Passion Driven

On the Founding of Ride The Whites 

Like many great businesses, Ride The Whites had humble beginnings. The story starts in 2016, when Andrew Drummond launched what would become White Mountain Ski Co (originally called Ski The Whites) in a small room on the slopes of Black Mountain Ski Area. Driven by his passion for skiing and his frustration with the available equipment, Andrew built his ski business around finding the best gear for the unique terrain near Mount Washington. 

The bike division, likewise, wasn't born from grand ambitions or market research—it started out of necessity. After a couple of successful years growing the ski business, the shop had outgrown its original space on the slopes of Black Mountain Ski Area in New Hampshire. The move to the current location on Main Street in Jackson, meant bigger rent but also bigger opportunities—and bigger financial pressures. His solution was practical: rent space to a bike mechanic and add e-touring and e-bikes to the rental fleet. What began as a simple way to help pay the bills would eventually become something much more significant. And when his original mechanic decided to expand his business elsewhere, employee Chris Wilke stepped up to take over the bike operations.

Chris grew up in Massachusetts with a father who loved bikes. For his seventh birthday, the family surprised Chris with a bike far nicer than he’d ever dreamed. If he was going to have nice things, his dad taught him, he’d have to make sure he took care of them. “He showed me how to work on bikes,” Chris said. “And he was someone who had a pretty strong attention to detail.”

As a teenager, Chris got the “BMX itch.” The bikes were fun, affordable, and easy to work on. To support his biking habit, his parents pushed him to get a job. “Pretty much the first day I could legally work I was in the local bike shop working,” said Chris, “sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, learning little tidbits here and there.” He was also endlessly modifying his components to suit the local terrain. Soon he had a bike “that could only be afforded by a kid who worked a million hours in a bike shop and knew the nitty gritty behind each part.” 

Over the years Chris worked at various bike stores and was lucky enough to have a few great mentors, shop owner Dave Drumm, among them. 

In 2020, Chris was managing a bike shop in Pittsfield Mass when he made his first trip to ride in the Mount Washington valley. Blown away by the scene, he started traveling north as often as he could. “The trails near me were pretty old school and pretty flat,” said Chris. “There just wasn’t a young group of people pressing. Then I came up here and it’s sort of just my dream set of trails and an amazing community of riders. Every time I came back here they were working on new trails. I never wanted to be a part of something so badly.” 

Chris met Andrew one day while out backcountry skiing on Mount Washington. “I had just finished skiing a weird line called Stove Pipe, off Boott Spur, and ran into Andrew on Hillman’s Highway,” said Chris. This was 2021 and Andrew had just moved into the current store location on Main Street. “That summer I helped one of his employees fix his bike on the trail and ended up swinging by the shop,” he said. “I would eventually send him a message that read, ‘If you ever need any help...’”

Chris quickly became a trusted employee in the shop. His equipment knowledge was encyclopedic. With his background as a mechanic, he was the obvious choice to move into the space left when the previous mechanic left. His initial setup was a bike stand in the corner of the already cramped ski and run shop, with a few products up on the wall behind him. He expanded into the basement for more space to work on bikes, but once word got out, even that wasn’t enough. 

“Chris had built up a great reputation in skiing and working retail here, but he just exploded once all the people who needed a modern mechanic for high end mountain bikes found out about him,” said Andrew. “When word gets out that you're a great mechanic, it’s viral.” 

Pressed for space due to the ever expanding business, Andrew toured locations in North Conway with local real estate developer Alec Tarberry. He sent Chris pictures of a banged up garage space. “There was oil splattered on the walls and it needed a lot of work,” said Chris, “but I saw the potential.” 

After months of working on the space, Ride The Whites opened its doors on May 1, 2025, offering bike sales, service, and rentals built for the trails that start right outside its double garage doors on the slopes of Cranmore Mountain Resort. “It’s way busier than I ever imagined,” says Chris. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive.”

That early success is about more than location—it’s rooted in philosophy. The shop’s handpicked inventory reflects a lesson Chris took from his mentor, Andrew: carry only what you believe in.

“One thing Andrew really instilled in me is to carry only products I genuinely love,” Chris says. “They don’t always have the best margins, but if you believe in something, it’s so much easier to sell—and it’s going to be way more successful than pushing some BS product you don’t really like. What I want to do here is narrow down the options for people, based on my own experience and the terrain we ride. At the end of the day, I just love this stuff.”

Almost on cue, a customer named Jim walked through the door and grinned at Chris. “Those wheels and tires you sold me changed my life,” he said.