"I felt like that was not only unusual for my age, but also because I was a girl, and there weren’t any little girls hanging out at bike shops.” Heather Casey noticed that difference early, and it stayed with her. It shaped how she moved through cycling spaces and, years later, how she and her partner, Pat Casey, built Peak State Fit, a place where bike fitting, coffee, and conversation exist together, and where people are met with care rather than expectation.

“Bikes can change a day and sometimes a life. They get you outside, quiet the mind, and give families a reason to spend a whole afternoon together.” This simple belief has guided Contender Bicycles owner and operator Ryan Littlefield since the day he first stepped into the business back in the late 1980s when the shop was located in Sandy, Utah. What began as a part-time job soon became a lifelong calling. Today, Contender Bicycles has become an essential part of the rhythm of Salt Lake City’s 9th & 9th neighborhood.