My Story
My names Hutch Peace Turner. I grew up in a town called Asheville North Carolina. More specifically a neighborhood called bent creek. What i would call the bike capital of the south. This neighborhood is just outside of the city, and it borders the Pisgah national forest and blue ridge parkway, home of thousands of bike trails. I also grew up in the house across the street from our neighborhood park that had a pump track filled with dirt jumps. You can imagine I spent all of my time here as a kid.
Fast forward to turning 18 and covid hitting. This gave me the perfect opportunity to move out west since high school was online. I worked as a cook at winter park ski resort, where i would have a high school zoom call going on in my pocket lol. And It wasn’t until the following summer that i was introduced to free ride mountain biking. I became obsessed and decided to bail on college. And just at the perfect time, a guy named Alex moved into my neighborhood who built custom airstreams and sprinter vans. I biked past his house every day on my way to the neighborhood trails, and out of curiosity for the 8 airstreams he had in his yard, i introduced myself one day. I asked him what the hell he was doing with 8 airstreams and 3 sprinter vans in his yard?! Out of fate, we became great friends and he taught me how to build airstreams.
After a while I decided to build my own. I bought a 26 ft 1965 airstream and got to work. I gutted the whole thing, and rebuilt it exactly how I wanted. I bought a van to tow it with, so I could store my motorcycle and mountain bikes safely, and also have all my tools with me on the road. The van is my garage and she goes by “Vanna White”.
I then started a remote business management agency so I could make money on the road, and I set off out west. The idea here was to live like a professional mountain biker, on my own dime, on my own time. I couldn’t wait for someone to do it for me, so I made it happen. I’ve always been taught to earn what I want through hard work. Dating all the way back to when I was 10. At just 10 years old, I saw a new gold Haro box bike hit our neighborhood bike shop Carolina Fatz. I told my dad I wanted the bike, and he asked how I planned on getting it. I said “I was hoping you could get it for me”, and he said “Hutch if I buy you this bike, you’ll leave it out at night to get rained on or stolen. But if you buy the bike with your money, you bet your ass you’ll put it inside at night and take care of it”. But my dad didn’t stop there, he then showed me how to use the lawn mower and introduced me to some neighbors who needed their grass cut. Well I mowed lawns for a couple months and bought my first bike at 10 years old. And boy am I proud to say that. That set the tone for the rest of my life. That led me to build the airstream and chase my dreams, because I wasn’t going to wait on anyone to give it to me.
Now heres where things get exciting. At just 19 years old, I was ready to hit the road. I drove the airstream from North Carolina all the way to Utah. Since then I have been to 4 Redbull rampages, 4 green river classics, utahs 900inch winter, and hit every spot I could have ever dreamed of. In one summer i started in Salt Lake City, went up to Jackson hole Wyoming to ride the resort and Teton pass, then drove up to big sky Montana, quick stop in Missoula to wrangle cattle at my cousins ranch, then up to legacy bike park in Lakeside Montana. After that I went all the way up to Revelstoke, and over to Kamloops BC - the sickest bike jumps out there. Then over to whistler, the dream location. Boy did I have a heyday there. I spent a whole month in whistler having the best day ever on repeat. Then over to Squamish to terrify myself on some trail for a couple weeks. Then took a ferry over to Sunshine Coast to ride coast gravity bike park. A legendary spot for free riders. Then I went down he whole west coast. I rode all over Bellingham Washington, plus the trails in glacier. Then toon some time off the bike and cruised down the Oregon coast soaking it all in. Then jumped straight back into it for California. Hitting redwoods, biking and surfing in San fransisico, and doing the same in sant cruz. Man I was impressed with the biking in Santa Cruz. The headed over to Yosemite and sequoia for a little chill time off the bike. Much needed. Then cut through Vegas (I drove the airstream down the strip). And back over to Virgin Utah for rampage, followed by green river classic, back to SLC.
Boy was that a legendary trip. I can say the highlights were meeting and riding with my idols, learning from them, getting to know them personally, and hitting all of my dream spots with people I idolize. I did it, I got to live like a pro. Now I do this full time, still on my dime, growing better every day, every year. Im currently waiting to take off to New Zealand soon. Im gonna spend 3 months there and take a break from snowboarding to try out the endless summer. I will be riding at mcgazza fest, and traveling all around to see the amazing bike spots NZ has to offer.
