The History of Mountain Biking 2014.Bak

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FROM THE MAKERS OF

PIONEERS, RADICALS, CHAMPIONS, MADMEN AND MYSTICS

THE ULTIMATE OFF-ROAD ICONS

CALIFORNIAN DREAMERS

KLUNKERS, REPACK RACES AND THE

BIRTH OF THE MTB

Revolutionary bikes, game changing gadgets, weird innovations and more

Bike evolution

THE STORY OF MOUNTAIN BIKING AS TOLD BY THE PEOPLE WHO WERE THERE

GARY FI S H E R

HAN S R EY

STEVE PEAT

B R ETT TI PPI E

C HAR LI E K E LLY

JAC QU I E PH E LAN

ROB WAR N E R

R IC H I E S C H LEY

MARTI N HAWYE S

Editors letter | Welcome 3

Iwas a relative late comer to the mountain bike party, buying my first off-road machine, a Scott Tampico, from Bike Tech a long since deceased Bristol shop in 1994. With that bike I explored the (then) semi-legal Bristol trails of Ashton Court and Leigh Woods, the Mendips, the Quantocks and the

mountains of south Wales. Ill admit scoffing at the notion of (first) front and (later) rear suspension, until realising that my elastomer-enabled comrades were not suffering whitefinger on rocky descents and crucially riding a hell of a lot faster!

The immense buzz of hammering up and down trails hasnt diminished over the years, due in part to todays incredible bikes and purpose-built bike parks allowing us to ride faster and harder than ever before. With the current vogue for slacker angled bikes and increasingly popular enduro events, bizarrely, aspects of modern bikes and riding now begin to resemble the early Californian riders blasting down the trails of Mount Tam.

Richard OwenEditor

WELCOME

MEET THE EXPERTS

Tym Manley As founding father and former editor of Mountain Biking UK magazine, Tyms infamously mischievous

yet detail hungry and accuracy addicted approach helped popularise the sport. His influence remains just as strong to this day having until recently been the founder and editor-at-large of Privateer magazine.

Steve Worland has worked in the mountain bike industry since the beginning and reviewed over 2,000 bikes during the past 25 years. Hes

contributed features on a regular basis to most bike magazines, past and present. He was launch editor of What Mountain Bike and is author of The Mountain Bike Book.

Steve Behr is the most experienced and well connected bike photographer on the planet, shooting features for MBUK since its

inception. His bottomless archive contains every significant bike and rider since dirt day one and his images are still creating icons from the latest heroes. He earned his place in the UK MTB Hall of Fame in 2013.

Jacquie Phelan was at the heart of the Marin county MTB movement, and is an excellent rider. She was national champ 1983-85, beating the

men, and rode for the US national team 1990-94. She co-founded NORBA and set up WOMBATS (Womens Mountain Bike & Tea Society), helping get women into MTB.

Guy Kesteven While Repack riders were revolutionising riding, our Kes was ricocheting around the woods of Yorkshire. Since 1997

this rabid rider has reviewed literally thousands of bikes for MBUK and What Mountain Bike to make him one of the worlds most respected velocipede voices.

Andrew Dodd has been an integral part of the MBUK staff since 2001. Not only an expert rider, Doddy also has an exceptional knowledge

of the MTB scene and travels the globe following the hottest off-road stories.

4 MTB history | Contents

EDITORIAL Editor Richard Owen [email protected] Deputy Editor Elizabeth Elliott Art editors Tina Glencross, Cliff Newman Designer Matthew Hammett Staff writer Simon Lock Contributors Martin Astley, Steve Behr, Wende Cragg, Andrew Dodd, Grant Fielder, Gary Fisher, Aidan Harding, Danny Hart, Martin Hawyes, Glen Jacobs, Charlie Kelly, Siobhan Kelly, Guy Kesteven, Brian Lopes, Tym Manley, Matt Page, Steve Peat, Jacquie Phelan, Hans Rey, Richie Schley, Greg Tippie, Donna-Marie Scrase, Rob Warner, Andy Waterman, Robin Weaver, Steve Worland

ADVERTISINGSenior Ad Manager Richard Hemmings Ad Manager Adrian Miles Sales Executive Charlie Lister Bath Sales Director Clare Coleman-Straw

COVER IMAGESSteve Behr & Wende Cragg

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06 The foundations of MTB

22 Repack races

26 MTB icon: Joe Breeze

28 Interview: Wende Cragg

34 MTB icon: Gary Fisher

36 The US scene

46 MTB icon: Jason McRoy

48 Evolution: Cross-country

52 MTB icon: Steve Peat

54 The UK scene

70 Evolution: Downhill

74 MTB icon: Anne-Caro Chausson

76 The story of suspension

86 MTB icon: Ned Overend88

76

06

46

Image: Steve Behr

Contents | MTB history 5

106

146

124

88

88 UK racing: A house divided

98 MTB icon: Hans Rey

100 Evolution: Freeride106

104 MTB icon: Froriders 104

106 Dirt jumping, street and trials

116 MTB icon: Jacquie Phelan

118 Evolution: Enduro

122 MTB icon: John Tomac

124 The 90s explosion

136 How bikes got better

146 The past 10 years

6 MTBs foundations | Mythical beasts

Forty years ago in California three men began the mountain bike revolution. The story has been told, retold, revised and embellished many times until its become the official foundation myth of MTB

In 1969, at the end of the summer of love, the hippy aristocracy who had been powering Californias curious and surprisingly short social revolution left the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco en masse,

disillusioned by the Manson murders and the killing at the Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont. Much that they had thought was leading to a bright new future was turning rotten in their hands, and a lot of them took refuge in the hills to get away from the cops, the cars and the concrete not to mention the hordes of latter-day hippies from all over the world who were pouring into the Haight, reeking of patchouli oil with flowers in their hair, begging bowls in their hands and bad drugs in their blood.

Among the refugees was Gary Fisher, a seasoned junior road racer banned for having long hair, who had been hanging with The Grateful Dead and running a light show that created the atmospherics

for bands throughout the out-of-control rock creativity of the late 60s. Fisher was over it poor, tired and disgusted, with a hunger to get back to racing bikes again. His hippy days were pretty much over, but the transition from full-on freak to a founding father of the mountain bike was a hard one emotionally. It had been a tight knit community in the Haight and the Manson thing was personal. You have to remember that everyone on the scene knew Charlie Manson. Yes, and the Dead had organised Altamont.

Into the hillsFisher went over the bridge to the hills of Marin County. Most of the refugees headed for the hills for some clean air and recreation, and they took their bicycles with them. Nature was hippy penicillin. Nature worship and green politics mixed in much the same way then, almost 50 years ago, as they

Writer: Tym Manley

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Mythicalbeasts


do now, and bicycles were a part of all that. The seminal bands, which created modern rock in just a few years of mixing blues, folk and cowboy music in the long, wakeful months on speed and acid, were also into bikes.

The Grateful Dead, who had been playing the soundtrack as Ken Keseys Merry Pranksters, doled out (then legal) LSD, and sponsored and played at bike races. They rode, well some of them did not Garcia, as you can tell by his waistline even back then. The New Riders of the Purple Sage were bike inclined, The Quicksilver Messenger Service too. Influential Marin band The Sons of Champlin didnt ride. They were more into borrowing boss roadie Charlie Kellys car and wrecking it, which CK insists is the main reason he bought a bicycle. And he turned out to be very

FIRST THING I NOTICED RIDING AROUND

MARIN COUNTY WAS I WAS RIDING FASTER THAN ANYONE ELSE

good on it. First thing I noticed riding around Marin County was that I was riding faster than anyone else, says Kelly. It was my one athletic gift, and for a guy who was a wimpy kid at high school, that was something. So once I got a bike it became part of my life. Which is what set Charlie on the road to becoming another founding father.

Kelly was a native of Marin. He was Coaster Derby Champion of Mill Valley as a

cub scout, dammit, and he was brought up in the same community as the third founding father, Joe Breeze. Nowadays, when the three of them are lauded for their achievements, Kelly likes to point out that not one of them graduated and that hes the best educated, having spent a year at a small college trying to avoid the draft. But he flunked out and was in uniform almost immediately. Not in the jungles of Vietnam though his high IQ saw him drafted into a military medical lab for the duration.

Phoenix and GryphonLeaving the army in 1968, Kelly decided the only cool jobs were in the San Francisco music scene so he became a roadie. The list of bands he did shows with is a whos who of 60s rock, and he once had a conversation with Janis Joplin while she was naked but for a pair of red shoes. What did they talk about? I said, Where do you want these drums? and she said, Over there. Hes pretty sure the shoes were red.

Above: The Grateful Dead were part of the early MTB scene, sponsoring and playing at races Opposite: Gary Fisher at San Rafael Reef, Utah

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Mythical beasts | MTBs foundations 9

I KNEW FROM THE START THAT BIKES WERE FOR

MORE THAN RECREATION

Kellys parents wouldnt buy him a bike. Maybe his soapbox cart handling skills made them doubt the wisdom of it. Joe Breeze was quite the opposite bikes were part of the day-to-day life of his large family. My dad was really into lightweight, efficient vehicles and I knew from the start that bikes were for more than recreation. I always had the idea that bikes were part of the picture. My closest brother was always egging me on to ride over Mt Tam or up to Russian River and back, which was 120 miles in a day.

The roads in the hills of Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, feel very special to ride. Off-road, when they got to that, the terrain is magnificent. Its semi-arid country, dotted with thorny scrub and low trees offering shade, and it smells like youre being shaken in a bag of oregano. Watered around the edges by the great wet fogs that are a feature of the Bay area, it features extensive plains of yellow waving grass like the back lots

down the coast in LA, which those cowboys on TV got to ride when the world was young.

You can lose yourself up there, literally even, because it goes on and on up the coast, bounded by the topaz blue ocean. This is wilderness. Prone to wildfires, it also has a network of fire roads and it was on those that the founding fathers were to start riding off-road using the revived 1940s klunkers theyd taken to using as street bikes. (Americans call old cars, and almost any dilapidated piece of machinery, a clunker its onomatopoeic. Klunker with the k seems specific to the proto mountain bikes of this era.)

Restoring klunkersFisher thinks it was Breeze who discovered the 1940s Schwinns had the perfect geometry and fatness of tyre to ride off-road. Breeze is the total enthusiast who inherited his love of bicycles as well as his engineering skills from his father. Dad and his friends used to race cars and ride nice

European race bikes. From an early age my conscious thought was to get out the amazing secret of cycling to the world. Clearly Breeze was destined to become a founding father.

Today Breeze is so obviously what the Brits think of as the upright American (his friends say he has never been heard to use a cuss word) that you cant imagine him as a hippy somehow. But Kelly remembers picking him up in his truck back in the day. He had hair and a beard down here. At 18 Joe looked like the guitar player in ZZ Top. One of his pleasures was to restore classic old bikes of the 1890s to get people

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WHEN I WAS IN SEVENTH GRADE SOME

GIRL SAW ME IN MY OUTFIT AND SAID, OH

MY GOD! YOU FARMER!

involved with cycling through its heritage, but in the 70s, not finding anything classic enough to interest him, he had a go at a 1941 Schwinn and was impressed by its capabilities on the Mt Tamalpais fire roads.

And how about the young Gary Fisher was he really a full-on hippy? Yeah, absolutely, when I was 16 or 17 I was. The other night I went to a party given by the archives of Timothy Leary. I went with Mountain Girl, who was Garcias wife for 20 years. Shes my tight friend and Jack Leary, Timothys son, was there. I went to jail with Jack Leary. I was with the Grateful Dead. I lived in the Dead house and me and Jack got picked up on Haight Street for curfew because we were underage and should have been in school. I saw Jack for the first time since we were in jail together and he said, Holy shit! I own three of your bikes!

As a bike rider I remember going by Keseys place and seeing all the Hells Angels and everything, looking at them and saying,

Freaks! Yet there was a real similarity between us, we were all outcasts. We wanted to do what we wanted to do. We knew what was right.

You knew what was right. How? Its like a connection to the real world and nature and everything. It was like you guys are stupid thinking this is not right.

Meeting of mindsBut in the 60s and early 70s cycling, outside the ecological bubble, was hugely uncool. Breeze and Kelly confess to walking miles to school rather than be seen on a bike. As a

result, grown-up cyclists who rode because they wanted to not because theyd lost their drivers licence quickly became aware of each other.

In those days you didnt have riding friends, says Breeze, it was so rare. Any time you saw someone cycling out between towns youd say, Yo! Hows it going? Oh yeah. Cyclists were outcasts. Absolutely! Gary Fisher confirms. When I was in seventh grade some girl saw me in my outfit and said, Oh my God! You farmer! And for the next six months I was ridiculed in my school. Riding was a secret. I didnt want to tell anybody. It wasnt any of their business and I was already an outcast anyway.

Theyd both heard there was another guy riding a race bike around the place, so Kelly and Fisher were half expecting to meet up. When they did it changed a lot of things. I was a solitary guy with a nice 10-speed bike before I met Gary, says Kelly, who remembers their meeting with a certain competitive glee. Gary had been a road racer since he was a kid in 1963 and that was why he was so pissed off when he met me and I could hammer him off! Hed been

Left: Art Black at Repacks Camera Corner, 1977 Above: Charlie Kellys cycling memorabilia

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1976, riding his fully modified maroon and white Excelsior Right: An early Gary Fisher MTB

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GARY WAS SO PISSED OFF WHEN HE MET ME AND I COULD HAMMER

HIM OFF!

doing the light show and been off his bike for six months, whereas Id hardly been off mine since I bought it and I could eat him! Im so glad I made the most of it he never let me do that again.

Curiously Fisher doesnt mention this aspect of the meeting, but if he wasnt that fit, he could always upstage you in other ways. Heres Fisher: I was living with this band called the New Riders of the Purple Sage. I met Charlie out riding and we went over to the Grateful Dead office to give our opinions on the bands first album cover. Thats how it was then. Later on we met again and he said, I need a roommate, and I said, Lets do it! Charlie lived above a place called The Church in San Anselmo. Charlie was boss roadie for The Sons of Champlin and this was their practice space.

The next house they moved to was more famous though: the legendary 32 Humboldt, Fairfax, CA, which was to become the 22b Baker Street of biking. Thats where I made my first off-road bike, later on, when I was living with Charlie.

1974 that would be. (That bike was the Schwinn Excelsior X. With a wide gear range and heavy duty braking, it was probably the first off-road bike that was rideable up mountains as well as down, although it weighed in at 42lb).

The networkAt much the same time, the growing hub of cyclists around the place had come together and formed Velo Club Tamalpais in 1973, which included most of the pioneers of the mountain bike. It was a road-riding club for alternative cyclists. People like Fisher, whod been riding with the Belmont Bicycle Club in classy Burlingame on the SF peninsula as

a boy, and was a promising junior before he did the full Koolaid Acid test hippy thing. Not great for fitness being a hippy, and in those days racing cyclists were not longhairs with a wild look in their eyes. Fisher had his racing licence revoked for having long hair, and he was intent to get back to 1st Cat. Kelly was a founding member of the Club. So too was Breeze.

The Club had its headquarters in the local mansion, but its members met wherever Kelly and Fisher were living and building bikes. And that was getting serious by this time. Kelly and Fisher liked to race bikes, but they also used them as their sole means of transport, which isnt the best use for expensive Colnago, Tour de France-style racers. It wore the bikes out and put them at risk, which was crazy. Fisher solved the issue by hooking up with some old friends

The year klunkBarry Allen and the Larkspur Canyon Gang had a fat tyre thing going in the late 60s, early 70s. Theyd get old bikes and ride

Above: Heavy bikes and steep climbs meant making it to the top of Repack Road was an ordeal in itself. Here Gary Fisher takes a moment to recover

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them till they died. Wed have races: any route down a mountain. And there was Derby night wed go up on the mountain with beer and try to stop each other riding. Anyone who fell off wed ride over his bike. Hurt bikes were part of the process, remembers Fisher.

He came back with some klunker frames, which he and Kelly built up as street bikes

single speed, coaster brakes and fat tyres. Other members of VCT did the same and it was those bikes they started riding up on the fire trails in the mountains. Meanwhile Fisher was race fit again: I started racing again in 71 and in 73 I finished second in the Tour of Nevada City to become a Category 1 USCF road racer.

To support his race habit Fisher had started writing for Bicycle Magazine as a road tester. He also worked in a bike shop, at a wheel builders and for a guy called Fred Wolf, moving furniture. It was from Wolfs house high in the hills that they started to explore the upland trails seriously. And that meant modifying the bikes seriously too. Single speeds with coaster brakes may ride well off-road, but they dont stop easily. The

rider has his foot back mashing down on the pedal, so the first thing you needed was wide swept back handlebars, modified to take the strain. Front brakes were essential really on the downhills, and they had to be drum brakes callipers wouldnt work with steel rims on that sort or gradient.

Getting seriousThen Fisher found that by gently spreading the chainstays of a klunker he could fit a tandem hub in, and a five-speed derailleur, and ride away from everybody up the hill. Ever the competitor, Kelly fitted one too, but he found the chain kept coming off on the rough trails so added a second ring and a front derailleur as a chainguide and then, seeing he had 10 gears, decided to use them.

WE JUST WOKE UP EVERY DAY THINKING

HOW WE WERE GOING TO HAVE FUN ON

OUR BIKES


And so it started. Bike-mad people passed through the house adding their input, people such as Alan Bonds, who made elegant klunkers and painted them beautifully then (as he does now we borrowed one of his modern versions a couple of years back for Kelly to ride up against Fisher on his latest 29er and Kelly smoked it on the corners).

It was Bonds who produced state of the art second- and third-generation klunkers for friends and pioneers, while a loose handful of enthusiasts went on exploring the mountain trails on off-road bikes of various stages of sophistication. Kelly meanwhile, while tearing around the country from gig to gig in the bands truck, raided bike shops and dumps for the

Above: Alan Bonds going slideways on his klunker at Camera Corner

Photography: Larry Cragg

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HISTORY IS BUNKHistory is more or less bunk. Its tradition, said Henry Ford. History is myth. The longer I live the truer that rings. Ive seen quite a lot of my friends become mythical beasts, among them these founding fathers of mountain biking. Its a very weird experience. You were all there or thereabouts, when the myth took off, you all kind of remember the same things, but how much of it you actually recall and how much you have been told you remember all becomes a bit of a blur, especially if you were one Rizla short of a spliff at the time.

We have many facts and dates about the beginnings of the mountain bike but when it comes to picking the founding fathers, why do we choose these three? Why not the Larkspur Canyon Gang? They were riding Mount Tam from top to bottom on klunkers and they sound like a fun bunch. Why not the Morrow Dirt club? Why not Mike Sinyard of Specialized who made the first mass produced bike and sold it around the world. Why not any of the loose handful of fruitloops who keep claiming they did it first?

Yes, Fisher and Kelly picked up the name MountainBike, incorporated a company in that name and put it on their machines, but mountain bike very quickly became a generic name and other people were building bikes too: Charlie Cunningham, the Koskis, Mert Lawwill For what its worth I think its because the myth that Gary Fisher created around the mountain bike is simply the right myth for the people who are going to take to it, just as mountain bike proved to be the right name try as they might the big spenders in the bike industry could never get us to call them all terrain bicycles.

In both the name and the story we are dealing with the great foundation myth of a group of people to whom off-road riding is very important. People who feel utterly defined by this thing they do. Whereas the contending stories might speak of hedonism, commercialism or eccentricity, Fishers myth is about green ethics, conservation and healthy living at one with nature, about freedom and independence. Its our myth because we are mountain bikers. We go out and battle against nature either alone, or with close friends. Our struggle is against ourselves and the terrain, which we choose carefully so that it puts up a decent fight. Our tradition is to eat well, drink what we like, and to not quite fit into the very largest Rapha top. We enjoy sex, drugs, rock n roll. Our bodies are not temples. We are not roadies.

Pioneering freaksTo tell the truth, we dont even get on that well with roadies, which is odd, the fitness levels, skills and machinery we are fixated on being so similar. Its a matter of attitude. We are content to take a toss with nature and put up with what we get. We dont level out the bumps, nor do we expect a pit stop every 200 metres in case we should tacho a wheel or bend a gear hanger. We like the risks and getting through against the odds makes it all the better. We are one with those pioneering freaks driven into the mountains by the heat of the summer of love.

Road riders are not. They get their buzz out of honing their engines, bringing their hearts, lungs and beautiful hairless stickman bodies to the height of efficiency, which they love to test on a neutral surface with the sort of back-up that minimises the effect of any failure of equipment or skill.

We are go-for-it Cavaliers. They are calculating Roundheads. We are latter-day hippies. They are, well, accountants. Some of them are. Not all, of course. Some became the founding fathers of mountain biking.


forever for him on the climbs. He suffered, but he always came back because he loved it. I realised then this was for everyone.

RepackIve ridden the Repack track, on one of the last mountain bikes Joe Breeze built, as it happens. Its a wide fire road covered with marble-sized rocks that has sweeping corners, some water bars and plenty of buckthorn waiting to rip your skin off when you blow it. On a well behaved Breezer at the pace I was going to take it, no problem, but at the pace Kelly warped up to when he saw Breeze riding away it can get quite edgy. He blew his tyre out not quite catching Breeze, but when I joined them it was Breeze fixing it. Breeze is the go-to mechanic. He was always the one to beat at Repack too. Fisher still has the fastest time on the course, Breeze the second fastest.

If you ride the course with those guys you quickly see what it means to them. Kelly gets very emotional pointing out the various landmarks, like Prize Giving Rock where he handed out the awards (mainly smokables). Competitive edge still runs

vintage frames and particularly the forks required. You had to find girls forks because boys wrecked theirs beyond recall.

Primeval soupThis is the primeval soup from which the mountain bike was about to emerge. All it needed was a flash of lightning, which Kelly provided by running an underground and ever so cool downhill time trial series for five years and calling it the Repack. Did he have any idea what he was starting? You dont think of your historical context, laughs Kelly. We just woke up every day thinking how we were going to have fun on our bikes. Looking back, Breeze is equally surprised. To us the mountain bike was more of a lark, says Breeze, but, by golly, it has got more people onto bicycles than any machine since the 1890s.

Fisher had an earlier revelation that the mountain bike could go big. I put these bikes together for myself and Charlie and I thought they were for athletes only. What changed my mind was a rather out-of-shape fireman by the name of Bob Burrows. Bob came out riding with us and wed wait

Above: Fred Wolf with son ZuZu riding on the top tube Opposite: Fisher (front) and Breeze on a recent Repack ride. Fisher still holds the fastest time; Breeze the second

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through the old veins too, and plenty of fear, although it must have been a different order of terror ridden full out on a heavy, bendy, half-braked klunker, with the smoke billowing out of that old coaster brake. (They called it Repack because you boiled the grease out of your rear brake coming down and had to dismantle and repack it after.) To go fast on Repack you had to scare the hell out of yourself, says Kelly. Breeze demurs at the terminology: Its called exhilaration!

The Repack downhill is the last section of the route of the oldest mountain bike event, the Appetite Seminar, which still runs to give you an appropriate level of relish for Thanksgiving turkey. Bike riders being what they are, it wasnt long before everyone was bragging about their speed down the last section and the racing began to sort that out for once and for all. It kicked off in a small way, among friends, around the time the Sons of Champlin were breaking up, putting their roadie out of a job and giving him the chance to concentrate on bikes. I was boss roadie for 10 years and then the guys started fighting and, instead of making me rich, split the band in 1977. Those were different times. From 75 to 79 Carter was president and we


seem to have been the events that drove the development of mountain bikes beyond the modification of junk klunkers. Joe Breeze, for example, made the first custom built frames for himself and Kelly for Repack.

That happened outside our house on Humboldt, says Fisher. One day Joe and I were going through some of the old frames and I said, Hey, what would it take to build a frame?

I remember that, says Breeze. Thats when we agreed on $300.

could get away with the Repack. After 79 we couldnt, says Kelly, resplendent still in his Impeach Bush cycling socks.

Turning pointFisher sees Repack as the great turning point in mountain bike history. It was down to Charlie and Fred Wolf that we started taking it seriously they began instigating rides and suggesting places to go. Then Charlie putting on the Repack events made all the difference because he did it again and again and it became legendary. All most people on the street had ever heard about in cycling was the Repack races. The races were a series of downhill time trials, run down the fire road off Pine Mountain on the flanks of Mount Tamalpais. Very underground, very ad hoc and very illegal, Kelly ran them on a need to know basis from 1976 to 1979. They do

And I put it right in your hand.That was a real cycling house, a lot of

good riders went through there, continues Breeze. Kent Bostick, the Olympic rider for one, and Otis Guy a whole bunch of us moved through that house from our bike club. It was all bikes all the time. We had a mirror positioned so the only thing you could see was your thighs!

Kelly finds that ridiculous still. I would never have a mirror like that, but the Bosticksaurus did.

That wasnt much to do with me, says Fisher. Most of my time in the mid-70s was spent travelling to bike races and preparing for bike races. I used to breeze in and ride the occasional Repack. I was lucky that the times I won were important. Such as the fastest time on Repack and The Evening Magazine race.

So it was until, in 1979, Fishers

CARTER WAS PRESIDENT AND WE

COULD GET AWAY WITH THE REPACK, AFTER 79

WE COULDNT

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Olympic hopes were dashed. The coach told him he was too old to make the team, which was infuriating because his training partner, Greg LeMond, was impressing everybody as a future champion.

Fisher was hurt. If Id really put it together Id have gone to France with Greg. I couldve been a top line domestique. Greg was head and shoulders above everyone, I wouldnt have wound up the Tour de France winner or anything, but I wouldve been a tough bastard. To be a top rider was my first ambition. I wouldve been totally happy to have done the servitude thing. Greg couldve won the

Tour a lot earlier if hed have had the right team behind him.

MountainBikesFisher needed something new to put all that energy into. The day after I heard, Charlie and I started our company MountainBikes. We had $650, we went and opened a bank account and started trying to get quality mountain bikes out. And they did. This part of the story tends to get conflated with the klunker part, but MountainBikes wasnt anything like that. For a start, they had nice frames mostly built by Tom Ritchey. True, there was a mix of components on them that had proved themselves off-road, but with the paint jobs and the anodising, the bling factor was very high. They were bikes for rich Californian hipsters.

They were beautiful looking bikes, says Fisher. We anodised and powder coated parts. We made an all-black bike and a Tiger bike. They were great off-road bikes they still ride okay. They werent cheap either.

In the first year Charlie and I were selling basic nice bikes for $1,320 but the owners would ask us to do things to them and theyd end up around $2,000. This was back when for $400 you could get any Colnago you wanted!

But it wasnt ever a basic bike, we had the biggest stash of crazy stuff. We brought in Ambrosia rims because they were lighter. We had Japanese stuff. We brought in Dura-Ace freehubs. Nobody else would dare use stuff that light.

Fisher was already doing lighter, brighter and more exciting. We did a bike for the Alaska Broadway Show with every braze on it plated and painted over and everything gold anodised. And we did a series of all-black bikes for a ludicrously top end bike shop in Beverley Hills theyll sell you a pair of trousers for $6,000, that kind of place. Everything anodised, powder coated or, in the case of the derailleur, painted. We made some really nice stuff. Toms frames were beautiful. We had the first race team. We had Jo Murray and Tom Ritchey!

Around this time the press was getting in

I WOULDNT HAVE WOUND UP THE

TOUR WINNER BUT I WOULD HAVE BEEN A

TOUGH BASTARD

Above: The second catalogue from Fisher and Kellys MountainBikes company

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WE BROUGHT IN DURA-ACE FREEHUBS. NOBODY ELSE WOULD

DARE USE STUFF THAT LIGHT

on the act, which, as usual, had good and bad sides. It was a magazine article that led to the first trip for the Marin riders to Crested Butte for the Pearl Pass ride. The first year produced nothing much, except for putting a thousand miles on Joe Breezes new driving licence, but the next year it took off, and those pictures of Wende Craggs showing everybody who was anybody in mountain biking on top of Pearl Pass came from that. The next year the pass was even more crowded.

Enter the JackalOn the downside, a magazine sponsored a Repack race and when some guy broke his wrist, he rejected a $5,000 offer of compensation and decided to sue. He lost, but that was the end of Repack for Kelly it was spoiled and he could see where it might go from there. That inspired him to set up the National Off-Road Bicycle Association to run mountain bike racing so promoters didnt risk bankruptcy.

Off-road bike stories were everywhere all of a sudden and Fishers talent as a publicist

came into its own. It needed a flash of genius because, while its easy to see how charging down mountains on bicycles might become a cult on the sunny, sage-scented, fire roads of Marin County, making the magic work worldwide, in the sludge and black sleet, the deserts, the jungle and the dreary flat places, took a lot of Californian magic dust. Fisher had plenty. I was brought up in Beverly Hills, my grandfather made films with Errol Flynn. My mother was a nightclub singer who had worked for Hal Wallace as a Hollywood publicist. I learned how to deal with the press and get publicity from her. It wasnt hard. Charlie and I had a story that people wanted to read. Riding bicycles off-road

and down mountains it was a story about those crazy California kids...

Charlie quitsMountainBikes rode the wave of publicity for a couple of years and then cashflow problems set in. This wasnt Kellys idea of a good life so he sold his share to Fisher and walked away. The company became Fisher MountainBikes. Ritchey became worried too and for a while it looked bad for Fisher. But he survived, setting up Japanese input and finding new sources for frames. He always said his was an undersized, over-leveraged company, but he pulled it through by force of will and by innovative design. I will always remember watching a British pro rider taking delivery of his first Fisher Procaliber in 1987. He almost burst into tears to find this production Yankee machine was so much better than his prestigious custom-built British bike.

Gary Fishers effort was always aimed at making bikes for riders and he wasnt afraid to experiment. He went for the holy grail of light, long travel, full suspension bikes

THE LAGUNA RADSThe Laguna RADS are probably the most influential group of riders youve never heard of. Despite boasting the likes of Hans Rey among their members, this South California off-road fraternity is still something of an enigma. While those in the north were intent on taking MTB to the masses, this group of riders were intent on operating under the radar, much to the annoyance of local park wardens. Having formed in 1983 there are now around 100 RADS, aged between 30 and 75, all of who meet regularly at Laguna Beach before

heading out into local parkland, tearing down the trails and regrouping around the fire pit to drink beer and exchange stories.

The RADS are held by many as the architects of freeride, despite being unaware of it at the time, and also host two of the longest running MTB events on the calendar, the RAD Challenge and the Leaping Lizard. Although theyre now largely made up of middle-aged guys the standards are high, but the emphasis on having fun is still as strong as it was 30 years ago.

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JOHN FINLEY SCOTT: INVENTOR OF THE MTB?Twenty-five years before Fisher and Kelly established MountainBikes John Finley Scott had built what, in his words, is best regarded as a proof of concept idea for an off-road bike that showed big tyres worked and low gears paid off.

He set to work on it during his college sophomore year in 1952/53, having decided to see what he could do to build a bicycle that would be fairly well adapted to riding on dirt trails. The result was the 53 Varsity (shown above), a bike he called the Woodsie, featuring a Schwinn Varsity diamond frame which he built up using steel rims to take balloon tyres flat handlebars and multiple gears. It was effectively the worlds first known mountain bike. However, as Scott acknowledged, there was a design issue as the Sturmey Archer freewheel hubs he used werent very strong and with the extra torque of low gears he said he mustve gone through three of four axles on this bike that probably didnt accumulate 500 miles during its operative life. It also weighed 46/47lb, which Scott conceded made it hard to transport let alone ride up a hill.

Meeting FisherWhile Scott went on to become a University of California Professor of Sociology he remained an off-road enthusiast and in the early 70s got to know a young Gary Fisher through Californias annual Davis Double Century race, the route for which Scott helped to develop.

Realising the value of his input to their new business, when Fisher and Kelly started MountainBikes, Scott was the first person they talked to. He said they essentially repeated the design of his Woodsie because the components of off-road bikes changed very little between 1953 and 1975. What Fisher and Kelly did was refine it. I wasnt the first one to make a multiple gear balloon tyre bike, says Fisher. I perfected it, and I developed it and I marketed it and I made it this thing called a mountain bike popular. Thats the whole story.

But Scotts involvement didnt stop there, he was also MountainBikes first big investor. For Fisher and Kelly to afford to build bikes, customers had to pay upfront. This changed with Scotts money, which was used to buy mountain bike frames (handbuilt by Tom Ritchey) and components from all over the globe. Fisher could then sell completed mountain bikes for around $1,500 each.

Scotts influence on mountain bikes is clear, even though hes no longer around to tell the story. He was tragically murdered in 2006.

Below: A young Dave Hemming riding a Gary Fisher rigid MTB in the early 90s in the Yorkshire snow Right: Gary Fisher is still heavily involved in the sport he helped to create


ITS EMOTIONALLY DIFFICULT TO REALISE THAT I PLAYED A PART IN SOMETHING THAT

HAS BECOME SO HUGE

that performed uphill as well as they went down, moving on to champion a 29er that rolled over everything but was almost as nimble as a 26in wheeled bike. All with a new geometry that puts the rider in the middle of the frame. The delivery might not be perfect the first year, but the ideas were groundbreaking and usually right. Fisher knows what mountain bikers need because, as Kelly says, Gary was the best mountain biker in the world before it mattered.

Olympic gloryTrek finally bought the Fisher company, but Fisher remained in control of the brand long enough to see a Gary Fisher sponsored rider win gold in the first Olympic mountain biking event in Atlanta in 1996. He still works for it now as an ambassador and product innovator. His ambition was to be able to meddle with everything while being responsible for nothing, but it didnt work out that way. I think, in the end, you have to be responsible for your name, for your possibility, believes Gary. By that time, the bikes the founding fathers had brought into the world had been copied, tweaked, re-engineered and improved until the mountain bike was the universal bicycle.

On a domestic scale, back in Marin, Kelly and Breeze are delighted by the High School Mountain Bike League (properly the National Interscholastic Cycling Association), which has rejuvenated the sport in the US. Breeze is actively engaged, spannering for his local high school team. Kelly is pleased, but finds the whole thing difficult to get his head around. Intellectually I understand that I had something to do with the development of the mountain bike, but its emotionally difficult to realise that I have played a part in something that has become so huge. The idea that my daughter went to a high school that has a team taking part in the sport that we pretty much came up with how emotional is that?

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I first saw what later became known as Repack from the back of a motorcycle driven by Fred Wolf in 1973, poaching fire roads. He had found a very steep road that we drove up during an

exploration trip that took place before all fire roads were closed to vehicles. Or maybe a little while after they were closed. Some time later, Fred and I and Peggy Madigan spent a long day with our coaster-brake one-speeds, pushing them up the steep hill and coming down by a different route.

In the early 70s, my roommate Gary Fisher and I were both road cyclists, equipped with the best Italian road race

bikes, but these were not very practical for local transportation, so we had put together a couple of old one-speeds for running errands. We were both members of Velo-Club Tamalpais, and a contingent of club members such as Joe Breeze, Otis Guy and Marc Vendetti also took up using old one-speeds for town bikes. With the example of the Larkspur Canyon Gang and their longtime practice of bombing down Mount Tamalpais, it wasnt long before we started hitting a few of the trails and fire roads around Fairfax.

In 1974 a half-dozen riders went on the first of what has become an annual ride, the

Thanksgiving Day Appetite Seminar. The route we chose ended with a trip down Repack, and it was shortly afterward that someone applied the name that has become one of the most famous in mountain biking history. Its not a joke, its just the truth. One trip down that hill put years of wear onto a coaster brake, and if you did not immediately disassemble it and repack all the bearings with grease, the hub would seize up very shortly afterward.

You couldnt use just any coaster brake either. All the kinetic energy of the descent is turned into heat, and the old brakes had no means of dissipating it from the

Repack racesWriter: Charlie Kelly Images: Wende Cragg

Charlie Kelly was organiser-in-chief of the infamous Repack races of the mid to late 70s. In this extract from his

website he gives an insight into what they were all about

Repack races | In Kellys words 23

Above: Joe Breeze swooping through Upper Dipper, Repack, late 1977

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relatively small surface area. The most common coaster brake found on old bikes is the New Departure. The reason they were so common was that they were the most cheaply made of the coaster brake hubs; they worked very well under ordinary conditions, but would explode halfway down Repack. Bendix brakes were good, as long as you found an old one, machined out of a solid piece of steel stock. The newer Bendix brakes were made in Mexico, and the stamped hubs were no comparison to the real thing from the 1930s. Mussleman brakes were pretty good, but the gold standard was the Morrow. You might even get away with a couple of trips down Repack with a Morrow before having to maintain it. Good luck finding a Morrow, though. I never had one of my own, and made do with a series of Mussleman and Bendix brakes. If you abused your coaster brake by riding off-road, you had to be familiar with the insides of it, because you had to tear it down a lot.

Brake-neckAn entire generation of mountain bikers has grown up and worn out several bikes since those days, and few of them ever had the opportunity to ride a coaster-brake bike in the kind of scary terrain we learned our skills on. Theres simply no comparison between modern suspended bikes with hydraulic brakes and multiple gears, and the patched together, coaster-brake one-speeds that first conquered Repack. Now when I ride the same roads on modern equipment, it astonishes me that I survived all the rides I took on coaster brake bikes. Some of these hills are challenging enough even on modern dual-suspension bikes.

The first thing you have to learn about coaster brakes (and no front brake) is that stopping is out of the question. Fortunately, because you have no front brake, the front wheel rolls through and over just about anything. As long as there is some road in front of you, and as long as you can stay on it, youre probably all right. Once we had made a few trips down Repack, the skidding tires marked the proper line through blind corners. All you had to do was lock up your brake somewhere near the top of the hill, and point the front wheel down the groove worn in the road surface. On turns you had to brake with the outside foot while dragging the inside foot, and sometimes that meant letting off the brake briefly to switch feet. That was a scary moment as you had to take half a pedal stroke to set up the pedal for braking on the other side.

The balance of a coaster-brake bike is different from a modern bike, because the braking pressure is applied a crank length behind the bottom bracket, while a modern cyclist balances himself on the bottom bracket. A front brake throws the riders weight onto the front wheel, which has more braking power than the rear, while the coaster brake rider tries to throw as much

weight on the rear wheel as possible.The further you get down Repack the less

effective your coaster brake becomes. Its not the hill, its the heat causing the brake to fade. I had several rides where it was not possible to lock up the brake by the time I hit the bottom, and thats fairly serious on Repack. You would certainly get a third-degree burn if you touched one of these hubs at the bottom of the hill.

Drum brakesAt a Marin County cyclo-cross race in 1974 several fat-tyre riders from Cupertino about 50 miles to the south showed up with derailleur gears on their old Schwinns. Russ Mahon was the driving force behind a group of riders with ideas remarkably similar to ours, but they had already gone to derailleur gears. Gary Fisher was the first in our crowd to follow suit. One day in 1975 he came back to the house from the flea market with a disassembled tandem, a wreck really. But it had a huge, heavy, steel drum brake rear hub set up for a freewheel. Gary laced up a rear wheel and after some frame bending got it to work on his old Schwinn, and the improvement in performance of his 50lb bike was enough that within a couple of months tandem drum brake hubs were the hottest item at

Marin County bike shops.Since Gary and I were roommates, I was

among the first to follow his lead in converting my bike. By the time the first Repack races took place, most of the Fairfax and San Anselmo riders had switched from coaster brakes to derailleur gears and drum rear brakes made for tandems, and drum front brakes. These had the advantage of providing better braking and a different handling balance from coaster brakes, plus you didnt have to let off the brakes to set up for a turn because you could backpedal. The disadvantage was that these brakes faded too, and the grip required to operate them while steering and hanging on paralysed your hands. We used the biggest motorcycle levers to get enough leverage.

Front brakes were not as easy to find. You could get steel drum front brake hubs from Sturmey-Archer, or you could use an old Arnold-Schwinn drum front hub if you could find it. Most commonly you found a wrecked Schwinn 20-inch bike from the popular Krate series, sold under names such as Apple Krate or Lemon Peeler. These bikes are super collectible now, but there were over a million sold between 1968 and 1974 when the design was banned by the CPSC, so they were easier to come by in the 70s than vintage parts from the 30s. A Krate

24 In Kellys words | Repack Races

Above: Pearl Pass, Crested Butte

had an alu drum front brake, which was all you wanted, and you threw the rest of the bike away. They were drilled for 28 spokes, so you added four more holes on either flange to lace your 36-spoke wheel.

Downhill racingAs we took to the hills on fat tyres between 1974 and 1976, we found ourselves racing on the downhills. It seemed that whenever we started off the top of whatever hill we had arrived on, every rider wanted to be the first to the bottom. Whenever more than a couple of riders wanted to use the same road, it got pretty crowded and things got heated as the aggressive riders didnt mind risking other riders lives.

A few arguments about aggressive riding techniques led to the idea of having a timed downhill race, in order to settle once and for all time which of a half-dozen riders was the fastest, without having to contend with other riders in the way. Repack was the choice for a course because it was close to Fairfax, and it had a gnarly drop of 1,300 feet in less than two miles. There might have been a hundred dirt roads in Marin County suitable for downhill racing, but Repack had location, location and location.

Accordingly, on 21 October 1976 a few riders assembled at the top of Repack. Our timing system was an old Navy chronometer with a sweep second hand, and an ordinary alarm clock with a second hand. I handled the starting and Fred Wolfs wife Emma noted the finish times. There is no written record of that race, because the notes were made on a sheet of paper that disappeared almost immediately, but Alan Bonds, the only rider who didnt crash or damage his bike, was the winner in 5:12.

Whatever genius might be ascribed to the

events of that day, they didnt seem very important at the time. It was just what we did that day, instead of taking a ride. There were no plans for another race. That one race was supposed to settle the question so we could argue about other things.

It turned out that some of the participants were not gracious losers. Alan had come up with the ultimate strategy for riding Repack, which was to stay on top of your bike instead of under it, and with this lesson in mind a few of the gang wanted another shot at him. Accordingly, a few days later we reassembled for another race, this time recorded for posterity. Bob Burrowes was the winner, and all races from that day forward were recorded in one of two battered notebooks that I still have.

Quick expansionAfter our second race, the word got out to other parts of the county, and by the third event the Larkspur Canyon Gang was participating, coaster-brake purists who had not made the upgrade to derailleurs and gears or even in some cases, front brakes. These guys favoured inch-pitch chains, authentically old stuff, and owned most of the working Morrow brakes in the county. A couple more weeks, and we were joined by riders from across the bay, the Berkeley Trailers Union (BTU). I dont know how the word got out to them, because we didnt know them until they came to the race, but it didnt take long for the list in my book to number a couple of dozen riders.

Within a month of the first running, the event took the form that would last. Fred and I purchased a couple of digital timers for about $70 apiece, and just over a month after the first race we started recording times in 100ths of a second. I would call a bunch of people from a list in the back of my notebook, and we would assemble in Fairfax on a Sunday morning, where we would throw the bikes and a lot of people into the back of a 1953 Chevy stakeside dump truck for the trip up the hill to the dirt road where you did another mile of pushing your bike to get to the start.

It was a serious effort to get to the start. A few pickup trucks and Fred Wolfs 53 pink Chevy stakeside would head up the hill loaded with bikes and riders. A couple of miles of winding uphill from Fairfax, and at the crest of the ridge is a place where a half dozen vehicles can park. Everyone piles out, and you ride and push for another mile or so, dropping and climbing, with a couple of hills that are a challenge to ride without getting off even on modern equipment. Its about 20 minutes of tough sledding from the road to the starting line.

The alternative is to come directly up Repack, and a lot of riders will do that just to look at the course. Its a serious trudge with a 50-pound bicycle, and 40-50 minutes of hard work, but it gives you a slow-speed look at the road. The record time for going up Repack is 25 minutes, by national

Above: Bob Burrowes down in a cloud of dust on Repacks Camera Corner

mountain bike champion Joe Murray, riding a post-clunker-era race bike.

The timing and scoring system came together after a few races, when we got the real timers. At the top of the course I would list the names of the riders in my notebook. Everyone got a starting time, with two-minute intervals between starts, usually starting at ten minutes. I would start the two clocks together, and give one to the finish timer, often Howie Hammerman. It had to be someone who could be trusted to get to the bottom of the hill without crashing and who was competent to handle the timing once he got there. The finish timer had no way of communicating with us once he left the start area, so we had to hope that a ten minute head start was enough that he would get there while riding prudently and set up shop without some catastrophe. Once the race started, we could send messages down with the first riders, but there was no way for messages to come back. Any major problem with the finish timer would have wasted the entire effort, but we never had a failure.

Once the regular racers established their best times, they ran in that order, with the fastest last. This meant that all the new riders and the slowest rode first. Each rider

THEY CARED VERY MUCH ABOUT A FEW

SECONDS ONE WAY OR ANOTHER BETWEEN FRIENDS ON REPACK

Repack races | In Kellys words 25

Above: Posters advertising the Repack races organised by Charlie Kelly between 76 and 79

was given an index card with his start time on it. After a rider left I would call for the next starting time, and the rider would show me his card, then put it in his pocket. Because every rider tried to jump the start, I would aways hold the rear wheel until the zeros on the clock lined up. I gave them ten seconds, then five, then go, and let go of the wheel. Then I would get the split time as the rider disappeared over the crest of the first drop a hundred yards away, because that usually dictated how the rider would do. Two seconds one way or the other in the first hundred yards was 30 seconds at the bottom. After the last rider left, if I had someone still at the top who would start me, I would go for a time, but sometimes I was the last one left and I didnt get a time.

At the bottom of the hill Howie would note the finish time, check the riders card and do the math and give him his time. Then he would file the index card in order of finish and wait for the next rider. As soon as the last rider finished and his card was filed, the results were in.

Intense competitionOne aspect of Repack is hard to describe adequately. As the riders went off, the crowd at the top the hill dwindled. It wasnt a place for spectators, just riders, so no one there

was there to watch, but to ride. The last starters were the fastest riders, they were the regulars and they all knew each other. The last half dozen or so riders were the ones this race was all about, the ones who started the whole thing to decide what seems never to be decided, and they didnt care about any of the rookies who left a little while ago, but they cared very much about a few seconds one way or another between friends on Repack.

At first it was boisterous, because the rookies were nervous and showing off, but the last half dozen didnt talk. It was the thickest, most competitive atmosphere Ive been part of, and it got quieter and quieter and then the last one was gone and I was alone at the top of Repack knowing that the party has already started at the bottom.

I dont remember when I became the sole promoter of Repack. It began as a collective effort, but human nature is to let someone else do any task they accept. I started keeping the records and making the phone calls to arrange races. I handled the entries, the starting and timing, usually with my friend Howie Hammerman acting as the finish timer, eventually even arranged for prizes and had posters made, and it became my event. There was one race that took place without me, ironically the race in which Gary Fisher set the course record, but I promoted every one after that. At the end of the 78 and 79 seasons, I put on a big banquet with awards for the participants.

Beginning of the endThe end of Repack was the race filmed by a TV crew in 1979 for a program called Evening Magazine. It aired locally and then nationally, which meant it was seen twice in the Bay Area, and our cover was blown. In addition, one of the participants had broken his arm and he had sued the TV station, hoping to collect. He lost in court, but the emphasis on liability effectively ended my interest in putting on events where people got sued.

Repack was something that a few dozen people shared. No more than 200 people ever rode a Repack race, and many of those only rode the final races in 1983 and 1984. It was a close knit group, a club without any rules for membership except that you ride the race. Do not tell me about your bike riding. Ride the race and show me what youve got. The loose club was centred around this outrageous thing we were pulling off, totally organised off-road insane downhill racing without anyone except the right people showing up. The spectators along the road numbered in the dozens and everyone knew the good corners to watch from. There were prize ceremonies and season-ending banquets. If you had a time under five minutes, you were a member of the most elite club around, the Expert class at Repack.

The formation of the National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) in 1983 made

insurance possible for racing, so Repack came back for a couple of last hurrahs in 1983 and 1984. These two races were the first-ever sanctioned downhill bicycle races anywhere in the world, so Repack rightly takes its place as the precursor to what is now a World Championship event. We got away with a couple of races, this time with the help of a couple of moles in the Ross Valley Fire Department who let us use their sponsorship to sidestep some of the stickier issues of land use and whose land this was anyway. The last race, the first of a two-stage event with a cross country race in Santa Rosa the next day, saw a virtual pilgrimage of all the racers of the day, who wanted one timed trip down the legendary hill on their resumes. 95 riders put a strain on the system, but by then we had radio communication, and staff meetings on timing and scoring before the race. I hired timers from the local running club, and they handled it without a hitch.

We had a couple of NORBA races before the bureaucracy realised what was happening, but once they realised it they demanded permits for this activity. Once permits had to be applied for, there were no more permits granted.

Charlie Kellys book Fat Tire Flyer will be published in the USA by Velo Press in summer 2014

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26 Icons of MTB | Joe Breeze

Although firmly established as one of the founding fathers of mountain biking, Breezes involvement stemmed from a strong belief in the

place of the bicycle per se in the future of sustainable transport. His father, Bill, was into lightweight efficient vehicles and while that led mostly to building and racing automobiles, Bill and his friends rode well-engineered European race bikes at a time when America had all but abandoned the bicycle in favour of the car.

Breezes closest brother encouraged him to cycle long distances from a very early age, and he became one of a few who understood that riding 200 miles a day was quite possible and pleasurable and that bikes were a viable means of transport, not just a means of getting around town when youd lost your drivers licence.

From an early age, says Breeze, my conscious thought was to get out the amazing secret of cycling to the world.

Restoration manRestoring the beautifully engineered bikes of the 1890s was one way, he believed, to reconnect people with the bicycle, and it was only when he failed to find a suitable project of that vintage that, guided by a friend who had messed around with that style of bike off-road, he turned his attention to a 1940s Schwinn that was to become the proto mountain bike. Breeze was among the first to find that the angles and fat tyres of a bicycle built more to ape a motorcycle than anything else were just about perfect for riding the dirt fire roads of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County.

Honing his engineering skills at high school and college, Breeze came to know neighbour Charlie Kelly who had also become obsessed with cycling. He became a founding member, with Charlie and Gary

Fisher, of Velo Club Tamalpais, an alternative road cycling club, which included most of the early pioneers of riding old bikes off-road.

As a frame builder and serial winner of Kellys celebrated Repack series of off-road downhill time trial races, it was to Breeze that Charlie turned in 1977 to build a custom alloy frame to replace the old steel frames, which he felt they were pushing further than they could go.

For $300 history was made. Breeze built up Breezer 1 and won Repack on it. Kelly took number 2. In all Breeze made 10 for friends and fellow racers. The Breezers chromoly (steel alloy) frame, with bracing lateral tubes, was bombproof and for the first time there was a serious platform on which an off-road bike could be built using the equipment you wanted, rather than stuff that merely would fit.

Through the 80s and into the 90s Breeze developed the Breezer name into a respected mountain and road bike brand, confident that easy to ride mountain bikes were fulfilling his underlying purpose. To

us the mountain bike was more of a lark, he told me, but, by golly, it has got more people onto bicycles than any machine since the 1890s.

But by the mid 90s he had begun to feel that mountain bikes were getting too race-orientated and it was time to make a new generation of user-friendly machines. Starting in 1996 with the Ignaz Cruiser he changed the brand until, in 2001, Breezer was all about machines inspired by European utility bikes but lighter and more efficient. At the same time, knowing that bike-friendly roads were key, Breeze started working with government agencies and voluntary groups to promote the conditions in which the bicycle could be a practical mode of transport.

He continues to do so now and also works as a designer and product developer, having sold Breezer to Advanced Sport International in 2008, a move that gave him the satisfaction of pulling all his work together into a comprehensive range featuring bikes of all sorts, including a new range of Breezer mountain bikes.

One of the founding fathers, Joe Breeze loved cycling from an early age and has spent his life in the pursuit of connecting people with bicycles

TWO-WHEELED PROPHET

JOE BREEZEWriter: Tym Manley Photography: Steve Behr/Stockfile

FOR $300 HISTORY WAS MADE. BREEZE BUILT UP

BREEZER 1 AND WON REPACK ON IT. CHARLIE

TOOK NUMBER 2

Joe Breeze | Icons of MTB 27

Opposite page: Justifiably proud: from his first $300 Breezer, Breeze built up a respected road and MTB brand Left: Breeze was a serial winner of the Repack races Charlie Kelly held on Mount Tamalpais in the late 70s Below: With a Breezer #1 at the 2006 Interbike show. Made in 1977, it was the first purpose built MTBPhotography: Wende Cragg

Wende Cragg was that rare thing in the early days of mountain biking a woman. Here she recalls the buzz of being part of it

QueenKlunkingof

Writer: Elizabeth Elliott Photography: Wende Cragg

Wende Cragg | Q&A 29

Above: Cragg poses with her 1978 Breezer at Pearl Passs false summit, 1979W

hile the dawn of mountain biking has a reputation for being all about a clique of blokes intent on defying gravity,

it wasnt exclusively a mans world. Foremost among the female recruits was Wende Cragg, who, having taken up the sport in the summer of 1975, participated in many of the early Marin rides. She was the first woman to ride Pearl Pass out of Crested Butte and probably the first woman to ride many of the California trails. Dubbed the Queen of Klunking and inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1989, Wende was drawn to the sport by the freedom of exploring on two wheels. Armed with topo maps and a camera, she traversed Marin County on a fat tyred, 54lb klunker and captured the true essence of those early years on film, creating a treasury of slides and photos. Her Pearl Pass collection in particular has been instrumental in showing who was there and what they rode.

What was your inspiration for taking up mountain biking? Wende Cragg: As a child, I imagined a life of adventure and excitement. Having grown up with Superman as my TV role model, I believed I could fly! The middle sibling in a family of eight kids, I grew up fairly independent and curious, always leaning towards the athletic activities of my brothers. I loved to roller skate and when skateboards first appeared, I was the lone girl on the block to dare give it a try.

My introduction to mountain biking happened quite by accident. My neighbour at the time, Fred Wolf, was a childhood friend of Charlie Kelly and introduced my then husband and me to the idea. My first few attempts were by trial and error, however, and the overall experience was somewhat of a letdown. Perhaps it was the 54lb that the bike weighed, or possibly the fact that I was out of shape, but I needed to be coaxed to return to the saddle, and eventually discovered a fondness that

quickly became an addiction. Once I got my bike legs, I routinely ventured out alone with anticipation of my new-found road to adventure.

What were the attitudes of the guys towards you in those early days were you accepted and taken seriously? Wende Cragg: For the most part, all the guys were encouraging and patient. Obviously, I wasnt able to keep up but I tried my hardest to not slow them down too much. Collectively, they all took me under their wing and coached me on certain aspects of technique and form, especially when it came to downhill finding the right line and maximising my

position on the bike to take advantage of aerodynamics, and so on. Certainly, their encouragement was instrumental in building my confidence and strength, and their mentorship was invaluable in inspiring me to go a little farther and harder each time out. I was so fortunate to have been part of this group of cycling icons/living legends whove contributed so richly to the development of the sport. They were all visionaries, really, and shared their knowledge and insight.

What were your main haunts? Wende Cragg: Initially, I was limited to the open space directly behind my house, Tamarancho, which is now a destination for singletrack riding. As I became more and more confident about my skills and ability, I began to explore Mount Tamalpais and the Point Reyes National Seashore. We had unlimited access to all trails back then and I was on a campaign to explore each and every one.

With the aid of my trusty topo maps and unfettered desire to explore, I

quickly covered the county and highlighted, in yellow, the roads and trails charted out. Within a years time, Id ridden almost all the trails and fire roads within Marin County...

Did you plan your rides or did you just head out and see where you ended up? Wende Cragg: In the heady days before rules and regulations dictated the destination, the world was our oyster and we could go anywhere. Exploration in the beginning involved heading out with my topo maps into uncharted territory, but after gaining first hand knowledge of the surrounding area, I was able to plan my rides according to weather, degree of difficulty or just plain wanderlust.

Oftentimes, a spontaneous group ride would be organised within minutes after a few phone calls and wed find ourselves happily setting out for day-long rides on the coast or mountain. An after event would oftentimes follow too, usually a group dinner or barbeque to celebrate our victory of conquering a mountain

Above: Cragg riding across San Anselmo Creek in Cascade Canyon, April 1979 Right: Donna Degan rounds out a turn on Repacks Camera Corner, late 1977

THE GUYS ALL TOOK ME UNDER THEIR WING AND COACHED ME ON

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somewhere, so there was a lot of camaraderie that extended beyond the riding itself and we all became fast friends.

Gradually, the circle widened and extended to include others, including women, who were somewhat reluctant to straddle the bike. However, with a bit of the encouragement that was pivotal in getting me on a bike, a few were recruited.

What is it you loved (and still love) about the sport? Wende Cragg: Thats easy! The childlike sense of wonder and flight, doubled with the practicality of the bike itself. Id been a hiker and had always been drawn to the outdoors and everything Mother Nature has to offer, but the bike allowed me to broaden my horizons and investigate all aspects that were sometimes overlooked. I became quite knowledgeable about flora and fauna, wildlife and weather in my daily outings and integrated those into my photography as well.

Also, Ive always felt that movement was a gift and the choreography of the

AS PART OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES FOR EXAMINER.COM, WENDE RECALLED THE OTHER WOMEN WHO PLAYED A ROLE IN THE FAT TYRES DAWN

IN THE FEW short years that spanned the advent of the mountain bike, several Marin County women played a pivotal part in the pursuit of our newly discovered pastime, klunking. As awkward and daunting as it was, a small scattering of girlfriends and wives accompanied their male counterparts on those initial journeys. A trudge and grunt ritual was usually required to accomplish this however, as the lack of lower gears and excessive weight of the carriage prevented any serious time in the saddle. Simply reaching the summit was reward enough; the descent might have been viewed as a white-knuckle horror show for the uninitiated lassie who was along for the ride and/or moral support of her mate.

The short list of crusaders, good sports and cheerleaders:

Peggy Madigan One-time girlfriend of Charlie Kelly, she was a road rider and most likely the first woman in Marin to ride a klunker in 1974.

Denise Caramagno Former girlfriend of Charlie Kelly, she was a passionate horse lover who found

her calling astride a steed of another kind. She coined the term Fat Tire Flyer, the name given to the seminal publication she and Charlie began in the early 80s.

Emma Dodge Wolf Late wife of Fred Wolf, goddess of the hearth and huckleberry pie artisan, par excellence (RIP).

Carolyn Hurlbut Wife of Vince Carleton, shes a steadfast and resilient trooper with a heart of gold.

Donna Dugan Wife of Les Dugan, a natural on the bike who possessed an innate ability to find the fine line, a dynamo on dirt.

Jacquie Phelan Married to Charlie Cunningham, she burst upon the scene with panache unequalled to this day. A ferocious and animated competitor, she made her mark as the founder of the WOMBATS [Womens Mountain Bike & Tea Society].

Theres an old axiom that states Behind every successful man theres a good woman, but in our case we were standing aside them.

human body with a bike was a masterful juxtaposition! Id found my calling

What bikes did you ride in the early days and what do you ride today?Wende Cragg: My first bike was a JC Higgins. It was state-of-the-art at the time and had five speeds and a rear drum brake. I graduated to a 38 Schwinn Excelsior, custom painted by Alan Bonds, and rode that while awaiting one of the 10 Breezers, which would eventually serve me well for nearly 10 years. In 86, Joe (Breeze) created a bike to fit and Ive been on it ever since. Its definitely my favourite!

How involved did you get with racing and promoting the sport?Wende Cragg: Initially I raced, just for fun, and still hold the womens record for Repack (5:27) but it never seemed a good fit for me. Also, I only enjoyed racing against the guys! I didnt like the pressure of racing against women, although there were virtually no other women in the very beginning, so racing against the guys was

done just for kicks. Promoting the sport was a no-brainer my enthusiasm to spread the word was tantamount to a preacher. I always advocated the bike as alternative transportation that benefited everyone, and the mountain bike, especially, seemed to be the perfect vehicle, its fat tyres being preferable over skinny ones.

Is mountain biking still as big a part of your life? Wende Cragg: Although I havent straddled a saddle in a while, my passion for cycling in general, and mountain biking in particular, is still a commitment I embrace. Im currently expanding my

INITIALLY I RACED, JUST FOR FUN, AND

STILL HOLD THE WOMENS RECORD

FOR REPACK

Facebook network to spread the word about the new bike museum coming to Fairfax next spring, so Ive been connecting with other passionate riders worldwide and still find it astonishing how interested most people are in our humble beginnings here in Marin. The majority of my friends are still involved in cycling in some capacity too.

You took a lot of photos on your rides were you consciously documenting those early days, knowing you were at the forefront of something new, or was it simply to have a personal record of fun times with your mates? Wende Cragg: It was never a conscious effort on my part to document the people and places that told the story, but more a desire to use my new camera. I was intrigued and compelled to pack my new toy everywhere, but the additional weight of the camera/lenses in my backpack increased any struggle to climb, therefore being even more of a detriment to the group. All the shots taken were candid

Above: (L-R) Charlie Kelly, Joe Breeze (near bus), Denise Caramagno, Gary Fisher, Craig Mitchell, Peter from Tiburon and Kent Bostick on a trip to the sea aboard John Finley Scotts double decker London bus, January 1980

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many whod had no interest in cycling before. Honestly, in the incubation days, it was possible to ride all day and not see another human. Today, almost everyone has a mountain bike theyre ubiquitous. The global reach is what surprises me the most though, and the infinite possibilities for its constructive use. Yesterdays bikes have little resemblance to todays technology and, for the most part, I have little interest in the latest suspension, preferring everything old school.

I was privileged to have been a part of this historic and somewhat eccentric birthing. It was a time in my life when I was receptive to an experience that would alter the way the world saw the bicycle, which just proved that the wheel could be reinvented, and Im eternally grateful. I sincerely doubt the rise in bicycle use would have increased so exponentially had it not been for the fat tyre. It was an honour to witness the development and evolution in such a personal and hands-on way, and Ill always be indebted to those who took me into the fold.

and personal, simply relating a time/place/people. It was an age of innocence and experimentation, coupled with the sheer joy of discovering something new. We were just having so much fun!

What do you think about how mountain biking has evolved and did you envision it becoming so big? Wende Cragg: Lately Ive been going through some of the images Id taken back then. Everything looks so old and antiquated, theyre considered vintage! We obviously had no idea how huge it would become and in its infancy there were plenty of people who wanted to keep it under wraps for fear of losing our access. They were correct, of course, but it was something that couldnt be contained!

The thrill was infectious and word spread faster than anticipated, not just through the bike community but as a general curiosity. The idea of a bicycle giving you access to areas that were only accessible by foot was mindblowing. We turned a lot of people on to the concept,

Top: Wende Cragg and Charlie Kelly riding their Breezers on the trail blasted in the cliffs below Monarch Lakes, Mineral King Above: Family bike ride: Fred and Emma Wolf with their son and daughter

34 Icons of MTB | Gary Fisher

Would mountain bikes exist without Gary Fishers involvement? The answer is probably yes. While he wasnt the

first to assemble a klunker, or build a frame designed for off-road riding, Fisher was the first to really join the dots and make the leap of realisation needed to see the full potential of this new breed of bikes. Without Fishers guiding hand, mountain biking is unlikely to be where it is today.

Lifetime on bikesI met up with Gary Fisher in London in December 2013. We began by talking about how long hed spent riding and being part of the bike scene. Man, Ive worked in the bike industry since I dont wanna scare ya! 1964. I started racing a bike in 1962, so Im happy to say Ive raced a bike for 51 years! he proudly exclaims.

We continue and I ask Gary about his first involvement with bicycles. Well, I saw it there under the Christmas tree. It was a Schwinn Spitfire and I was four years old, says Fisher. Of course, it had training wheels, but within about two months I was able to ride the bike without them. It was perfect. Once Id outgrown the Schwinn, I moved on to a three-speed Raleigh Colt.

My third bike was a Legnano, a 10-speed, and it had Campagnolo derailleurs and a pair of Magistroni steel-cottered cranks.

I joined the Belmont Bicycle Club, known as the BBC. The president of the club was Larry Warple and he came from the east side of London. What a marvellous individual. He took me under his wing. Ten-mile, 25-mile time trials and 60-, 80-mile long rides, he made sure I made it home. I was 12 years old and this was like a fabulous dose of freedom and empowerment to be able to ride that bike.

It was later, while at high school, that Fisher got his first taste of off-road riding: It was 1967, it was a Larkspur Canyon Gang and we had drumming circles. It was like, Hippies! Youd go out and get a bike, youd go to Good Will, youd go to the dumps, youd pay no more than $5 for the bike, that was the charm. You could go out and destroy it if you wanted.

Anyway, I go out and ride with these guys and it was incredible. I was already a road racer and they knew I was a road racer and they said, You gotta try this, and I tried it and went, Wow, this is fun, but the equipment was crap. You go out with six guys and youd come back and three of them would be dragging parts behind them, not riding.

Stuff would fall apart and on top of that 80 per cent of the time you were pushing your bike up a mountain or you were hitch hiking, trying to get a ride up the mountain. I grew up with the whole Fausto Coppi thing, and Coppi was famous for saying, Ride a bike, ride a bike, ride a bike. I wasnt going to be a walker or a hitchhiker! The

rest is literally history and a story well told elsewhere in these pages.

Radical thinkerDuring our time together its clear that Fisher is a radical thinker and still holds on to many interesting counter culture ideas. But in addition to being a true off road pioneer and founding father, Fisher is just as importantly an inspiring and deep thinking cycling advocate. The little secret that we [cyclists] have, that riding a bike is so much fun we cant stand it, I want to spread that around a lot more. I dont feel were appreciated like we should be, especially in MTB. I watch the insane, wonderful, marvellous things that people do at Redbull Rampage or on the DH scene. Its so cool I cant believe it. I want these guys to all be paid well, I want this to be a big sport, I think its really cool. If Id had the whole school kid bike-racing scene when I was a kid I wouldve been in heaven and I want to spread that heaven all around the world. I want kids to have this opportunity. I want to leave this a better place. Its real simple.

A road racer turned off-road founder and cycling guru, Gary Fisher is arguably the first name on anyones list of whos who in mountain biking

CYCLING GURU

GARY FISHERWriter: Richard Owen

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STUFF WOULD FALL APART AND 80 PER

CENT OF THE TIME YOU WERE PUSHING YOUR BIKE UP A MOUNTAIN

Fisher is one of the most famous names in mountain biking. Hes almost as well known for his individual style. In his late teens he was banned from racing for having long hair but rather than cutting it short he waited for the rule to be overturned

Photography: Dan Milner/Trek

Photography: Steve Behr

Repack to Rampage the first twenty years of the US mountain bike sceneWriter: Guy Kesteven Images: Steve Behr/Stockfile

newBrand

world

Weve already looked at the almost accidental birth of MTB among the flared jean gene pool of Californias Marin

County. But how did this spark become a fire that was to trailblaze across the world and revolutionise the focus, technology and profile of the humble bicycle and turn it into the hottest must have lifestyle accessory in just over a decade?

From Repack to retailYou dont have to spend much time in the company of Gary Fisher to realise that hes an irresistible force of inspiration, innovation and self invention. Joe Breeze might have sold the first complete bikes based on his hand-built frames and Gary Fisher and Charlie Kellys shop might have just sold bikes based on Tom Ritchey-built frames. It was the MountainBikes name

above that door that was significant though, a literal sign of things to come when the shop opened in 1979.

Thats because then as now Marin County wasnt just the backwater hippy commune you might suspect from those early Repack Downhill racer photographs, but an affluent area full of people used to paying a lot of money for the latest thrill, whatever form it came in. While most of the hardcore Repackers were salvaging bikes from skips and building a hand to mouth life from supplying friends with bikes and frames, Fisher and Kelly were thinking big. While a Joe Breeze Breezer would set you back $750, Gary and Charlie were selling their Ritchey-made frames and

forks alone for nearly $500 and the complete bikes for well over $1,000. Add a colourful, attention grabbing, look at me lifestyle element and this immediately established mountain bikes as the perfect playthings for the upwardly mobile middle class, which shared a very similar timeframe and technology-fed rise.

Innovate or diePerhaps unsurprisingly then it was entrepreneurs not engineers that took the concept of mountain bikes from a single shop to the entire world. Mike Sinyard had already built himself a healthy Specialized Bicycle Imports business selling Italian cycling shoes and European and Japanese

Top left: An old Univega frame fitted with prototype suspension forks designed by Bob Girvin Top right: A Univega Alpina, which outsold its more famous competitor,

The History of Mountain Biking 2014.Bak

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