Athlete Series: Growing Up on Teton Pass as a Teton Passrat by Myles Nardi

I have grown up on Teton Pass.  My very first time riding my bike on the pass I was 5 years old.  I had a 20” Rocky Mountain hard tail.  I went with my Uncle and my Dad.  At that time not a lot of kids rode the downhill trails on the pass.  I could make it down Jimmy’s and Parallel, but rode around all the obstacles. When I turned 6 I got the smallest full suspension bike they made, a 20” Norco fluid.  I started to hit some jumps like the first two in the 4-pack.  I crashed hard trying to pull out of the third jump one day. I pretty much stayed in that comfort zone until I got a bigger bike the following year.

I upgraded to a 24” Commencal Clash.  More kids started riding the pass with us including Walker Bender, Harlan Jeffries, Spencer Hundley and Bennett Feinberg.  I started hitting more obstacles on the pass, like the candy land step up, car to gnar, and nasa jumps.  I continued to progress and eventually hit everything on the pass except the canyon gap. I saw Walker and Bennett hit it when they were 10 years old.  I wanted to hit it but gaging the speed on my 24” bike was scary. I kept running into it over and over again but didn’t hit it.  My Dad says I rolled into it over 40 times over the years.

I outgrew my 24” bike so we were looking for a 27.5 inch bike. We found a Commencal Clash 27.5 extra small used and that was a giant confidence boost.  The next week we went up with Bennett and Walker. I did a run into it and it felt good so Walker and Bennett towed me into it and I sent it.  I was 9 at that time.

Walker and I were riding the pass so often that our Dads started calling us “passrats.”  And the name stuck.  Our crew is the Teton Passrats!  Cy Whitling drew us a logo and we made jerseys and stickers for fun.   We added a camping loveseat to the back of my dad’s truck, installed a tailgate pad, and a hitch rack.  It makes for a pretty sweet shuttle rig.

I got to see Rowdy Flow spin a 360 the first time I met him.  A couldn’t believe how dipped Gus Lowham could get his nac-nacs (The nac-nac involves the rider taking one foot off the pedal while the bike is sideways in the air).

We’ve run into moose on Fuzzy Bunny, a bear on Lithium, and saw a tree get struck by lightning.

I’m always crazy excited to see Harlan Hottenstien’s truck parked at the 4-pack in early spring.  And to hear what trail improvements are next on the list.

I am very grateful to have grown up on Teton Pass as a Teton Passrat.

Thank you Teton Freedom Riders, thank you Friends of Pathways, and thank you Teton Pass.