Meet the Team
New Moon Ski and Bike is a family of dedicated and passionate cross country skiers, cyclists, and outdoor enthusiasts eager to share our knowledge and experience with you.
Founded by Steve and Melisa Morales, New Moon began serving the Nordic skiing community back in 1976 in Hayward, Wisconsin, alongside the fledgling American Birkebeiner® ski race. As the Birkie® grew, so did New Moon. The Birkie®, New Moon, and the fabled Telemark Resort turned Wisconsin's Hayward/Cable area into a world-class XC ski destination. With the mountain biking craze in the late 80s and the early 90s, New Moon added bike sales and service to our repertoire. Today, New Moon is a busy social and retail hub for the ski and bike community. Our mission is simple: provide excellent ski and bike equipment with excellent customer service.
Joel Harrison and Chris Young both began their careers at New Moon with Steve and Melisa Morales in the 90s. With the Morales' retirement in 2005, Joel and Chris bought New Moon and continue New Moon's tradition of excellent customer service to this day. Our passion for Nordic skiing and cycling, as well as our depth of knowledge, is what sets New Moon apart from those other online shops or boutique stores. Everyone here not only works in the Nordic and Cycling fields, they live it - every day.
This is our life, and New Moon is eager to make your experience out on the trails the best ever!
Staff Bios
Joel Harrison
JOEL is co-owner of New Moon, has been at the shop since 2000. A native of Idaho, began his love of cross-country skiing in the USSA program. He continued as a collegiate skier, eventually becoming the Jr. National Biathlon Champion in 1987 and 1989. Although he loves most things about being at the shop, most important to him are the stories he hears daily from customers whose lives have been changed due to biking and skiing. “Don’t wait, life is moving fast!”
Chris Young
CHRIS is co-owner of New Moon. Originally from the Chicago suburbs, he started out as a USSA alpine racer, collegiate ski captain and coach. Later, he began Nordic skiing and racing, fell in love with the sport, and joined the staff of New Moon in 1996. "If you need that one-in-a-million oddball part, ring me up. We like to sweat the details around here, so you don't have to." Chris is our chainsaw and nature expert and can fix anything.
Kristy Harrison
KRISTY is New Moon’s resident jack-of-all-trades-bookkeeping, shipping, and especially keeping everyone on track. She met Joel while attending college and has quite an extensive cross country skiing background, including being coached on the Hayward High School XC ski team by New Moon founder Steve Morales. She enjoys gardening on her hobby farm and reading. She has been venturing out from behind the curtain more and more, but her favorite thing about New Moon is that she can leave whenever she wants.
Judy Young
JUDY has worked at the Moon since Chris and Joel bought the business in 2005. She is the clothing buyer, writes, works on the floor, and makes it her mission that New Moon is a nice, friendly, cheery place to be. When she isn’t adventuring with Chris and their son, Egan, she loves to produce/direct/act in the local theater. Judy is our resident animal rescuer and caregiver and has a soft spot in her heart for all kinds of creatures.
Hannah Burch
"Gliding down freshly groomed trail, with the wind in your hair, there's just an overwhelming sense of peace out there that isn't quite the same anywhere else."
HANNAH has always loved the outdoors, but a few years ago she started skiing and has never looked back. She has introduced several friends to skiing and hopes to continue sharing her passion and technical expertise with New Moon customers. Her hope is to one day ski the Birkie.
Dani Dale
We met DANI through her brother Dusty, and we are so happy to have her as our Floor Manager. Dani will be in charge of keeping the sales floor stocked and looking great as well as doing all things customer service. "My goal working here is to become the best version of myself I can be through living a healthy lifestyle and spreading joy to all people through biking and skiing."
Chris Hecker
New Moon is lucky to have CHRIS on board! He has been racing since middle school and after graduation from the College of Saint Scholastica, he joined the Rex Ski Wax world cup staff as a wax tech. Since then, he has helped many teams earn medals at all levels of competition including, world championships and olympics. Chris has recently joined the US Ski Team as a wax tech and will travel with them on the world cup circuit to multiple race venues. His biggest reward in this industry is helping people find their passion for outdoor sports, some people find that in high end racing and others find it in getting out once or twice a year with family. "Whatever your situation might be we will help you find that passion and get you out on the trails."
Chaney Ilar
CHANEY is one of our amazing shippers! Chaney was born in Hawaii and raised in the Midwest. She participated in skiing and running all through middle and high school. After school, Chaney was active duty in the Navy for 4 years and is currently a member of the reserves. When she is not taking care of our customers' packages, she likes to ski, bike, and hike with her dogs. We are so happy to have Chaney on board and we thank her for her service.
Julie Lindblad
JULIE is New Moon’s Shipping Manager and resident miracle worker/order police. Julie started at the Moon in 2002 and has worked tirelessly to make our shipping department and customer service the best in the industry. Julie likes to ride her bike, sew, garden and loves to visit National Parks. The most important aspect of working at New Moon for Julie is the flexibility and encouragement of all kinds of folks to have fun and exercise in the outdoors.
Daryl McNutt
DARYL is a Hayward native who attended Hayward High School with Kristy and Sydney. After participating in the Chequamegon 40 in 1990 he was hooked on cycling, eventually becoming a founding member of the UW Cycling program. He spent 20 years serving in leadership roles consulting and scaling innovative technology start-ups in the adtech and martech industry as well as racing and riding many of the best routes throughout the Midwest. Having moved back to Hayward permanently in 2016, Daryl is now here full time to lead our marketing efforts and strategic growth planning for the future.
John Nissen
JOHN THE DANE, as we call him, is our resident European who brings an amazing knowledge of skis and ski equipment as well as a bit of culture (and tinned fish) to the New Moon staff. His extraordinary technical skills ensure that your skis are prepared precisely the way you want them for the conditions you ski in. We don't get to see John much in the summer, as he does beautiful landscaping throughout the area, but once the snow flies, he comes back to the Moon – ready for the ski season!
Erin McDade
Erin is our retail floor manager here at New Moon.
Originally from San Diego, she came to Hayward in 2019 for a river guide job. “I quickly learned this is no fly over state!” She has since fallen in love with not only the local rivers, but the abundant access to all things outdoors!
If you're looking for someone to talk adventures with, she’s your girl!
Sydney Ringheim
SYD has been a Moonie since she and Kristy skied for the New Moon team in the '80s! She worked retail at the shop in the '90s and is now back trying to help us wrangle the books. Syd enjoys running, biking, and all kinds of skiing—tele, downhill, water, and, of course, cross country! She coaches the high school boys' and girls' cross country running teams in the fall. Syd is also a business owner and 2nd generation artist making leather handbags and accessories.
Lori Somerville
LORI is New Moon' Marketing/Web Diva. Upping our game on the world wide web and in advertising can be a tricky business, and Lori is doing her best to showcase the New Moon lifestyle to our friends and customers near and far. Working at New Moon means being involved in the outdoors, of course, and Lori has renewed her interest in skiing and biking since she started at the shop. She loves spending time with her family. Warning...she is super-sassy and constantly keeps us all in line.
Mikayla Dale
MIKAYLA considers herself a "jack of all trades, master of none" here at New Moon. She is integral in all departments including: shipping, sales, rentals, and is also a great ski & bike technician. Mikayla loves spending time outdoors biking, skiing, and hiking with her dogs Hope and Ruka.
Dustin Brockway
Dustin is the southern belle of New Moon. Dustin enjoys hot tubs and long walks in the swamp. He’s feisty, scandalous, and occasionally blows up tires. He prefers to be called Papi. When Dustin isn’t under the shackles of New Moon's empire, you won’t be able to find him. Dustin prides himself on his exquisite taste of music which includes Rick James, Eek a mouse, and Shania Twain.
Bomber, Luna, & Frankie
Stop into the shop, and you're bound to be greeted by one of these furry employees. BOMBER is shop dog extraordinaire and has been around fur-ever ;-) He loves to meet customers in the parking lot and will never say no to a scratch, hug, or treat. LUNA and FRANKIE are shop dogs in training, they like customers, but probably like to run and play and wrestle with each other even more (they try to get BOMBER involved, but he's too dignified for much of that nonsense). Sadly, Julie's faithful JOSEY passed away. We all miss her very much.