Yep, I spent everything I had on that 94' Muirwoods. In fact, to get it, I combined all my savings with my Christmas and birthday money from all of my family to get it. It cost £419. Unfortunately, because I put all the money I had into it, I had to use it for my paper round to afford to run it. I used it for everything, fun, training and racing and it's so beaten up now I wouldn't know where to start on a resto project. It was also too big for me as I bought a 17.5 to grow into, but I never did. So to this day, it's still too big for me. :roll:
I raced and beat loads of rich little tossers who were riding bikes I could only have dreamed of owning. It always made me wonder how fast I could have been if I had their bikes. The fact that they were mounted by little spoilt kids never stopped me from wanting one though.
My racing days came to an end when I just couldn't afford to keep up with the kids on those 'better' bikes. Because I used it for everything I completely wore it out, and things like broken chains, punctures on bald tyres started stopping me from finishing races, and me from getting sponsored. I'm still sad that I never managed to get a sponsor. Looking back I was definitely fast enough to have represented a company, but I suppose it was never meant to be.
There was another bloke who springs to mind was one who was riding a carbon Trek (I think it was an 8900) who called me a f*cking skank in a race because he couldn't get past me. We were racing side by side and I kicked him into a fence. That was the only fight I ever had on a bike.
Of all the bikes I raced against though, that one sticks out. To be honest, he wasn't really a tosser, he was just spoilt and I used to chat to him at races about his bike. He had everything on it, XTR, Ringle hubs, seat post and stem and Pace forks. I'm not bothered about owning one, I'd just like to see a photo of one for a bit of nostalgia.
