Archives: Guides

OWNER

Lev brings a long history of cycling to Cog Wild. He started mountain biking at fifteen in Santa Cruz and never looked back. Name a type of cycling and Lev has probably done it. From racing road bikes and DH racing to Freeride trips to Whistler, and everything in between, Lev likes to have fun on a bike. He lives in Bend with his wife Kirin and daughter Nola.

Lev has been riding and maintaining trails in Central Oregon for many years and has intimate knowledge of the trails and road rides. His involvement with the bike community in Bend includes trail adoption and crew leadership with COTA and coaching young riders with Cascadia Junior Cycling.

OWNER

Kirin is co-owner of Cog and wife to Lev Stryker. Kirin loves to geek out on the rich natural and cultural history of Central Oregon. Consider yourself lucky if you get to spend the day riding trails with her on Bend’s scenic trails. 

BEND OFFICE & GUIDE

Sara is a rare Bend native, having grown up riding and racing her bike here in Central Oregon, Oakridge and the coast. She loves to cook, enjoys the local beers and coaching women’s mountain bike clinics.

BEND GUIDE

Russ has lived in Bend for the the past seven years, guiding with Cog Wild for the majority of that time. He loves sessioning new bike parks and traveling to new bike areas. Aside from guiding, Russ is a mountain bike skills instructor, fitness coach, pilates instructor and spin instructor. Follow him on Instagram @pedalfitruss

BEND GUIDE

From Denmark, Pia’s lived numerous places in the States. Maui, Boston, Hood River OR, Bellingham WA and Vail CO have all been home before moving here to Bend. She loves the outdoors, the mountains and Oregon. Mountain biking is her favorite activity along with trail running, skiing, surfing and windsurfing.

BEND GUIDE

Katie started out racing bikes for the University of Arizona in 2013. After graduating she lived in WA and fell in love with loam and everything the PNW trails have to offer. Although, she enjoys every style of riding her heart is with endurance riding, bikepacking and suffer-fests.

Favorite Trail : Farewell

BEND DRIVER

Born & raised in Tacoma, WA, Randy moved to Bend in 2011 and is excited to join the team at Cog Wild. Randy attended Cal State Long Beach on scholarship for swimming, and competed as a water skier for a number of years. He spends his winters in the Palm Springs area riding in the sunshine and warm weather year round, but loves the warm season here in the PNW.

OAKRIDGE GUIDE

He enjoys the diversity of his job. He says it’s a good mix of riding, guiding, spending time outside and meeting interesting people. He says the company culture is positive and that we have the best clients, both attributes that contribute to his passion for Cog Wild.

BEND GUIDE

Erika boasts being Cogwild’s longest serving guide. Infamous for her “Big Balls“, Erika embraces the edge in her mountain biking. When not schooling the younger generation on the trails, Mrs. Schmid instructs the whippersnappers in physics and chemistry. Erika loves riding in Canada and New Zealand but Oregon trails are dearest to her heart.

BEND GUIDE

Jason, aka Big J, brings his passion for cycling and the outdoors to the Cog Wild family. A native Oregonian who has lived in Bend for 14 years, he’s been riding bicycles and motorcycles since an early age. After a short lived basketball career in the late 90’s, he started getting serious about mountain biking, and has not looked back since. Many of his friends call him Big J, and is known to have broken many a bike part. He is a student of Martial Arts, rides his snowboard in the winter, and loves to geek out and modify tuner cars in his free time.