who insired you back in the day?

[longun]

back in the very early 90s i can remember watching the mountainbike show etc on tv, a rich mate taped me the world cups from eurosport. my riding was fairly timid tbh,just rode around and stuff,with the excemption of mbukand mbi i was fairly self influenced.

however iirc i was watching a world cup from 93 ,i spain and the xc course had a big floaty drop which all the riders were skidding down and looking kooky on........then it showed a certain mr tomac,in full attack prejump the drop,float down the drop of about 60 degrees tweaking his bars.landing effortlessly near the bottom and rolled awa,y losing no speed,a cheer from the crowd in his ear and 13/14 year lad itching to copy him!!!!!!!!!

i spent the rest of the summer trying to copy this very trick on a long grassy bank at my school in plymouth,i succeeded and eventually went on the spend as much time "grapping air" as i could .

even to this day i follow the little buzz still from within from eing inspired watching john tomac,i loved everything he did,stood for and when i saw him racing made me more passionate for riding than ever.i idolised others like tim gould,david baker,rich thackrey etc loads but johny t stood tall for me

so c'mon,thats my silly little tale of why love jumping my bikes and who inspired me,who inspired you and why?

ill try and find the clip or pic

 

[legrandefromage]

I didnt get exposed to much cycling on TV except the Browning electronic shifting on Tomorrows world.

Remember a bit of BMX but it seemed like a lot of blokes jumping up and down on the spot rather than any riding (the cherry picker!).

Most inspiring person would have to be my Granddad who taught me to ride and bought me my first bicycle.

 

[mikee]

hans jorg rey

awsome dude ,and all that

zaskar designer sort of too

 

[marin man]

My father

pun about sired

missy giove

and sort of hans rey...a little bit

 

[tintin40]

My father

pun about sired

No body inspired me. May be wanting to get a Trimble in the top 3 finishers in a race. Failed.
Did it on a Klein.
Maybe this year in i can get my head in gear.

 

[sunchaser]

In the early '90's I fancied an older woman at work who was into mountain biking. I decided to get into it to try & impress her

It didn't work but I've had a lifetime of great riding out of it. All be it not the kind I was hoping for...

The things you do when your young - stupids!

 

[chaser]

lol > Sunchaser

For me it was Paul Lazenby.

I know he was aroiund since about 1992 [always with Marin] but it was a bit later thet he caught my attantion when I started to look at full sus bikes for the first time. There was a great article with him in MBi [sadly no longer]

He was always trying new kik/customising somthing.

He pioneered riding Full Suspension in XC championship. He won in 1997 I think on a Marin Mount Vision Pro - which I then went on the purchase [no, not his one... I wish!]

He was also the first XC racer I ever saw using riser bars!

I've met Paul a few times since, he is a really great guy too.

Thanks for the indspiration Paul.

Cheers,

Chaser.

 

[FMJ]

Waaaaay BITD, Heikki "the Animal" Mikkola

BITD, "Earthquake" Jake Watson

 

[Dr S]

Racing and the like kinda passed me by. I wasn't at all interested in it and always thought that the organized proffesionalism that had crept in wasn't what mountain biking was really about. Sure i did a few of the early races in the mid 80's but it was just to hang out with other mounain bikers- pre internet, trail centre and magazine remember.

I guess the people who inspired my riding were not racers then. Most important was my friend Andy. Andy was, at first, the only other kid in my town to have a MTB. He also had the same 'escape from this shithole' attitude. He was a great rider and planner and would always have some epic route scribbled onto maps in his dads garage. We rode together seven days a week after school and did epic trips at the weekend often roughing it in barns and the likes. He always made it to the top of steep hills first, always wanted to make the next valley before dark, always popped the longest wheelie etc. I suppose in those early days he really got everyone into bikes and pushed everyone on to use them properly.

Another influence was a guy on four wheels. Back in the mid 80's Juha Kankkunen was driving 2WD Toyota Celica Turbos. His style and the lines he would take through corners to carry as much speed as possible- flicking the car to the opposite side before corners really works on a bike, and by adapting his style and technique to two wheels made me so much faster than my friends when we would race down through the woods.

Happy days they were.

Si

 

[REKIBorter]

The guys I rode with in WASPS Welwyn and Stevenage pedalers. They made me a better rider which in turn got me in the Marshalls Cycles race team. That is when it started going wrong.

Big Frank Waller, Gam, Nigel, Steve Perry, Steve Marshall. All great guys and first class riders.