In 1990, Gary Erickson set off on a one-day, 175-mile bicycle ride with his buddy Jay. As usual, he packed six energy bars for the ride‚ using the only bar on the market at the time. Halfway through the ride, exhausted and hungry, Gary realized he just couldn't eat another unappetizing, sticky, hard-to-digest bar. Then and there, in a moment he now calls ‚ the epiphany,‚ the inspiration for the CLIF Bar was born.