A little while back I closed an eight-year chapter of my life. Since then, one question has followed me around every lift line and every drive to the mountain:
If I could build this again, what would I put first?
Not a launch. Not a plan. Not a five-year roadmap.
A day. Somebody's day.
So that's where Harwood starts. For the 2026-27 season we are doing exactly one thing: putting people on ski bikes in Park City. No noise, no promises, no specs to argue about. Just the handlebars, the mountain, and a run you'll rave about during aprés.
Why rentals, and why that's the whole point
I've spent my career on the supply side of outdoor sports, marketing skis, helmets, eyewear, touring gear, bike suspension, and building a sport from zero. The moments that actually stuck with me were never the launches. They were watching someone who'd written off winter get to the bottom of a run with their hands shaking in joy and a grin they couldn't put away.
That's the product. The bike is just how you get there.
Starting with rentals means the only thing we can be judged on this season is whether you had a good day. That's a good kind of pressure. It keeps us honest, it keeps us close to riders, and it keeps us well informed for anything we may build later on.
Others first isn't a slogan here. It's the business model.
Why Park City, Utah
Because it's the easiest place in the country to get the best full winter experience.
The snow shows up whether it's an El Niño year or not. Epic and Ikon both live here. You can be on the mountain thirty minutes after your plane lands and there are several ski bike friendly resorts within an hour's drive. The food is good, the beds are good, and Woodward gives a family a place to start slow without spending three hundred dollars a head to find out if they like it.
A ski bike removes most of what makes skiing and boarding hard in the first place. No ski boots. No three days of falling before the first good turn. No lesson required before you're allowed to have fun. If you can ride a bike, you can ride this. That's not a marketing line. It's just true, and it's why I’m building the future of my life around it.
Why I think I've earned the right to hand you the handlebars
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PSIA-AASI certified instructor at 15 years old
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10 years as sponsored freeskiing athlete
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Marketing at 4FRNT Skis, Native Eyewear, Pret Helmets, Trust Performance, and Daymaker Touring
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Eight years building SNO-GO and helping turn ski biking into a recognized winter sport
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R&D on SNO-GO products
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Wrote the PSIA-AASI course for SNO-GO / Type III ski bikes, and taught it to over 100 resort employees
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Personally instructed more than 1,000 riders
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Created the Lifted Riders adaptive program
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Created SNO-GO Hot Laps and SNO-GO Fest events
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Brought ski bikes to the mainstream through some of the most recognized mountain bike athletes in the world
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Worked with those athletes to land the first tricks, flips and off-axis rotations in the sport
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Eight years studying mountain bike performance, and a standing habit of listening to the best riders on the hill.
I put that list here for one reason. Not to impress anybody, but to tell you that when I say relax, you've got this, I'm not guessing. I've stood at the top of that first run with a thousand people from never-evers to world champions. I know what it looks like right before it clicks.
Come ride.
In the 26-27 season I'll be hosting days at Park City and Brighton where you can ride with me and other ski bike enthusiasts. No lesson fee, no catch. Rent a bike or bring your own. Just show up and we'll go.
Spots are limited by how many bikes I can rent out, so I'm not announcing the dates publicly first. Put your name on the list below and you'll hear about them before anyone else.
Bring somebody who thinks winter isn't for them. That's the whole idea.
See you up there.
Rob Aseltine
Founder
Harwood Ski Bikes