How I Built a Path to Happiness on Two Wheels

It started with a simple goal: I wanted my son to learn to ride his balance bike. For whatever reason, he just wasn't interested yet. Curious, I asked other parents with two-year-old's gliding around on bicycles how they got their kids to ride. Their answer shocked me in its simplicity: "They learn faster by watching their parents having fun on a bike." Excitement struck that day. An idea was planted, and it soon began to sprout. Choosing a path that brings joy is a core value of mine, and I would like to share this journey with you.

Finding the Right Alignment

If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that simple decisions are rarely an option. I couldn’t just pick any ole bike to teach my son with. I needed to be happy and proud of the bike I was going to ride. To narrow my options, I put my industrial design degree to use and identified parameters to guide my choice. First, I had to know who I planned to ride with and what kind of riding they liked. Since it was my first bike ever, I couldn’t know for sure what I would enjoy; I could only speculate from life experience. Owning a 2005 Yamaha R6 sport motorcycle naturally pulled me toward a road-style bike, something that carves the asphalt in the same manner.

After talking to potential riding partners, opinions were split between trails and road. Is there a bike that can do both? I’ve tried finding dual-purpose solutions before, and believe me, it's easier to just buy for the intended purpose. Rather than spending too much time researching, I decided it would be more fun to get hands-on and feel the feedback from different bikes. I borrowed a custom-built gravel bike, a cross-country (XC) race bike, and a full-suspension mountain bike as my basis to start with.

After a few hours on each, my body helped decide. Each bike had it's pros and cons, but for now, the hardtail mountain bike felt like the best fit. The bigger tires and suspension gave me confidence and were much more forgiving of my body and my lack of technical riding skills.

Letting Instincts Take Over

As I reached my final choice, I began looking for a bike to build. Then, unexpectedly, the perfect bike was passed on to me. A dear friend gave me his first XC race bike: a 2013 Specialized Carve Pro 29 in red, white, and black. It was top of the line in its day and is still a very good starter bike. But for what I plan to use it for, it needed a bit of the "Michi touch" to make it mine, matching form and function to my preferences.

A closer look at the gift that started it all: the 2013 Specialized Carve Pro 29. It has great bones, but the aggressive, stretched-out XC geometry doesn't fit the technical trails I want to ride. This photo shows the bike in its original form before adding the "Michi touch", swapping parts to fix the posture, maximize rear weight transfer, and match my riding style.

I’ve customized everything from cars to motorcycles to homes, but this bike build was one of the most enjoyable and relaxing projects I’ve had in a long time. What changed? I stopped letting fear weigh me down. I stopped worrying about making wrong choices, reconnected with my curiosity, and did what felt right. The lessons I gained were money well spent.

After riding the Memorial Park trails, my first upgrades were a PNW dropper post and handlebar setup. A dropper post drops the seat out of the way so you can use your legs as additional suspension over roots, drops, and descents. I wanted more than 150 mm of travel, but the bike’s 27.2 mm seat post diameter limited me to about 110 mm of stable height. Even though this bike didn’t have internal routing for the dropper post, I was still able to neatly route it to a matching PNW bearing remote lever. The remote lever had the option of a moss green color scheme, so I chose that to match the green grips that were on the bike. It wasn’t an exact match until I saw that PNW made matching grips. Yep, like a kid in a candy store, I opted to make it match.

This PNW dropper post represents letting go of the fear of making wrong choices and just enjoying the build. A close-up on the component that completely changed the ride: the 27.2mm seat post diameter limited me to 110mm of travel, but it still solves the biggest problem by dropping the seat out of the way so my legs can act as suspension.

Close-up of the handlebar showcasing the PNW Loam Lever Gen2 dropper post remote. Built with a sealed bearing and adjustable reach, I chose it in moss green, fully embracing the 'kid in a candy store' vibe to match the grips perfectly.

The XC handlebar had too long a reach and shifted my weight forward, great for XC racing, but bad for posture and technical trails where you need to shift weight to the back wheel. I used a 35 mm stem to reduce reach by a little over two inches and swapped the narrow XC bar for an 800 mm wide bar with a 38 mm rise. The handlebar's built-in riser added height to further aid in weight shifting when needed. After researching different widths and testing grip positions on the uncut bar, I finally trimmed it to 760 mm.

The remedy. Notice how the 38mm rise and short stem work together to pull the cockpit back. After testing, I trimmed these PNW Gen 4 Aluminum bars from 800mm down to 760mm.

Tight shot on the Fifty-Fifty 35mm stem. I chose this specific upgrade to shorten my reach by over two inches, making it much easier to get my weight over the back wheel.

Although professional bike fit services exist, figuring it out by feel helped me deeply understand my design and setup choices. I enjoyed researching why people choose certain sizes and testing how those choices apply to me. Plus with free returns it makes it easy to try parts before committing.

Some people may not feel confident knowing what is quality, but you don’t need to be an expert: if you place inexpensive and expensive parts side by side, it's easy to spot the quality differences. When in doubt, I suggest handling the priciest part first to feel the features, then compare it with the cheapest to learn the difference. For this build, I chose a paint finish that blended into the bike but stands out to those who know what to look for. Parts with alignment marks and torque specs engraved on them made it much easier to install than to measure and look up manuals. Lastly, I reminded myself this is a learning bike that will be bashed around; there was no need to splurge on the absolute best parts.

Listening to the Body’s Feedback

On the next ride, we rode the Pearland Bike Park. This was one of the most brutal rides, not because the terrain was difficult, but because I rode with my legs cramping for the second half (9 miles) of the ride. As someone who studies physical tension, I knew I had to look at the variables causing this stress. I assumed a few things contributed to the cramps: the cassette (cluster of multiple sprocket gears), a lack of water, and a bad derailleur.

During the ride, I had difficulties staying in other gears that would have made it easier on my legs. It felt like the chain was slipping, so I was stuck in a lower gear that completely taxed my muscles out. The chain was 13 years old, so I changed that first, while also swapping the XC cassette for a better trail gear ratio. Another exciting moment of this build was when I saw a gold chain option and thought, this is going to be awesome.

The parts came in and I got to installing. In the process, I learned about tuning a derailleur and sizing a bike chain. When I was done, it still had the slipping feel, and after a bit of frustration, I found the root issue. I ended up replacing the rear derailleur with a lower-line, but still robust one, for the intent of bashing. This one was definitely heavier than the original, but that didn’t matter to me since I am not trying to save every bit of weight.

An awesome new setup featuring KMC X10 Ti gold chain paired with a Shimano DEORE RD-M5120 rear derailleur and a Shimano DEORE CS-M4100-10 10-speed cassette, ensuring smooth, stylish, and bash ready rides.

On the third ride, we rode the Sugar Land pump track and park. This ride we focused on learning how to pump the bike through the trails to maintain speed. This trail didn’t have roots, so it helped remove one technical aspect of riding. After the ride, I definitely wanted a more tunable front fork. Because of the lack of tuning ability, I wasn’t able to test the suspension's reaction and adjust it to my liking.

The original fork on this bike was a Fox Float 32 Evolution series. The suspension's damper design was considered the biggest downfall on the bike, and since then, suspension technology has improved drastically. I can either rebuild my existing fork with a newer damper or opt for a modern design. At the time of this writing, I haven't committed to a path yet, but I'm leaning toward replacing it with a RockShox Recon RL 29 for simplicity and a more robust build. As curious as I am to want the experience of the rebuild, I believe getting back to the trails is more appealing.

Building Our Own Happiness

What started as a simple motivation to teach my son has blossomed into a beautiful journey of building, continuous learning, and active outdoor memories with my family. As an industrial designer, I’ve always been wired to look at the world through the lens of form and function. But through my work in wellness and bodywork, I’ve learned that the exact same principles apply to our lives and our health. When things feel heavy, restrictive, or out of alignment, whether it's a tight muscle, a stressful routine, or a bike handlebar with too long a reach, we have the power to step back, analyze the feedback, and make intentional adjustments.

Every adjustment I made on this bike was a lesson in choosing the path that builds happiness. I learned to stop letting the fear of making wrong choices weigh me down. I traded perfection for a rugged, robust setup that is uniquely mine, built to handle a few bumps along the way.

Today, my bike is dialed in, and I'm back on the trails, actively sharing the pure joy of movement with my little boy. He now has a front-row seat to his dad having fun, and I know it won't be long before he's right there gliding alongside me. Happiness isn't a destination we find; it's something we intentionally build, piece by piece, adjustment by adjustment.

Trail-ready transformation: A converted XC race bike stands poised for rugged terrain adventures, built for durability and performance.