retro bragging rights...

[go4low]

Wade Simmons handed me his Rocky Flow and told me to throw it over some Dirt Jumps. I did a few jumps until I hit nose first into a landing. It was Marzocchi's first year of the DJ1 fork, and thank god too cause it soaked up the hit and saved me from greater embarassment. That bike also had an intense wheelset that wasn't yet available to the public. When I gave him his bike back he looks at it crooked eyed. "I think my bars are bent" he said to me. "no, no" I said, "I think a stem bolt was loose, it's sitting a wee bit off to the left."
As all pros should be, Wade is a super good dude. But really, it's his job to be; we were working the Toronto Bike Show.

 

[B3]

Hey, I've met Sticklegs ! Does that count?

 

[Lid]

Danny Devito.

 

[Stick Legs]

Hey, I've met Sticklegs ! Does that count?

I'm sure it does not.

 

[Digger90]

I lived and raced in California for most of the 90's and met a few pro's, builders and industry folks:

- Tom Ritchey (I used to ride past his house twice a week)

- Thomas Frischknecht used to visit a bit and I once saw him speak, and talked to him at a bike shop in Palo Alto

- Shari Kain used to ride the mid-week 'Valley Ride' a few times... she and I both got shelled off the back once. I pulled her all the way back into the peloton with her encouragement. If you don't know or haven't seen Shari Kain - Wow! You should

- Bart Brentjens raced several times in the Surf City Cyclocross series at the time he was World Champion. And dragged all our asses all around after him. That was fun!

- Daryl Price was a local

- Don Myrah was a local (and I bought a pair of XTR M900 cranks off him once)

And of course at my 'local' International race - the Sea Otter - well, you'd just be bumping into everybody all the time. Especially in the early days it was a bit of a party atmosphere and you could just say 'Hi' to big-name stars... I was at the very first Sea Otter and subsequent ones, but by the 4th year it had (in my opinion) outgrown itself and become snotty/elitist.


How about the industry guys?

Keith Bontrager occasionally hung out at Surf City CX races and you'd of course say 'Hi' - especially as I was riding one of his bikes at the time!

- I was sponsored by Rock Lobster the following 3 years, so Paul Sadoff is/was well known

- And what about an all-round excellent guy Bob Seals? Inventor of the 'Cool Tool'? I still have mine, the only one I've ever owned, almost 15 years on... and it is the single best thought out, durable, best engineered piece of on-ride bike tool weaponry on the Planet.


And I almost forgot...

I met and rode with George Mount (big road/track star from the time when I was about 5 years old apparently) at the San Jose Hellyer Veldorome once.

 

[gaf16]

i think owning an original doug bradbury manitou would count.

 

[Rich]

Wow, some heady entries here,

Met Ross Shafer at the 91 Cyclex, he was kind enough to offer me soem homemade Salsa (yum!)

The Guy that played Darth Vader in Star Wars, David Prowes (sp?) held me aloft on his shoulders when he was playing the Green Cross Code Man (I was only 5 then!)

urm...Tim Davies and Mike Kloser when they came down to Horswells MTB Shop to promote Alpinestars...

 

[cannondale king]

gotta klein pulse pro and canny sm500 never meet any one famous thow o meet martin ashton once i wish i could ride like him does iraq count as a famous trail

 

[rumpfy]

I lived and raced in California for most of the 90's and met a few pro's, builders and industry folks:

- Tom Ritchey (I used to ride past his house twice a week)

- Thomas Frischknecht used to visit a bit and I once saw him speak, and talked to him at a bike shop in Palo Alto

- Shari Kain used to ride the mid-week 'Valley Ride' a few times... she and I both got shelled off the back once. I pulled her all the way back into the peloton with her encouragement. If you don't know or haven't seen Shari Kain - Wow! You should

- Bart Brentjens raced several times in the Surf City Cyclocross series at the time he was World Champion. And dragged all our asses all around after him. That was fun!

- Daryl Price was a local

- Don Myrah was a local (and I bought a pair of XTR M900 cranks off him once)

And of course at my 'local' International race - the Sea Otter - well, you'd just be bumping into everybody all the time. Especially in the early days it was a bit of a party atmosphere and you could just say 'Hi' to big-name stars... I was at the very first Sea Otter and subsequent ones, but by the 4th year it had (in my opinion) outgrown itself and become snotty/elitist.


How about the industry guys?

Keith Bontrager occasionally hung out at Surf City CX races and you'd of course say 'Hi' - especially as I was riding one of his bikes at the time!

- I was sponsored by Rock Lobster the following 3 years, so Paul Sadoff is/was well known

- And what about an all-round excellent guy Bob Seals? Inventor of the 'Cool Tool'? I still have mine, the only one I've ever owned, almost 15 years on... and it is the single best thought out, durable, best engineered piece of on-ride bike tool weaponry on the Planet.


And I almost forgot...

I met and rode with George Mount (big road/track star from the time when I was about 5 years old apparently) at the San Jose Hellyer Veldorome once.

You're definitely Bay Area local. Where specifically?
Don Myrah grew up in my home town.

 

[Digger90]

I'm a Brit - now back in the UK.. but I lived in Los Altos from 1993-2000 just off Foothill Expressway, near the intersection with Loyola Corner.

Was sunnier there than here!