The Mountain Bike Skills Manual: Fitness and Skills for Every Rider

A BRIEF HISTORY_

So where and when did mountain biking begin? As far as recorded history shows, the first bike ridden off road was coincidentally the first ever pedal cycle made. Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a blacksmith from Drumlanrig Castle in southern Scotland, built the first ever pedal cycle and rode it some 68 miles to Glasgow over mountainous terrain back in 1842. The bike was crude, cumbersome and lacked a critical component which, rumour has it, led to the first recorded road traffic accident in the British Isles. Fatigued from his epic ride, poor Kirkpatrick lost control of his bicycle on the slippery, cobbled streets of Glasgow and unfortunately injured a small child in the process.

There are rumours in modern Scottish mountain biking that Kirkpatrick consequently returned to Drumlanrig and invented the disc brake! As to how much truth there is to this I will leave to your own imagination. Throughout history, people have ridden bikes off road. The Italian army used bicycles in the First World War, and the legendary Annie Londonderry rode a bicycle around the world, starting her journey in 1897 and completing it fifteen months later in 1899, a truly epic off-road adventure which took her across Europe, Egypt, Singapore and back to the US.

A replica of the Kirkpatrick Macmillan bike can be seen at the bicycle museum at Drumlanrig Castle.

What we do know from the available evidence is that, from 1955 onwards, a group of friends in the UK, known as the ‘Rough Stuff Fellowship’, modified bikes to ride off road on byways and dirt lanes. There is also evidence to show that the members made modifications to various existing production bicycles that included the addition of gears and cantilever brakes. Furthermore, custom frames were produced but in no huge quantities. I have also heard tales from some of my father’s friends, brothers David and Ginger Marshall, a couple of guys who build championship-winning racing cars. They were putting front forks from mopeds on modified bikes and riding them in my old haunt Wendover Woods at a similar time.

Raleigh produced the Bomber in the early 80s – a favoured bike of many kids in the UK.

There is also evidence out there that another guy from the UK, Geoff Apps, was designing frames and modifying existing bikes. His first custom creation was named the Range Rider, an off-road bike that incorporated a modified frame, built up with components from overseas. These bikes had knobby tyres, gears and the option of drum brakes or rim brakes. They were only built to order and it wasn’t until the late seventies that small production runs started, which lasted for around 10 years. By this time, the US – whose off-road bike development had been running in parallel to European development – were starting to dominate the new scene of mountain biking. Their thirst for off-road fun, combined with the Eastern world producing affordable components in large quantities, essentially led to the creation of the modern mountain bike.

» THE MARIN COUNTY MOVEMENT

History shows the key moment that led to the mass production of mountain bikes and the phenomenon that has grown to epic proportions today.

A group of friends in Marin County, California, known as the ‘Larkspur Canyon Gang’, started to ride and create trails on Mount Tamalpais in the late sixties. They lived at the bottom of the mountain and would ride old post-war paperboy bikes – given the name ‘klunkers’, and also known as cruisers, beaters, bombers or ballooners – up and around Mount Tam, as it was affectionately known. They made basic modifications to the bikes – things like the mud guards, chain guards and kick stands would be removed. The lack of gears meant that they would push the bikes up the mountain and mess around all day riding trails. They even had a few timed competitions for fun to see who was the fastest, just for a laugh: kids’ stuff that inspired me to do similar things when I was growing up in the eighties.

Marc Vendetti from the Larkspur Canyon Gang joined a renegade group of road cyclists who created the outfit Velo Club Tamalpais in 1972. Marc used to ride his klunker to club meetings at the Robson Harrington Mansion in San Francisco. The other members of Velo Club Tam showed an interest in his bike and were soon sourcing similar post-war bikes to modify. This key year was, for me, the point in time that man’s sense of adventure and obsession with mechanical engineering fused together and exploded. A primeval testosterone-fuelled urge to push the envelope of mind, body and machine began.

Enter the racers and counter-culture roommates from 32 Humboldt Avenue in San Francisco. Great road racers Gary Fisher, Charlie Kelly, Joe Breeze and Alan Bonds were all members of Velo Club Tam. These guys got into the social klunker scene with friends Fred Wolf and Wende Cragg, to name but two. The vibrant music scene of that era influenced our early pioneers and I often relate my love of music to my riding and the rhythm of breathing. Finding a ‘flow’ in a trail can often be compared to musical composition.

There were obviously other people across the globe creating and enjoying their own scene in their own way, but something special would grow out of Marin County in the US. Although the Canyon Gang had a race in 1971, and another bunch of hippy dirt bike riders, the Morrow Dirt Club, were spotted by members of Velo Club Tam at a cyclo-cross race in 1974, it was the racers from Velo Club Tam who started to really push the boundaries. Inspired by the modifications the Morrow guys had made to their bikes, the larger group of friends from the San Francisco Bay area started to source components from local bike shops to upgrade and improve their klunkers.

This early Schwinn was converted into a trophy.

» THE ARMS RACE BEGINS

Where you have racers you inevitably have a competitive vibe, and the roommates of Marin County’s new counter-culture pastime soon found themselves bantering about who was the fastest. Everyone was in agreement that the fun bit was the blast back down from the mountain after an all-day ‘klunk’, and that the flowing trails tested everyone’s skills, while the rudimentary technology tested their nerves.

Enter Repack, a treacherous access track that runs up Mount Tam. This trail was used to host a series of downhill time trials in late 1976. Repack descends a terrifying 1,400 feet in just over two miles. The limited stopping power of the rear hub brake meant that riders had to learn to drift the bike sideways in order to slow down through turns rather than into them. This lack of stopping power often led to some skin loss and it was not long until front brakes were added to the old bikes.

Limited technology also gave Repack its name – the never-ending job of repacking your coaster brake with grease because it had evaporated from the heat created on each run. Repack was one of the influential components for my own counter-culture experience of goofing around in the woods and tinkering with machines. Without a doubt, Repack started the arms race and the need for technological advantage. Forks were breaking, brakes were failing and the guys became masters at modifying the now-favoured Schwinn Excelsior X frame. But this 1940s hulk of steel was soon superseded by the first production run of custom-built mountain bikes in the US.

Huge brake levers provided slightly more stopping power than standard ones.

Joe Breeze worked with his father in San Francisco fabricating road bike frames and, when his friend Charlie Kelly asked him about the possibility of making a mountain bike frame, Joe hit the drawing board. Three months later Joe rode the new Breezer bike, as it rapidly became known, to first place in the Repack. At the same time Craig Mitche, an eccentric character known for producing alternative bicycles and recumbants, also fabricated and equipped a specific mountain bike frame. It actually looked quite conventional and similar to a modern cross-country mountain bike, as did the early bikes from the UK.

Joe’s bikes were beautiful. They came equipped with specific components sourced from far and wide, finished with the essential pump, water-bottle cage, spare inner tube, patch kit and tyre levers – all the necessary items to help keep you rolling while out in the wilderness. The global off-road riding experience was growing but the US would lead the way in years to come.

These early mountain bikes had a wider spread of gear ratios compared to road bikes, as the riders soon discovered that the best way up and out to remote locations was by pedal power, something that Gary and the guys had plenty of. The ‘Breezer’ soon got the attention of everyone in the Bay Area and it was Gary Fisher’s sharp eye that could see the demand and a new market.

Gary, Charlie and Alan had already started to source components and put together bikes for friends, as did many people on the scene. Then one day Gary was introduced to Tom Ritchey, who was a fantastic road racer and frame builder. Tom built the first run of bikes for Gary that would become the start of Fisher Mountain Bikes. There was another man on the scene at this time too – Mike Sinyard, a friend of Gary’s. Mike rode some of the Fisher-Ritchey bikes and was very impressed. He could also see the popularity of riding off road for leisure growing on a global scale and went on to create Specialized Mountain Bikes. The first specific mountain bike was released by Specialized in 1981, backed up by a huge advertising campaign. By this time the globe was going crazy for the mountain bike.

As the bomb went off and quality bikes were available off the peg, it wasn’t long until shiny magazines were gracing the shelves of newsstands in the UK. Cue me, aged 11, staring into the pages of Mountain Bike Action, entranced. Like most children I had to wait (‘patience is a virtue’, as my parents told me), and it was about 18 months after that first contact that I got a real mountain bike. Was this going to be another boom–bust fad that swept the world, or a global fever that would have riders fighting it out for Olympic Gold? I didn’t care – the awe-inspiring pictures of people riding in the wilderness in California had me hooked. I would dream about escaping to the hills and sliding my bike on dirt.

» THE EIGHTIES MOVEMENT

As the eighties moved on, the industry grew in strength, new companies were formed and the Far East rapidly became geared up to produce huge quantities of components over a wide variety of specifications. The US were manufacturing the exotic and desirable; the UK also had a hand in the global development, with established frame builders Chas Roberts and Dave Lloyd producing custom-built mountain bike frames, using components sourced from afar. Gears from Japan, brakes from Europe – it seemed everyone was at it.

1980s XT front mech by Shimano.

The mid-eighties soon rolled around and the arrival of Far East imports in the UK really jump-started things. The availability of advanced technology in abundance opened the floodgates to a wider market, and clever distributors and bike shop owners were buying into the hype created predominately in the US.

Before the days of replaceable drop-outs rear mechs used to take a beating.

Competitions were also appearing here in the UK and on the Continent. Clubs were popping up everywhere – federations like the National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) and the British Mountain Bike Federation (BMBF), among others, were formed and the scene flourished. Yet again the US led the way by creating a national series of competitions and heroes were being born on both sides of the Atlantic as the UK and Europe followed suit. Riders like Greg Herbold, Ned Overend and John Tomac were on posters in kids’ bedrooms across the land. Some of the inspired kids of the eighties would later find themselves on posters, riding bikes and inspiring others to follow in their footsteps.

» THE NEXT PHASE

At this stage in the game, riders would have to compete in various disciplines to become National Champion. They had to be proficient in cross-country, downhill, uphill and trials to be crowned the best mountain biker. By 1990 the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world’s governing body for cycling, sanctioned the first ever World Mountain Bike Championships in Durango, Colorado. However, the first unofficial (non UCI sanctioned) world championships took place a year earlier on Mammoth Mountain in California: Don Myrah won the men’s cross country and Sarah Ballentyne took the women’s. Hans Ray took top honours in the trials, John Tomac won the downhill and Britain’s Tim Gould won the uphill. In the women’s hill climb, Susan DeMattei took top honours and the dual slalom was won by Dave Cullinan of the US.

The Muddy Fox Courier.

As the nineties progressed so did the riders and bikes. Just like the early pioneers, people were pushing the envelope, jumping bigger and riding further. The clothes, like the music of that era, were loud, and mountain biking was entering the mainstream in a big way. Corporate sponsors were backing riders and competitions – even new brands like Red Bull were gaining youth cult status through partnering with one of the fastest growing extreme sports in the world. Here in the UK, top men’s magazine GQ even sponsored a race team to compete in the UCI World Cup Series. Similar progress was being made all through the developed world. With large partners on board, the new sport of mountain biking was looking to be more than a passing fad.

Competition was hotter than ever and we were starting to see the sport segregate into the different disciplines and genres you see today. Riders at the top level no longer had to compete in all the disciplines but could become masters and champions in a discipline of their choice. The UCI started to host a yearly world championship in downhill, cross-country, dual slalom and trials – an annual world cup series soon followed. Many nations were running sanctioned events in accordance with the UCI’s rule book, creating national and international champions in the process.

Rory Hitchens still competes today and he also works in the industry developing new lighting systems.

The UK has always featured at the front of the field in all disciplines. Cross-country racer Tim Gould took Gold at the World Championships in the uphill at Mammoth and long-time friends Tim Flooks and Rory Hitchins also delivered a slice of the UK scene on foreign shores in the early 1990s. Another Brit, David Hemming, took a medal at the 1992 Worlds in Bromont, finishing second in the downhill, riding a full rigid Klein Attitude bike. Then there was the late Jason McRoy, an inspiration to many British mountain bikers. Jason was the first UK rider to sign with a major global brand and featured on the podium at the famous Kamikaze downhill time trial on Mammoth Mountain in the US. A true legend in mountain bike history.

Mass start downhill racing.

As the scene gathered momentum, there was also a need for new events to test the best. The renegade counter-culture approach of our early pioneers was in full effect in the mid-nineties, when the French outfit UCC (Union Confédérale de Coordination), directed by George Edwards, started organising marathon downhill events in the French Alps – yet another discipline that would inspire people to specialise in a particular field of this fantastic sport. They were not alone in their counter-culture approach, as the UCI failed to recognise the fast-growing scene of endurance cross country. In the US, 24-hour races started to take place and have grown in popularity to become one of the most popular forms of racing today.

Yeti ARC from 1994.

» THE PRESENT DAY

The sport seems to have kept up the pace, making mountain biking a hugely popular pastime and professional sport, backed by a multi-million dollar industry. Who knows where it will end up in the years to come? Riders will continue to push boundaries and manufacturers will inevitably develop products to keep up with their demands. To be honest, we have never had it so good, and it just keeps on getting better and better.

THE BIKES_

By the late nineties, bikes were moving into a new phase, with hydraulic suspension, front forks and specific tyres for various terrains. Specialist clothing was filling the racks in bike shops across the world. Bikes were looking more like spaceships, disc brakes had followed on from hydraulic rim brakes, and rear suspension was everywhere.

The bike geometry had also changed several times as manufacturers established a multitude of standards for frames and components alike: bikes typically had 135mm rear axles, 110mm front axles, 1⅛-inch steerer tubes and headsets. Wheels were lighter and stronger and things were moving at a rapid rate. People would experiment with disc wheels, carbon fibre and metal alloy composites. I even saw a white tyre, produced by the company IRC, on a Japanese rider’s bike in 1994, made from a super-soft compound rubber. A multitude of manufacturers progressed technology at such a rate, to a point where things inevitably started to slow down by the turn of the century.

That’s not to say things are not still progressing – it’s human nature that got us this far and that’s something which is not going to change in a hurry. Rider input has polished all the component parts used in a mountain bike to such a high degree that the measurement in the improvement has narrowed significantly. However, as with all things, something comes along once in a while and stirs