Mountain biking has evolved quite bit from carrier bikes on the hills of Marin County. Pexels photo.
California’s Marin County is widely regarded as the birthplace of mountain biking. It all started in the early 1970s when a few ambitious and innovative cyclists from this area started making their own mountain bikes from vintage paperboy bikes. These were first known as ‘clunkers’, and they were designed with riding on harsh dirt roads in mind.
Needless to say, mountain biking has come a long way since its early days. Riders went from crawling down hills on bikes not fit for modern day paper routes to sending it off massive Utah drops on twin suspension bikes that are more technologically advanced then some sports cars.
So, to trace how we got here, we decided to take a look at five seminal figures in the development of competitive mountain biking.
Jacquie Phelan
When the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame was first created in 1988 in Crested Butte, Colorado, Jacquie Phelan was among the first riders to be included in it. Her early success in this previously male-dominated field has paved the way for women in mountain biking ever since.
Phelan has always happily marched to the beat of her own drum. Jacquie Phelan photo.
In 1987, she founded WOMBATS (Women’s Mountain Bike and Tea Society) in order to encourage girls to participate in the sport. She was the undisputed NORBA (National Off-Road Bicycle Association) champion for three consecutive years between 1983 and 1985, and she participated in four world championships between 1990 and 1993.
She is married to fellow MTB visionary Charlie Cunningham, a renowned bike builder who founded Wilderness Trail Bikes. And Cunningham did more than just provide emotional support for his wife’s racing: Cunningham built Phelan’s prized race bike “Otto”–one of the first aluminum frame bikes used in competition. Phelan rode the revolutionary bike for six seasons without losing a race.
John Tomac
Now retired, John Tomac has made mountain bike history and rode with many great teams of pros along his lengthy career. Previously part of the BMX scene, Tomac left for Southern California in 1986 and shifted his focus towards mountain biking.
It’s safe to say that he hasn’t looked back since. He was declared NORBA World Champion in 1988, by cumulating points from Cross-Country, Downhill and Slalom competitions. Tomac kept his title all the way through 1989 as well.
Even towards the end of his career, Tomac (right) was a competitive force. He's seen here racing at Mammoth Mountain in 1998. Patty Mooney/Flickr photo.
Then, in 1990, he moved to Belgium to balance a multi-continental road racing career, while riding for Yeti Cycles. In 2000, Tomac officially retired, but still participated in a few competitions for some years after.
Keith Bontrager
Keith Bontrager has had an interesting career in biking ever since 1965 when he started off small by manufacturing bikes powered by lawnmower engines. 1980 saw Bontrager’s first mountain bike, which he had built from scratch in his garage in Santa Cruz, California.
He’s competed in a ton of races since, including a lot of 24-hour events. Bontrager was a participant in the famous Trans-Sylvian Mountain Bike Epic stage race held in the American state of Pennsylvania, as well as the Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross in England.
David Wiens
Although he is now retired from the actual sport, David Wiens was and always will be a key figure in the world of cross-country mountain biking. He was the national champion in this field way back in 1993, and in 2004 he won the US National Marathon.
Wiens is most famous for having won the renowned Leadville Trail 100 six times in a row between 2003 and 2008, and for defeating two admired Tour de France champions, Floyd Landis and the now infamous Lance Armstrong. He beat them by just under two minutes in 2007 and 2008 respectively, setting a track record each time.
Missy Giove
Missy Giove is among the most recent batch of inductees the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, and all for good reason. She holds the all-time highest number of NORBA Downhill wins with a grand total of 14 under her belt. She also has three overall crowns for this category, as well as two World Cups. Giove won her first world championship in 1994, after previously competing in downhill skiing.
Hard charging and fast living earned Giove the nickname "The Missile." Daft Photos/Flickr photo.
Appropriately nicknamed “The Missile”, she carried out the legacy of women in mountain biking with a hard-charging riding style and devil-may-care attitude up until her official retirement in 2003. She remained involved in the sport, helping handfuls of new riders finance their travels, and despite a legal run-in in 2009 for drug distribution charges, she was inducted into the MTBHOF in 2016 and the Italian Hall of Fame in 2017.
From humble beginnings in the 1970s to today, mountain biking has come a long way. A lot of important riders and visionaries contributed to the growth of the sport, and nowadays young bikers such as Jack Carthy or Nicholi Rogatkin have the chance to be more prolific than ever.
Of course, if it weren’t for those ambitious few pioneers back in California such as Joe Breeze or Charlie Kelly, the field wouldn’t be where it is today. Now it’s up to its fresh stars to take the reins and help the sport evolve even further.
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About The Author
stash member Amanda Wilks
Amanda Wilks is a passionate writer, contributing author for Mountain Bike Reviewed, and veteran MTB rider. Her passion for mountain biking dates back to her childhood when she would join her dad every weekend for a quick ride uphill.
Patty Mooney
February 16th, 2018
That photo of John Tomac (on the right) is from the inaugural Dual Slalom in Mammoth Mountain in 1988 (not 1998). That is downhill champion Jimmy Deaton on the left. The photo, by DP Mark Schulze of New & Unique Videos in San Diego, is a behind-the-scenes photo taken during the filming of “Ultimate Mountain Biking” in which both Deaton and Tomac appear, imparting their “advanced techniques and winning strategies.” A 16-year-old Denise Mueller, the woman who just set the land speed record for women on a bicycle, also appeared in the show. “Ultimate” was the second in a series of instructional mountain bike videos produced by N&UV; in the 1980’s. The first was “The Great Mountain Biking Video” which you can read about at Wikipedia. How would I know all this? That’s me in the blue tee-shirt standing behind the hay bale behind John Tomac. How coincidental that I just uploaded a hilarious clip from “Ultimate Mountain Biking” outtakes - this scene was never used in the video. http://www.sandiegovideoproduction.com/ultimate-mountain-biking-video/
They say that imitation is the best form of flattery and maybe that explains why every mountain bike video produced since ours is either called “great mountain biking video” or “ultimate mountain biking video.” One of the repercussions of being pioneers, I suppose. For more mountain-bike history, you’re welcome to visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GreatMountainBiking/
Gene
February 16th, 2018
Just so you know, that photo of John Tomac racing was not from 1998, maybe 1988? Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong were both stripped of their titles when they each tested positive for doping.
I get the feeling that author knows little about mtb and just did her research online, not exactly the quality of article I expect from TGR
jordy james
April 16th, 2022
hey