by Alan Snel
On Friday morning, John Gull was out pedaling his gravel bike — a road-style bike with wide tires — in Lamoille about 25 miles from Elko where he crossed paths with Nevada’s newest gubernatorial candidate.
Gull, an ear, nose, throat physician who also opened a bike shop in Elko six months ago, had bumped into Jared Fisher around 9:30 a.m. Friday, The 47-year-old Fisher is biking around Nevada to hear what Nevadans have to say about state government and public issues.
Fisher, who owns two bicycle shops and a bike touring business, is pedaling 14 days and 1,400 miles to meet locals from Las Vegas to Reno..
“I think his ride is a great thing. It shows he’s a regular Joe just like one of us and that he’s an active person,” said Gull, a 43-year-old doctor from Spring Creek and co-owner of Bristlecone Bikes in Elko, a city of about 25,000.
The Elko area is about half-way between Reno and Salk Lake City, about four hours from Reno.
“The bike ride allows him to spend one-on-one time with people and to get to know them as a person,” Gull said.
“It’s important to get to know the character of the person,” said Gull, pictured below. “For him to have come to visit our town on a bicycle was really helpful.”
Gull said a big issue in Elko was getting approvals from the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies to build biking and hiking trails on federal lands.
He said there are a lot of dirt roads, but not enough dedicated trails.
Fisher and his friend, Mark McCann of Phoenix, later met up with Gull for lunch in Elko. McCann is leaving the campaign bike trail and rented a car to drive home to Phoenix.
Gull found out that he and Fisher have some other connections, too. Gull said he attended the same high school as Fisher’s wife, Heather, did in Spanish Fork, Utah. And Gull said he recalled going to Fisher’s bike shop in Moab, Utah when mountain biking there.
In :Las Vegas, Fisher owns Las Vegas Cyclery off the 215 at Town Center Road in Summerlin and Escape Adventure bicycle tours.
Gull said he enjoyed the encounter with the candidate for governor.
“That was pretty cool. I was pretty amazed he would bike that far,” Gull said. “That’s a lot of dedication.”
Fisher has more miles to pedal. He looks to hit the Reno and Carson City area soon.
