By: Jackson Houdek
A typical day for Dave Benji, a pro mountain biker in Eugene, who spends hours making the most out of local skateparks because there are no jumps dedicated to mountain biking with in 2 hours.
On Tuesday, February 14th, Dave Benji chose to express his love for riding his bike at WJ Skatepark in Eugene. He is well-known among the skatepark community as one of the only people that can ride the steep bowls and ramps on a mountain bike.
Dave maintains intense focus while riding a ramp at WJ Skatepark.
Dave catches air off a run-down slab of concrete at Amazon Parkway, where he first learned to ride his bike as a kid.
Joans Barstad (pictured on the left), got off work Tuesday and drove down from Corvallis to Eugene to ride his bike at the skatepark. It is time consuming for him to make the long drive often, so he was happy to run into Dave, who he hadn’t seen in a long time.
Dave was not held back by the fear of falling and getting injuries like the one on his shin while learning to mountain bike. However, the scariest part was being alone when he fell, which was most of the time.