favourite retro memories

[FMJ]

98 Provincial DH Championships. Between the time I crossed the finish line and when I got to the team's van I had retired.

 

[Spanky22b]

Re:

Not in any particular order:
1. Eagerly waiting for the new XT V-brakes to come out and promptly dislocating my shoulder the first time i used them
2. Sunday bike rides from Hardistys in 1990 and playing chicken riding threw the red lights down Byker high street on are way to Chopwell Woods. Young and daft
3.Riding upto Point Pleasant every Saturday with my mates to poke are heads into the workshop and see what Dave Yates had been creating.
4.Christmas Day getting my very first mountain bike a Muddy Fox Pathfinder in 1990 then meeting up with my mates on are new bikes to find any hill we could ride down in Hollywell Done.
5.Riding down the big stairs for the first time on my Muddy Fox at King Eddie's bay,feeling completely out of control but getting to the bottom and thinking i've got to do that again

 

[Kell]

1: Riding Cheviot on a New Year's day mid -90s and watching a mate of my mate's just disappear down this track. I was on a fully rigid bike, my mate was on a DS and this guy had a hardtail, but he left us both like we were stood still. Later found out that he was a Bomb Disposal guy and basically had no fear in anything else he did in life.

2: Finally getting my hands on my mate's Orange P7 to do the ride above. I think he was guilt tripped into selling to me cheap as I'd lent him my Saracen Tuff-Trax when I went away to college and it was stolen from his shed.

3: JT Bad Bones helmet cover. Back in the day when helmets were sold as just white polystyrene and you bought stretchy covers to fit. (Good idea actually as you can update them whenever you like). Wanted one for ages and finally found one in some obscure shop somewhere. Never knew what happened to that cover or helmet. Can't find a pic of a helmet cover but here's the design on some goggles:

And here's a pic of the same helmet with an Orange cover. And my ex...

(Back before I'd made the switch to SPDs (no STD jokes please))

4: Being photographed in mid-air in one of the few races I ever entered - the Keilder Classic. This wasn't on a jump btw, managed to find a massive pothole filled with mud. My front wheel disappeared up to the axle and the bike stopped dead - throwing me over the bars.

5: London to Brighton on the '94 P7 on chunky tyres. Making it up Ditchling Beacon without stopping and maxxing out at 44.5mph coming down the hill on the other side (accompanied by a very loud d-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sound from the tyres.)

 

[ultrazenith]

Seeing John Tomac storm down the Pipeline at Newnham Park in the 94 (or 95?) Grundid World Cup race there.

Sneaking into Newnham Park estate and riding the pipeline with a few mates.

Getting my first proper mountain bike, a 93 M Trax 300. And riding it to death on Dartmoor over the next 3 years. I still have the frame:

Going into Battery Cycle Works on a saturday afternoon and marvelling at the 93 and then 94 Dynatech range.

But above all, the day rides with my brother and our riding buddies, in Plymbridhe Woods or on Dartmoor, going out all in all seasons and in all weather, without proper clothes for it.

 

[marc two tone]

Re:

I was never into racing or owt like that, we just messed as kids in local areas, more tarmac than owt else. So it's the exposure to bikes them selves rather than the riding. You see, back then we didn't consider our bikes for their place in the ranks, coolness, kudos etc,,we just rode them. It's only now i can look back as say.....

What a pile of sh*te we rode!

Anyway i'll revert to the brief...

1. Cutting my chrome steel bars down to what must have been 400mm... was the done thing!

2. seeing my mates '92 marin muirwoods for the first time. i not saw 200gs, heavy tubing and brick-hard canti pads. I saw flouro yellow and marin decals...non-bald tyres and it even smelt new...it looked the dogs'

3. Narrowly missing out on a townsend 'smokey bear'. would have been a small upgrade to my raleigh mustang.

4. Being there to enjoy it all, and to really appreciate it all now. I own two bikes now that i saw back in the early 90's that i have fond memories of.

5. i would do it all again!!

 

[FSXStumpy]

1. Racing Mt. Ste. Anne world cup in Sportsman Class, '97. Finished dead mid-pack, but finished! Double quad and calf cramps along the power line in lap 2... Sideswiping the final bridge's railing hard enough to crush my downtube mounted Mammoth Mtn. pump. Seeing and greeting Tinker on the trail the day before. Watching Missy and Shaun sneer at the peeps (Palmer was the epitome of arrogant).

2. Tuesday night rides with the guys from SkiWolf, usually in the UNB Woodlot... First on my '94 Hardrock, then the '95 Stumpy M2.

3. Discovering mountain biking in late Jr. high school/early high school. Exploring the local woods, jeep trails, gravel pits on a succession of clapped out Raleigh BSO's. Broke every single piece over 3 years, but the front axle. Warrantied 4 forks and a frame.

4. My first night ride, in Odell Park, with my Cateye Daylights.

5. Bike maintenance. Learning to rebuild freewheels, hubs, bb's. Running chains till the rollers fell off. Eventually getting a job as a mech at my LBS.

6. (can't stop!) Breaking the double nickle (55mph) on Smythe St., Fredericton.

7. A day at a ski-lifted bike park, Mt. Cranmore, NH (no longer a biking place), my first ever on clipless pedals (Red Jersey Cyclery) on my '94 Hardrock... No personal incidents on the trails, but the parking lot bit me (classic slo-mo topple). Tange Struts were not great, but something more than the SR 7005's. Peeling strips of melted brake pad off my rims. Aching forearms from braking...

J

 

[Baulz]

- Night rides with my buddies using a flashlight duct taped to my top tube on a horrible heavy 1990 Norco Bushpilot
- 1st ride on a real mtb thinking the whole time how awesome it was
- 1st 24 hour race at Beaver Valley with my 17 year old friends. No planning went into it, the only food we brought was rice and power bars.
- Catching Tomac's water bottle in the feed zone at the 96 Mt. Ste. Anne world cup
- Racing Expert DH at the 97 Mt. Ste. Anne world cup and being way over my head - 4th DH race ever!

 

[Tc]

Re: Re:

Not in any particular order:
1. Eagerly waiting for the new XT V-brakes to come out and promptly dislocating my shoulder the first time i used them
2. Sunday bike rides from Hardistys in 1990 and playing chicken riding threw the red lights down Byker high street on are way to Chopwell Woods. Young and daft
3.Riding upto Point Pleasant every Saturday with my mates to poke are heads into the workshop and see what Dave Yates had been creating.
4.Christmas Day getting my very first mountain bike a Muddy Fox Pathfinder in 1990 then meeting up with my mates on are new bikes to find any hill we could ride down in Hollywell Done.
5.Riding down the big stairs for the first time on my Muddy Fox at King Eddie's bay,feeling completely out of control but getting to the bottom and thinking i've got to do that again

Building our own track in Holywell Dene and seeing how much air we could get, then riding to Seghill slag heaps & taking on the killer.

 

[raidan73]

Re:

1. Night rides around Wellington Monument and Culmstock Beacon. Two Ever Ready Nightriders on the bars with upgraded halogen bulbs wired to one of those big square batteries held in a drink bottle


2. Hitting a jump that I didn't see on Exmoor and flying over my mates shoulder in front of me. Crash landed and bent the seat stay on my Raleigh Chinook.

3. Attending various races in Devon and Somerset (Culmstock Beacon, Quantocks, Woodbury); four of us in my mum's old orange Mazda 323 with dodgy bike racks on the boot/roof. We'd always meet the same people and fight it out for positions.

4. Riding from Wellington up to the Quantocks and back, whatever the weather and with little or no proper gear.

5. Sitting around looking at magazines and catalogues with my mates and talking about all the bikes we couldn't afford, the weight of the latest CNC'd offerings etc etc etc

6. Working in my LBS. Probably the most enjoyable job I ever had.

I could go on and on.....

 

[baldyonabike]

Raidan's post reminded me: The first time I took my then girlfriend to a bike park: and literally jumping over her when we took different lines and I hit an unexpected jump. When we got home she immediately ordered a full susser.

Riding/hurtling down a mountain near Glenshee on an oversized Hardrock and realising that arm pump was a real thing.

Snowed in on Holiday at Dalnaglar and having to ride 3 miles each way in foot deep snow to get to a shop for supplies. Proper survivalist stuff - or at least it felt like it at the time.