Over the last 2 years, I've been around a LOT of younger riders. A lot of the kids involved in mountain biking and mountain bike racing are in NICA, the school-age racing organization that has taken the country by storm. So many new kids are joining the wonderful world of bikes! I've talked to many of them about "the old days" and how things were when mountain biking and racing were fairly new. The oldest photo I can find of myself was this gem from 1989. Yes, that's a cotton Nike shirt, along with cotton gloves...flat pedals...horrible helmet...and one of those old mountain bikes that nobody would want to ride today, equipped mostly with warmed-over touring bikes components. Racing in the mud was not at all uncommon, and racing on an old motocross course was VERY common. I was 22 and pretty sure that bikes couldn't get much better than this. The racing classes were more vague then, so I just signed up for whatever the top class was and lined up to race.
Things progress pretty fast in life. And in mountain biking. Product development gave us lighter and better-functioning equipment, along with things to wear other than cotton. Lots of choices in actual mountain bike tires, not just warmed over cruiser stuff. Different component groups from numerous companies. No suspension fork yet in 1992, although they were making their way onto most bikes by then. Racing classes were Beginner, Sport, Expert, and Pro. Sometimes as Experts we were lucky enough to have a couple Pros sign up so we could get our butts kicked in really, really well. Traveling to national races, I remember having more than 60 guys signed up in my age group, and age groups were set up in 5-year increments!
Carbon fiber, titanium, suspension, lycra, sealed-bearing everything, Kevlar beaded and belted tires, V-brakes, and just after this photo from Greensfelder in 1999, tubeless tires!! Mountain biking was in full swing around the world. Cross Country races were everywhere, with at least three series going on in Missouri alone this year. Companies were still very eager to find aspiring racers and give away parts and bikes and kits. Big, big events, outside of the national races, were everywhere. Tour de Wolf in Memphis had huge cash purses and pros and amateurs alike came from all over the country to ride a flat, fast course for a chance at glory. St. Louis had the American Mountain Bike Challenge (AMBC) race which was amazing considering how few places around the country scored the huge event.
(Thank you to Flannery Allison for always making me look faster than I am)
And 2022? So much equipment progress. Big wheels. Big tires. Disc brakes. Carbon fiber in every direction. Electronic shifting, some wireless even. More suspension in one bike than any 10 bikes had from 1990! Cross country racing had taken a back seat to other types of mountain bike competition over the last 10-15 years. Enduro. Downhill. All types of dual-slalom type racing. But as fun and inclusive as those types of racing are, I think that organizations like NICA have turned an entire generation of youngsters on to XC racing again. I get the feeling when I'm at these amazing events that XC racing (and mountain biking in general) is on it's way to the next big explosion of participation. It's so exciting. I'm blessed enough to be involved in the business of bikes, and my wife and I are so pleased to be a sponsor of the Otters, the South City Composite team. And lastly, my youngest son has taken to mountain biking, big time.
It's fun to look back on the last 35 years, at least from one man's perspective, and see how far we've come. But it's more exciting to see where it might be going.
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