Trail Head Cyclery Profile

 

Lars Thomsen has had a passion for riding bikes since kindergarten. He was riding his bike to school by 4th grade. When mountain biking took off in 1983 it was a natural transgression for Lars from BMX to mountain bike, and he started riding the trails in the back country of Los Gatos (before they became the designated trails we know today). John (Lars’ Dad) started mountain biking about the same time as Lars. John soon became a mountain bike fanatic. So much so that he quit his day job as an executive in real estate and trained to be a bike mechanic in Ashland, Oregon. He returned to the Bay Area and began wrenching for Wheelsmith, in Palo Alto.

 

Meanwhile Lars went to UCSB, where he studied Geography, but spent his spare hours riding the gnarly trails in the Santa Barbara hills and working in a local bike shop. When he graduated from UCSB he continued to work in a bike shop as a service manager. One day Lars got a call from his Dad (who was working at Wheelaway, in San Jose) - John was opening a bike shop in San Jose and wanted his son to join him.

 

Lars and his wife, Karen, moved back to the Bay Area in 1996. Lars went to work for Brittans’ Bicycle in Almaden and the search began for a suitable location for the new store. In January 1997 the Thomsen family had found the perfect spot, and within another 3 months, in March 1997, Trail Head Cyclery opened. The name “Trail Head” was chose by Lars; and the shop motto “a friendly, knowledgeable staff that love to ride and doesn’t have an attitude” was created by John.

 

When they are not working in the shop, Lars and John still spend a lot of time on the trails. Lars rides an Intense Tracer. His all-time favorite trail is Little Pine Mountain in Santa Barbara. His favorite local trail is Saw Pit (SDF). John rides an S-Works Enduro. His favorite local trail is Nisene Marks, but prefers Almaden Quicksilver for training rides.

 

Stop at Trail Head for friendly, high quality service from people who treat every bike as if it were their own.

 

 

 

 

 

Trail Head Cyclery

14450 Union Avenue, San Jose, CA 95124

Tel: (408)369-9666; www.trailheadonline.com.