1980's Small Dole Mountain Bike Event

[Rikoned]

Maybe starting early next year? we should do a thread to mark the 40th anniversary of these first British MTB events.
After all, for many years to come, British mountain bikers will ask; 'When and where did mountain biking racing start in the UK?'
And an achieve here could answer that question.

Good idea.

 

[Max Glaskin]

I took a look in Making Tracks magazine Issues 1-5 (1986).
I found no mention of the Small Dole event.

I don't know if this will help you narrow down your search field...

In Issue No. 3 (1986) page 8 "A Bicycle made for one & a half":
"September 1985 brought the ATB scene to Surrey in the shape of the first Bicycle mag Trailblazer..."

Would that make Small Dole August

Well done Rikoned! I felt sure that the Small Dole event was mentioned somewhere in Making Tracks magazine, but just couldn't find it.

The event probably didn't get a mention in Bicycle Action magazine because it was promoted by a rival publication, Bicycle Magazine.

Now that he as been proven to be correct, I can reveal that the 'Well respected veteran mountain biker' was Max Glaskin.

Because we now know the date for sure, we can begin to place this event where it truly belongs. Not only a landmark event, but also as one of the very first UK MTB events.

This is especially timely given that 2024, will mark the 40th anniversary of these, the very first UK mountain bike competitions.

seen the original text

Well done Rikoned! I felt sure that the Small Dole event was mentioned somewhere in Making Tracks magazine, but just couldn't find it.

The event probably didn't get a mention in Bicycle Action magazine because it was promoted by a rival publication, Bicycle Magazine.

Now that he as been proven to be correct, I can reveal that the 'Well respected veteran mountain biker' was Max Glaskin.

Because we now know the date for sure, we can begin to place this event where it truly belongs. Not only a landmark event, but also as one of the very first UK MTB events.

This is especially timely given that 2024, will mark the 40th anniversary of these, the very first UK mountain bike competitions.

Well done Rikoned! I felt sure that the Small Dole event was mentioned somewhere in Making Tracks magazine, but just couldn't find it.

The event probably didn't get a mention in Bicycle Action magazine because it was promoted by a rival publication, Bicycle Magazine.

Now that he as been proven to be correct, I can reveal that the 'Well respected veteran mountain biker' was Max Glaskin.

Because we now know the date for sure, we can begin to place this event where it truly belongs. Not only a landmark event, but also as one of the very first UK MTB events.

This is especially timely given that 2024, will mark the 40th anniversary of these, the very first UK mountain bike competitions.

Eh? I wasn’t a veteran in 1984 but I am now and still far from being well respected.

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

Eh? I wasn’t a veteran in 1984 but I am now and still far from being well respected.

Hi Max and welcome to Retrobike.

None of us were veteran mountain bikers back in 1984, apart from Geoff Apps?

My recollection is that few people back then predicted that the UK's fledgling sport would grow so quickly into what it became in the 1990's and beyond. The arrival of mountain bikes in British bike shops was the first part of the story, but to take it beyond being just a new type of niche bike to ride, someone had to organise and promote events. Whilst I am sure that this was a lot of fun, it must also have involved a great deal of hard work, organising the early races in the hope that people would turn up.

So all credit is due to the organisers like yourself and Jeremy Torr; the mountain bike manufacturers and importers who sponsored the events and the journalists, like yourself, who promoted and reported on them.

With regards to being well respected today, mountain biking is a young man's game, and old-codgers like me can no longer ride as fast as we used to, the hills seem to be getting steeper and cross-bars more difficult to swing a leg over. And these days, it's just an achievement to keep on riding.

However, the sport of mountain biking looks like it's here to stay and only a small number of people are able to say they were there when it fist began. And even fewer that they were like you, at the heart of launching the sport in the UK! And I for one think that deserves respect!

 

[Rikoned]

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

Hi Rikoned, very interesting! Thanks for posting.

It's good to read about the positivity of those prompting the new mountain bikes by organising early events. The premise seems to be that people given an opportunity to try them out would want to own one.

But when you talk to people who were around then, this positivity wasn't reflected by the UK cycle trade as a whole. Many in the mainstream cycle trade back then were sceptical and the UK's largest manufacturer Raleigh decided not to invest, thinking that it would be 'a short lived fad' even though they knew that sales of mountain bikes in the us were growing strongly. This left the door wide open for the new companies like Muddy Fox and Saracen.

The Rob Van der Plas article listed on the contacts page sounds interesting, as he was the first author to write a book about mountain biking which was published in 1984.

 

[Rikoned]

 

[Rikoned]

A short review in the same magazine: The Mountain Bike Book, Rob Van der Plas

 

[Rikoned]

Thought this might also be of interest.
Should it be in a seperate event thread?

A brief report on Bicycle Action Mountain Bike Event, Lee Valley Park, Sunday 27th May

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

Should it be in a seperate event thread?

I don't think so. The Small Dole event topic is about the start or UK mountain bike race events as is the report on the Bicycle Action 'Eastway' event.
The Rob Van der Plas book review gives an insight into the arrival of mountain bikes on UK shores that made such events possible.

2024 marks the 40th anniversary of when mountain bikes first appeared in UK bike shops in significant numbers, and as a consequence the creation of competitive events to promote them.

I therefore intend to start a RetroBike thread marking this and celebrated the too often unsung people behind what took place then and also leading up to this. And I would really like these contemporary reports of what happened to be be included in that.

I am also planning a hold a weekend of rides based around a campsite in mid June. This will be close to the original Wendover Bash site in the Chiltern Hills.

 

[Rikoned]

As I only have copies of Bicycle for July and September 1984 I asked The Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick for help. They were kind enough to scan extracts of Bicycle August 1984.
The Journal collection forms part of the National Cycle Archive https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/NCA