Tim Davenport (he/him)
Mountain biker, rugby player, swimmer and outdoor enthusiast
Age: 63
City: Bellingham
Lived here for: 22 years
Originally from: Wenatchee/Moses Lake
When did you move to Bellingham?
I lived and worked in Seattle for 20 years after departing college. I worked there for 20 years, did a stint in the Bay Area, and a short period of time in New Zealand, but over the course of those 20 years I lived in Seattle, I always knew where I wanted to live: Bellingham. There’s nothing as beautiful as Bellingham, period.
I came to know of Bellingham while I was living in Seattle, but came to know Bellingham better because I traveled up here to play rugby.
When I say the beauty, it’s the physical beauty that everybody knows, but there’s something about the personalities of the people that live in Bellingham. The general culture is very gentle, enlightened, kind — just beautiful traits.
On outdoor activities:
Bellingham is one of the hotbeds of rugby talent in the United States, especially for a community as small as ours. We have a number of players that are playing and have played for the United States National Rugby Team, and some of the very best players in the United States right now are from Bellingham.
I was a rugby enthusiast for a long time, and I still enjoy the game. I don’t play much anymore. I came here for that, and for mountain biking … This is one of the best places in the world for mountain biking. I like being on trails, and I work for a trail-building company and am a minority owner of TrailBoss … But I most love swimming and the salt water. It’s what I most enjoy. I love running and biking to the beach and practicing yoga and going swimming.
Do you have any advice for folks who are hesitant to get involved in some of those activities, or are maybe nervous about swimming in the bay, biking on the trails or playing rugby?
I was reticent and intimidated by all of it — to play rugby, it took me a long time to actually play. It’s like so many things in life — I feel the fear and I do it anyway and it works just fine. That’s not much advice. There’s no technique there. But for mountain biking on Galbraith, I lived in Bellingham for a number of years before I went up to Galbraith because I would see all of these videos of people doing crazy things and think, “I can’t do that, I’m intimidated by it.” So I wouldn’t go. But, thank goodness, it’s not like that at all. Anybody that can ride a bike can do it on the trails.
I would highly encourage anybody to get involved. There are all levels of riders … and the rugby community — they have a youth program for kids from 4 years old all the way up to 80!
All you need to do is have an interest.
If you could tell a complete stranger one thing about you, what would that be?
I would have to talk about my family growing up. Both my great-grandparents lived in Wenatchee and, of course, my parents are from Wenatchee. I was born on a cherry orchard — the closest to downtown Wenatchee. Well, I was born at the hospital, but I’m pretty sure I was conceived in the cherry orchard. My folks were amazing, completely dedicated to my brother and I. We had a wonderful set of aunts and uncles and cousins and all of that. I just had a wonderful childhood. We’re talking about why I am the way I am, and it’s my parents.
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