john tomac, tinker juarez and ned overend

[wildlite]

Who else had a horn for Juliana Furtado?

[barkon]

Those were the days 'eh?

I was never a pro but I actually got to race against Tinker back in the day. In 1992 on Kodiak Alaska there was a NORBA points series. Tinker flew up to kick our butts for points. The hill climb (1270 vertical feet in 2.5 mi) was postponed for him as his plane was late. He got off the plane, assembled his bike then went on to beat the best local time up the mountain by 3 minutes. Beat my best by 8.

Raced against him? Yes. Came close to him? Not a chance.

[zaskar1]

@barkon I met Tinker in Hermosillo Sonora Mexico, he came to race one day, I had the chance to spend some time with him, took him to and from the airport. A real down to earth guy.

He did race and won as expected, noone even came close to him. Just an amazing athete.

I have a windbreaker he singed for me =)

[1dannygraves]

I participated in all of The Cactus Cup Races also... The downtown Crit at night was a blast. I remember Bob Roll hitting a cactus and having blood spurting out of his arm at Pinnacle Peak one year. The Good Ole Days!

[Carlitos7482]

Ah, the golden years of XC. Barends, clip pedals, and Grip Shifts, and jumps.

[ed1189]

Since when did Cross Country require jumping??

It seems more exciting than today's version of XC though...

[mpapet]

@ed1189

The UCI has tweaked the racing rules over the years to make the top-5 race closer with more passing, etc. Less climbing and practically groomed courses with 'designed' technical sections and no jumps.

[wwdhhhh]

jumps sweet....wut happend?

[drunkingham]

YEAH GENO!

Barry Wicks is one of a very few contemporary XC pros that could not only handle, but would relish this kind of format.

[RR1Joel]

What year was this?

[Denco83]

'95 - the year after she won her first worlds at Vail?

[patdirt]

2:42 Gene Operpriller- nice!

[johninrijay370]

Today's XC Pros would complain that the course was too tough.

[pjoiner0]

These guys would absolutely demolish today's XC riders -- no competition.

[tsioumas]

Absalon would eat them for breakfast.

This is not XC (Cross Country), this is BMX racing with 26'' wheels.

Americans don't have any more top class xc cyclists and that for they believe that xc is dead. Armstrong's success (and Lemond's earlier) turned the focus to road racing and all the real talented US riders are focusing to road, thats where the big money are.

[Gonzissimo]

This was the REAL XC.

[minthebox]

tqanderson opino exactamente lo mismo que tu.

esas eran las verdaderas carreras, no solo descenso.

[tqanderson]

Pro mt. bike racing is dead. '90's mt. bike racers RULED!! What happened to X-country pro mt. bike racing? I remember back in the day racing in the '94 Cactus Cup and then a couple of months later playing pool in a bar in Phoenix while watching the re-broadcast of the pros X-country race on the bars TV. The focus shifted to DH racing and its "extreme" mystique. X-country is extreme. Anyone can rocket down a hill, but climbing, fighting guys for position on singletrack; now that's extreme.

[MrRumbledethumps]

True,

[steelfalconx2000]

@tqanderson Yeah i agree. Its definitely not the same anymore.

[cbinsyd]

@tqanderson awesome point man. Nail on the head.

I guess its one of those things, unless you do it, its hard to realise how intense competing against the guy behind you for 40km can actually be will when its 40 degrees celcius in the rough australian bush.

I've just bought a new bike last week, the '96 Avalanche has been retired - see you all on the tracks.

Peace.

[ezanevemhelye]

What's the title of this song?

[zaskar1]

i believe its called 14th and jefferson by gas huffer

[henaor21]

Great video... those were the days when racing was great and fun, when MTB riders were MTB riders and raced XC, DH and DS.

3 questions for the true "Gurus" of mountainbike:

1. Tomac was riding a Giant prototipe, wich frame was it??

2. Who was in WC jersey??? was it Henrik Djernis??

3. Was Julie Furtado the one with Schwinn? I thinked she rode for GT almost all her carrer...

[alexandrespz]

here you go:

1- does not remember....

2- yes, its henrik djernis, the 3 time world champion on his last year as a world champion... (when he joined pro-flex team)

3- nope, she was riding for GT, you can see her and alison sydor riding at 1:49..

[johncarew1000]

or dribbly mouthed spanish

[Dapafeco]

These were the golden days! At least 20.000 fans screaming for their idols on every world cup's race...I think MTB race is dead now

[johncarew1000]

fuckin damn right , it is dead or full of tiny little shaved french and italian roadies, no characters like tomac and overend etc. i dont think you'd ever see a x country racer these days with a disc wheel crossing up over jumps with the all action style anymore its all just bollocks

[m015094]

@johncarew1000

Adam Craig is pretty badass though. However, Overend is by far my favorite racer. I think that he'd give Lance a beating if he were a roadie.

[VanillaSigmund]

Not dead, just living the shadows waiting to shine again....

[pyromaniac1207]

woohoo...the first time i saw GTs on youtube!!

[zaskar1]

lol ... theres a 1st time for everything ... i remember my old tequesta ...

[floem]

ahh the 91 tequesta, blue and white with a clogging u brake those were the days

[zaskar1]

yep that was the one ... i still have the stem ... and the scar from an endo from the clogging of the break ... or was it my lack of experience?

[rhpino]

yo tuve ese cuadro y me lo robaron...GIANT ATX890 firmado por john tomac....que perdida fué!

[zaskar1]

realmente una lamentable perdida ... un cuadro autografiado por Johnny T .... espero que cuando menos el que lo robo sepa que se llevo y no lo haya pintado de morado con una lata de spray

[rhpino]

no lo diga ni en broma cumpa que ahi me da dolor de wata! ...algun dia me re comprare un cuadro de esos pa armarlo clasico! con magura y una judy (6) jeje y su full xtr antiwito :D

[rhpino]

cuando habia que ser MACHO para el mtb....que carbono! 100% esfuerzo

[zaskar1]

muy buenos recuerdos de esa epoca ... hardtails, shark fins y mag21

[chiave04]

I saw some of these amazing bikers in Milan(italy)...Tomac with his tioga rearwheel!

what a great memory!

[Francisco30arica]

estas son las raices de este deporte extremo, muy buenas escenas, recuerdo cuando alucinabamos con esas suspensiones delanteras, en ese entonces ya existia por esos lados la conciencia de usar casco, menos mal que la gente lo adopto como parte de su propia seguridad

[bykephast]

they should start making courses like that again.

[gerpa24]

muy buen video, historia pura del mtb.

[tigerwah]

Crazy thing is Tinker and Ned are still tearing it up all of these years later.

[zaskar1]

Sure is ... i sawtinker a couple of years ago, he still in great shape

[carloscaicedo]

Ver a John Tomac corriendo un cross country sobre una bici full suspension es épico....

Creo que el fue la inspiración para muchos de nosotros, representaba el verdadero enduro.

[bchampio]

Great stuff. Back when it was a gentleman's sport and before the Europeans came with their performance-enhancing drugs.

[homi0024]

learn your lessons before you talk trash AMI. Also here the US of A was first. Check with your Track cyclist at the LA Olympics.

[m015094]

Awesome video. The Roostmaster was great!! I loved 90's mountain biking.

[zaskar1]

glad you like it ... i might post the rest of the video

[vitihv]

Yes please!!!

[zaskar1]

i will post it ... just give me some time to rip it ... if you really like it buy the dvd ... i got it for less than 10 bucks =)

[zaskar1]

Estos eran los inicios del cross country como lo conocemos ... las verdaderas raices del deporte

Tinker en Hermosillo, fue algo especial ...

[terrejam]

revolucionarios del Cross Country en todo el mundo,, solo conosco a Tinker juarez en persona, cuando compitio en el nacional de la jolla en el 2001 con sus inconfundibles rastas,,

buen vidio,, saludos