Over twenty years ago, there was lift-served downhill mountain biking on the Moab Rim trail. A chairlift went from town, straight up the vertical sandstone walls to the top which accessed a brutal, ledge-filled slickrock descent down the river. Normally frequented by off-road drivers and motorcycles, the Moab Rim trail was turned into a must-ride spring and fall destination for downhill mountain bikers.
I had shown up to race, excited by and terrified of this place. I loved riding here for fun, but was somewhat relieved when my bike was destroyed at the top of my first practice lap with my derailleur sucked into my rear wheel, nuking a quarter of the spokes. I'm sure my chain was too short. I knew nothing about bike setup. Thankfully I had just picked up a Pentax Spotmatic camera and lenses from the Longmont police auction a month earlier for $100. I knew nothing about photography or cameras, but I wanted to stick around and take pictures of the racers, especially the pros, who shocked me with their speed and commitment. I remember the bikes sounding like a bag of hammers being thrown own the slickrock and wondered why the fast riders had purposely used old, worn out tires (duh, slick tires on slick rock = grip).
Digging through old boxes in the garage the other day, I found some photo prints from the race. The photos are technically terrible, but they show some of the history of our sport and the Rocky Mountain region from October 2000. I don't recall the race name (the spring race was Tour of Canyonlands), I'm not sure if it was part of the Mountain States Cup, and I didn't know any of the riders back then.
I've filled in names where I can (not responsible for spelling : ), but help out and fill in the missing gaps of history in the comments. It's so incredible to see how far our sport has come with bikes and tech, but even more fun to see old faces, knowing that most, if not all, are stills shredding two wheels!
Pictured above
Krispy Kris Baughman - I instantly recognized Krispy from Thor Wixom's Down video (which I had and wore out). He was flying off the ledges, have a fairly quiet bike compared to most and rode with a ton of confidence and style!
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