Trailnet Champion: Clint Mohs

We met up with Clint Mohs, a repeat participant in our 2020 scavenger hunts and community rides to ask him a few questions and see just what makes him such a radi-cool supporter of biking in STL.

How long have you been riding a bike in STL? I grew up here, moved around a bunch, and did a ton of riding all over where I was living, then moved back here when my daughter was born. So, I’ve been riding pretty consistently for the last four years around the city.

What got you into biking? Exercising and exploring. In highschool I played sports, but in college I stopped. I also didn’t have a car, so I got a bike to get around town and tapped back into that childhood sense of exploring and self-reliance, and all that stuff.

What kind of riding do you do? I use it mainly for exercise. With my family, we’ll ride to the park, the zoo, the store.  I got a new job recently and my plan was to start commuting this summer now that I was close enough to do so, but then the CoronaVirus happened as my daughter was getting ready to be out of school.  Priorities shifted to taking care of my daughter, working from home, etc.

How’d you get into doing Trailnet scavenger hunts? I found out after signing up for the Trailnet Classics. As these were getting cancelled, I went back on the website and found out about the scavenger hunts as an alternative and thought, “these seem pretty cool.” They’re up my alley with the whole exploring thing, learning new things, learning new routes. I started off with the Bike Month Challenge and had a blast – so much fun.

How has COVID changed the way you bike? I’m riding a lot more because I don’t have the rush to get everyone out of the house; I don’t have the long commute. Been waking up early and riding a lot in the mornings. Also doing so many of the scavenger hunts and learning new routes, or, piecing together new things – keeping it fresh. I knew point A and point B existed, but didn’t have a way to connect them or didn’t think about connecting them until recently.

Why are you such a radi-cool supporter of biking and Trailnet? First off, radi-cool is way cooler than I am – just getting that out there. One of the things that I struggled with coming back to STL was having lived and travelled around other more bike friendly places. I witnessed more openness to having bikes on the roads, which wasn’t my previous experience. Coming back to STL, it seems like a natural thing for me to want to support – people being on bikes in the city.  There isn’t the same population density as most other big cities, we have a ton of sprawl, but if you live within the city you can get anywhere you need on a bike pretty easily. So, for me it’s super easy to want to get behind something like this, and it also makes me happy to see people on trails and on the roads.

Three big reasons you love biking?

Exploring.

Being outside. Riding the same routes over and over, you get a sense of place in seeing it change from day to day, week to week, month to month.

Just feels good. I don’t know… I just like it. It’s fun.