Malverns Classic 1993 - some pictures for your pleasure...

[MikeD]

It was sunny as well Bike racing good. People dying tends to put a dampener on things. Might just be me, but it felt like something shifted in UK mountain biking on that weekend. Some sense that the cool, slightly underground, out-of-the-mainstream years had ended.

Possibly I was just annoyed about the car thing

 

[jonnyboy666]

i didn't go but my mate did, you may know of him, rich vickery, from giant uk, utter nutter!! lake jumper and regular naked weirdo once he has a shandy too many!!

 

[saltyman]

The Hemmings shot defo looks like Saltymans old bike. Yum.

i knew it had an easy life

 

[MikeD]

Aye, he was a plumber when I first met him Think so, anyway. Something like that. Haven't seen him for some years, though.

 

[jonnyboy666]

richard was and now is again a painter and decorator, he got fed up with the bike trade about 5 years ago. still a nutter though! :roll:


and i believe salty man sold that to "yo-eddy", roy in holland, he posted pics of it built a while ago with full m900 and syncros finishing kit.


i know what you (mike) mean about things changing, i remember rich coming back saying that'll be the last time an event like that will happen, because of the stabbing. i heard one of the reasons it all kicked off was because a bunch of non bikers turned up trying to make it a rave and it got loud, nasty and alcohol fueled and then it just went from bad to worse.



i think alot of the events out there now have got back to that good atmosphered event though.

 

[MikeD]

I knew it was some trade beginning with P

Yeah, it was locals kicking off. You know those signs on the gates at Mountain Mayhem saying there's no bars on site? That's why.

 

[voodoorider]

I was there those three years, the last one (the stabbing year) was about a week before I emigrated so I drove down on the Sunday with the intent of spectating with friends..... as I was getting close couldn't figure out the endless stream of cars going the other way, parked up at British Camp (Herefordshire Beacon) and got the scoop.

Some how by chance (pre cell phone days) I ran into Cy (of Cotic) and his Dad ate an ice cream and rode along some of the Malverns.

That first year I remember it was real hot, the start of the impromptu lake leaping...woke up by that really annoying mycycles Malvern hills classic jingle..still in my head to this day. The second year I seem to recall that they changed the course into a long loop around the park, with some just nasty mud on the back side, there must have been some natural springs in there.

The party that night was mad, with folks jumping down the side of the tent.

Good times...

 

[Drencrom]

I suppose this thread is a fitting place for my first post, given that the '93 Malverns was my first mountain bike race and is ingrained in my memory. I'd been riding off road for a few years before then, but as a fresh faced 14 year old it was something special to be able to see so much cool kit over that weekend that only really existed in the pages of MBUK or in shops with staff that (understandably) didn't like teenagers getting their grubby mitts over kit they weren't likely to buy.
Then there was the chance to watch the pro's, and be able to meet people like Hans Rey. I've still got the GT RTS t-shirt he signed for me. My race didn't go quite to plan - a snapped chain and loads of mud made it a pretty intense introduction to the joys of racing.

I noticed those photos popped up on Singletrack a year or so ago - they're from '93 & '94, but they sum up the Malverns pretty well for me. The festival in '93 was wet to begin with, but then stayed cloudy all weekend - the rain made for some lovely gloopy muddy patches all over the course, '94 was how it should be - dry and fast. '95 & '96 were both
baking hot. I reckon the photos are:

1 Jez Avery in '94
2 1993, the infamous bombhole.
3 '94
4-7 '93
8 Dave Hemming, '94. He came back in '95 (while he was sponsored by Stif) with what he told me was his 'bunny-hop bike' - an Orange Vit-T blinged out to the max with the lightest kit he could find, and a set of RC-30's so he didn't lose any energy through the forks. Commitment, eh?
9 '93
10 All from '94 - the first photo is Rob Warner on a Team RTS (in black) for Team MBUK, which he swapped towards the end of '94 for an early LTS. The group photo (at start of the DH) includes Paul Plunkett, Steve Peat, Dave Hemming, Rob Warner and, possibly, Will Longden (by the obelisk) in the Rocky Mountain kit.
11 Steve Peat, '94 - living up to the 'Sketch' nickname! He looked so ragged whenever I saw him race back then, for Kona or Saracen, but he always pulled it off.

Great photos though, I'll have to scan mine in if I can find them, there should be Malverns action from '93-'96.

 

[gibbleking]

i posted some from 92 if ya check the old stuff...got a real close up of rob warner on the dh...

 

[Drencrom]

i posted some from 92 if ya check the old stuff...got a real close up of rob warner on the dh...

Nice! Just had a look at the set. That'll be '94 with Warner on the borrowed blue Zaskar with Quadras and LX. He had a way of destroying kit that was something else.