding and see how much more you can do.