Decline Magazine Article

Incase you never read this waaaay back when.. here is a Q&A article Decline ran on Tyler of Twenty6 and myself.

Machine Heads!

HAVING THE ABILITYTO CREATE VIRTUALLY ANYTHING AT THEIR FINGERTIPS,
GREG PARISH AND TYLER JAROSZ WORK AT MACHINE SHOPS THAT MAKE MOUNTAIN BIKE PARTS.

WORKING FOR STRAITLINE COMPONENTS, GREG HAILS FROM THE COUNTRY OF THE MAPLE LEAF,
THE NORTH SHORE AND MOLSONBEER. HE’S OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER WHAT GOT US HERE BUT
YOUNG ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEREWE ARE GOING.

TYLER IS A FULLBLOODED AMERICAN YOUNGSTER FROM BIG SKY COUNTRY IN MONTANA. HE RUNS HIS OWN
COMPONENT COMPANY, TWENTY6 PRODUCTS, LOVES HEAVY METAL, BIG TRUCKS AND STEEP LIPS.

HERE’S A JOURNEY INTO THE MINDS OF THESE MACHINE HEADS.

NAME: Greg Parish
OFFICIAL JOB TITLE: Marketing & Brand Development
COMPANY: Straitline Components
<26 Questions> Two Industry Inquiries

NAME: Tyler Jarosz
OFFICIAL JOB TITLE: Owner, Machinist, Designer
COMPANY: Twenty6 Products

<26 Questions> Two Industry Inquiries

1. What is the first thing you think about when you wake
up?
GREG: Something that I forgot to do or have to do –
usually business.
TYLER: Which trail I’m going to rip before I head to the
shop.

2. What is the last thing you think about before you go to
sleep?
GREG: Do I have enough pillows on this bed?
TYLER: How may things I didn’t quite finish in the day and
what I have to get done the next day in order to fit a
ride in.

3. Do you ride left- or right-foot forward?
GREG: Right.
TYLER: Right.

4. When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
GREG: The future…
TYLER: I see someone who is passionate, hard working,
driven and full of life.

5. Energy drink or coffee?
GREG: Gatorade is as wild as I get. Some energy drinks
make my heart feel like it is going to blow up just from
sneezing.
TYLER: Coffee!

6. When you enter a crowded room, a theme song
begins to play: What song?
GREG: Send me an Angel by Real Life from the movie
RAD: “You over-rotated!” No Shit. You know it!
TYLER: California Love by Tupac and Dr. Dre.

7. Do you check tire pressure with a gauge or by feel?
GREG: Feel.
TYLER: No time to check them with a gauge, too many
parts to manufacture before I go ride…by feel of course.

8. What would you do if you had only one more day to
live?
GREG: Depends if everyone had just one day left and no
one cared or would I just embarrass my family name by
admitting what I would do? Probably just file my taxes.
TYLER: I would not make it into the shop that day. I would
spend time with family and friends.

9. Who invented the mountain bike?
GREG: I could just Google this and look smart and
stuff…Leonardo Da Vinci? Devinci Bikes uses his name
because he is the man, right?
TYLER: The first pioneers who ventured off-road with
bicycles.

10. What motto would you write on your top tube?
GREG: Nuts off!
TYLER: Flow.

11. When was the last time you patched a tube?
GREG: I put in new tubes. Remember when you would
use bad ones under your skateboard for ollies?
TYLER: Last fall, I was deep in the hills of the Tobacco
Root Mountains in Montana rippin’ this trail I call Sick
Creek and ended up pinch-flatting near the bottom.
I was having such a blast that when I got back to my
truck I ripped the rear tire off my bike, threw on a patch
(no tubes because they were given away to friends on
previous rides), and ran back up the trail to finish where I
left off. Lesson learned: When you are 17 miles deep on
a shotty dirt road, be prepared.

12. What’s the next piece of bike technology that needs
improved?
GREG: Derailleurs and gear drives.
TYLER: Drivetrain.

13. Who’s your favorite NASCAR driver
GREG: I only know Ricky Bobby and Tom Cruise, but Tom
sucks.
TYLER: What is NASCAR? Is that the sport where the drivers
only turn left and the viewers eat potato chips all day
and watch the cars race around in circles?

14. Who has the best shifter, Shimano or SRAM?
GREG: I’m not into openly dissing a firm but personally I’m
digging SRAM.
TYLER: SRAM, keep it simple with 1:1 ratio.

15. Have you ever worn Lycra with underwear
underneath?
GREG: That is just straight-up odd. That would be like
putting your short-sleeved club shirt on over a jacket.
TYLER: Yes, back in the day when I raced cross-country
and I did not know any better.

16. Five websites you visit every day?
GREG: declinemagazine.com, sickliness.com, nsmb.com,
pinkbike.com and easternfront.com.
TYLER: pinkbike.com, sicklines.com, mcmastercarr.com,
mscdirect.com, yahoo.com

17. Who is the funniest person you know?
GREG: My boss, Dennis, is the smartest dude I have ever
met but he is a walking Homer Simpson.
TYLER: My home boy, Mike Tlusty.

18. In a MTB race of generations who would win?
GREG: To keep everything authentic, Sam Hill, because
today we have Red Bull and Tomac would have to drink
Jolt Cola!
TYLER: I would have to say that today’s aggressive
riders have an edge over past generations due the
overwhelming progression of the sport.

19. What’s the strangest item you’ve purchased online?
GREG: I came home one night for some classic drunk
eBay and won the bid for a stethoscope.
TYLER: Aluminum mobster-style briefcase complete with
handcuff and chain.

20. Favorite Will Ferrell movie?
GREG: Anchorman, for sure: “I don’t know how to put
this, but I am kind of a big deal.”
TYLER: Anchorman, of course.

21. Place you call home?
GREG: Victoria, Vancouver Island, B.C.
TYLER: Anywhere in Montana, rippin’ down some sick
singletrack.

22. Place you call hell?
GREG: I have repetitive dreams of being on a ski hill and
I can’t get a locker open and my board is inside. So for
me, it is something you can see but not have.
TYLER: When I am stuck behind my computer for hours on
end without being able to go out to the shop and make
chips.

23. Favorite type of riding?
GREG: Street or any classic mountain bike photo with
a meadow of flowers where you can ride freely with
underwear over or under your Lycra.
TYLER: It is a toss up between dirt jumps and flowy
singletrack. It depends on my mood and trail conditions.

24. Last time you surprised yourself?
GREG: Two months ago, at age 30, I finally realized
February had two Rs and my computer wasn’t just on
American spelling.
TYLER: What time is it right now…just kidding. This past
winter while backcountry snowboarding, I went down
the wrong face of the mountain and ended up in a
drainage, causing me to post hole back up the slop I
just shredded. The scary thing about the situation was
that I could only talk to my partner on the radio but
could not pinpoint how to get to him without hiking out
where I went down. In addition, I had made three other
runs on different slopes so I was beat tired and dusk was
closing upon me fast. I thought for sure I was going to
be walking out in the dark, but I dug deep and put one
foot in front of the other and made it out.

25. Last time someone surprised you?
GREG: That’s a toss up between the shop guys rolling
cigar-thick firecrackers under the bathroom door or
them just kicking in the door to shoot me with Airsoft
Guns.
TYLER: When Mark Jordan asked me to be in the 26
Questions section!

26. Last meal request?
GREG: Bottomless spaghetti so that I’d gain so much
weight the rope would snap – then I’d run off.
TYLER: Spring Chicken Chimichanga from Santa Fe Reds.