Fisher, Breeze and Cunningham

I don't mt.bike much. I don't like to hurt myself on roots and rocks. The heyday of my off-roading was in the early and mid-90s when I was still in my 20s. I first had a nice black and pink (oh the early 90s) C'dale, the one which was stolen. Then I moved on to another C'dale, a purple one which was a surprise gift from my father. I rode it maybe 10x b/c 'Z' was a newborn and there wasn't alot of time for that. I rode it only 10x b/c it was stolen in the same theft as the original. With the $$ I bought another C'dale, this a blazing orange one. That bike always seemed cramped and uncomfy, so I sold it an bought the Crosscheck around 2001 or so. I then bought a cheap Redline monocog which has been used in a variety of duties, most of them non off-road. And finally I presently have the C'dale 29er "Caffeine", another gift from my complex father.

The reason, though, for this trip down memory lane is that I read on cyclingnews.com of the 2009 UCI Mt.Bike racing line-up. Next year's schedule does not include one single race in the U.S. It's well founded that the mountain bike movement began in the U.S. in the late 70s, and took off in the mid-80s again here in the States. It was the "thang" all through the 90s. I remember reading mtbike results as much as those from the roadie world: Tomac, Overend, Juarez, Furtado (whatev happened to her?), DeMattei, Tilford (like Nedly, still racing). I attended a NORBA race in the mid-90s in Bloomington, IN to watch Tomac take a great win, all the while seeing a post-roadie Bob Roll smash and crash around the course. It was fun and big. Yes, there are a couple races in Canada, but nothing in the States, not Mammoth, not Stow, not Traverse City, not Vail. I just find it all odd. Does it matter in the grand scheme? Not a damn bit, but it was fun and now it doesn't exist. Strange.