A 12-time national mountain-bike champ who rides trails around the world won a different kind of honor back home Monday.
Paul Bass Photo
Stunt man at City Hall with plaque, Hausladen.
The champ, Mike Steidley, received the honor at New Haven City Hall from Mayor Toni Harp and city transportation chief Doug Hausladen, in the form of a proclamation. The proclamation declared Monday “Mike Steidley Day” in New Haven.
“Directly after winning his 12th National Trails Championship, Mike Steidley came back to his hometown, New Haven, and went into total beast mode,” the proclamation read in part.
Steidley travels the world (23 countries at last count) holding stunt shows and competing in professional trials on his mountain bike. He makes a living at it. (Read more about that here.) The city native learned how to ride a bike as a teenager living in a suburb that begins with the letter G. “I always enjoyed the challenge of getting up and over an obstacle,” he said. He later returned to Westville, where at 33 he lives today. “I travel all around the globe,” he said, “but New Haven’s always been home.”
He loves plying his trade in the city, he said. But unlike the kids pulling wheelies while riding against traffic on Whalley Avenue, “I tend to play more on the rocks and the urbanscapes as opposed” to in the road, he said. (Click on the play arrow at the top of the story to hear more of what he had to say.)
Steidley said he planned to celebrate Mike Steidley Day by hitting Pepe’s for a pie. This video shows some of what Steidley is up to when he’s not receiving proclamations in his name at City Hall or having dinner on Wooster Street.
T. Larkin Photo