Having grown up on Whistler trails his whole life, it may not come as a surprise that Jesse Melamed is one of the top 10 enduro mountain bikers in the world. Yet having the world most developed bike park and hundreds of local trails at his door is only one constant in Jesse’s life equation. 

Jesse grew up in an A-frame home spending every weekend of the summer riding bikes and competing at provincial races. As a child he was resistant to the sport at first and required rewards at the end of family rides. But it wasn’t long before Jesse took to riding and training of his own accord. 

“I made sure that Jesse had that artistic side,” says his mother Uschi. “Because everything in Whistler is about sports, I made both my boys get piano lessons for eight years. They hated me for it when they were young, but I think that’s turned into love now.”

Being raised to work hard for your dreams seems to have paid off for Jesse, not only with mountain biking but with his whole life. His hands glide expertly over the keys whenever he sits down at the family piano at his house. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering while traveling the globe racing the Enduro World Series. Every summer he returns to coach the Whistler Off Road Cycling Association (WORCA) mountain bike camps to pass on his skills and knowledge of the local trails to others.

Even his father benefits from Jesse’s hard work and extensive experience on two wheels, especially with feedback on Ken’s trail building.

“I like to get his opinion on how it rides,” says Ken, a career stonemason who sat on the local council for 13 years before being elected as mayor for two terms “I don’t have the trail experience, I don’t see the trail the same way he does. A couple of times I’ve even convinced him to come help me move some rocks.”