Love at first ride: Adventure family built on biking

MAN sells woman a mountain bike, the rest is history.

Dave and Harry Coombs, SEQ Mountain Bike Series, Wondai.

PROUD father Dave Coombs cheered on his son Harry as he flew over the finish line to win first place in the U13 boy’s at the SEQ Mountain Bike Series in Wondai over the weekend.

He was thrilled, but not surprised, since the Coombs family is built on a foundation of mountain biking.

Mr Coombs, who travelled down from the Gold Coast for a weekend in Wondai with his son, told the South Burnett Times he actually met his wife in a bike shop.

“I was working in the bike shop and she was a customer. It’s pretty cheesy.”

“She was already riding, but I got her into mountain biking.”

This, however, didn’t go as smoothly one would hope, after their first trail as a couple quickly turned disastrous.

“Our first ride together, I just assumed that she would be able to handle the terrain. She flew off the bike and hurt herself pretty early on.”

Harry Coombs, Joshua Dodds and Ewan Harvey took out first, second and third place in the boys U13 at Wondai over the weekend. Photo: Holly Cormack.

Despite the literal rocky start, the Coombs family grew to five, and continued to ride and adventure together through the Gold Coasts most challenging mountain bike trails.

“I joke that all I do is take bikes on and off the bike rack on my car. Or drive to and from competitions,” Mr Coombs said.

“I’ve ridden mountain bikes since I was a kid, so I’ve just always ridden.”

And the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Harry couldn’t get enough of the speedy Wondai trail, which really let him show the crowd what he can do.

“I ride about six times a week,” Harry said, Dave adding that ‘he’d ride six times a day’ if he had the chance.

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