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In the early years of UK mountain-biking it wasn't clear whether mountain biking would become popular or remain niche like rough-stuff riding.
By 1986 mountain bikes were to be found in most bike shops and makers like Muddy Fox, Saracen etc were sponsoring race events. However, there were no local mountain bike clubs and organised non-competitive rides were rare apart from those of the Roughstuff Fellowship who mostly rode road bikes and got off and walked if the terrain got difficult.
Geoff Apps started out riding off-road as a 'Tracker' bike rider and joined the Roughstuff Fellowship in the early 1980s but found that his approach of seeking out, not avoiding, difficult terrain didn't exactly fit their tradition. He became a regional organiser for the RSF and in 1982 started leading 1st Sunday of the month rides from Wendover in Buckinghamshire. David Wrath-Sharman followed the model by running similar monthly rides from Guildford railway station. rides were also held in Hertfordshire and Berkshire as well as whole weekend rides.
In 1986 a group of about ten people involved in these rides decided to start a not for profit magazine in order to establish a non-competitive mountain biking community and establish promote regular monthly rides nationwide.
So in 1986 Making Tracks magazine was launched. Originally, it sold as a six issue annual subscription, mail distributed in A5 format in black and white.
Luckily the production team were a highly creative bunch including talented illustrators whose work more than compensated for the basic black & white reproduction quality of the photos.
In 1988 the magazine changed to A4 though still in black & white and three issues later it merged with New Cyclist Magazine.
Today reading Making Tracks gives a unique historical insight into those times. The race reports, the early bikes and equipment, the early UK rides and the worries of mountain bikes being banned if riders didn't respect other countryside users.
You can read 1988 Issue14 here:
http://www.owlarchitecture.com/wp-conte ... -1988_.pdf
By 1986 mountain bikes were to be found in most bike shops and makers like Muddy Fox, Saracen etc were sponsoring race events. However, there were no local mountain bike clubs and organised non-competitive rides were rare apart from those of the Roughstuff Fellowship who mostly rode road bikes and got off and walked if the terrain got difficult.
Geoff Apps started out riding off-road as a 'Tracker' bike rider and joined the Roughstuff Fellowship in the early 1980s but found that his approach of seeking out, not avoiding, difficult terrain didn't exactly fit their tradition. He became a regional organiser for the RSF and in 1982 started leading 1st Sunday of the month rides from Wendover in Buckinghamshire. David Wrath-Sharman followed the model by running similar monthly rides from Guildford railway station. rides were also held in Hertfordshire and Berkshire as well as whole weekend rides.
In 1986 a group of about ten people involved in these rides decided to start a not for profit magazine in order to establish a non-competitive mountain biking community and establish promote regular monthly rides nationwide.
So in 1986 Making Tracks magazine was launched. Originally, it sold as a six issue annual subscription, mail distributed in A5 format in black and white.
Luckily the production team were a highly creative bunch including talented illustrators whose work more than compensated for the basic black & white reproduction quality of the photos.
In 1988 the magazine changed to A4 though still in black & white and three issues later it merged with New Cyclist Magazine.
Today reading Making Tracks gives a unique historical insight into those times. The race reports, the early bikes and equipment, the early UK rides and the worries of mountain bikes being banned if riders didn't respect other countryside users.
You can read 1988 Issue14 here:
http://www.owlarchitecture.com/wp-conte ... -1988_.pdf
