It was all doable, and we did it

December 16, 2024 12:02 PM

As a kid, I wanted to fly. Like Superman. The recurring dream never materialized but the fantasy took flight when I met the mountain bike. The history of the early mountain bike is often seen through the lens of a handful of guys who modified their old Schwinns back in the mid-1970s. However, as the lone woman participating in those early riding adventures, I snapped a few photographs along the way, capturing the age of innocence often associated with those seminal days. A small group of trailblazers, pioneering a new course of action riding these old relics, would soon change the future of cycling. from I Learned to Fly… On A Mountain Bike: Wende Cragg Documents the Birth of Mountain Biking [Radavist]

FULL FILM RELEASE Camera Corner: Wende Cragg Documents the Birth of Mountain Biking

An Interview with Wende Cragg – the Original Mountain Bike Photographer

Wende Cragg [Marin Museum of Bicycling]

posted by chavenet (10 comments total)

I attempted to mountain bike once, down Sweitzer Mountain in Idaho. It looked easy enough from the ski lift. Little did I know that brakes, like, just don't work on loose gravel. And the first 100 switchbacks were all loose gravel. I got maybe 3 switchbacks down before my "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE" alarm got too loud to ignore, and ended up carrying the bike back up the mountain and taking the chair lift back down.

I have enormous respect for people who mountain bike at high speeds.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:52 PM on December 16 [3 favorites]

Wende has been my friend for over 50 years. We shared many bicycle adventures. Her photographs are essential to my definitive history of the sport of mountain biking.
posted by Repack Rider at 1:16 PM on December 16 [21 favorites]

Hey Repack Rider … you are in the film! That is wild. You invented mountain biking! I am swooning a bit here. Wild…
posted by chavenet at 1:20 PM on December 16 [5 favorites]

You invented mountain biking!

I invented downhill bicycle racing on steep dirt roads. Evolution did the rest.

The name of the sport comes from the fact that the lawyer Gary Fisher and I hired to trademark "MountainBikes" screwed the pooch.
posted by Repack Rider at 1:29 PM on December 16 [11 favorites]

These are amazing photos! It captures how small the scene was, and yet so many of the names went on to be major figures in bike development.

I do wonder how the bikes would look today if the UK mudplugging experience drove the designs. Apart from massive mud clearance and giraffe-height bottom brackets, where would the Wrath-Sharman and Cleland Cycles designs have taken us?

(I was sad to see that Geoff Apps of Cleland passed away earlier this year)
posted by scruss at 5:10 PM on December 16 [1 favorite]

I never got into mountain biking, but I did my first century on a Giant Iguana, which was my city bike until I traded it in for something a bit lighter but still rock-solid.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:57 PM on December 16 [1 favorite]

What an excellent documentary! And the photos are just spectacular.

Back in the 80s I was a young road bike racer in Tucson, and met a guy who had moved there from SoCal with a strange bike, a bright red Ritchey "mountain bike". We made fun of him of course... fast forward a couple of years and we all had mountain bikes of our own and were having a blast bombing through the hills of southern Arizona.

Repack Rider, I hope to run into you one of these days and have you (and Wende and Joe Breeze) sign the book I just ordered from your website.
posted by phliar at 7:18 PM on December 16 [3 favorites]

(I was sad to see that Geoff Apps of Cleland passed away earlier this year)

Geoff and I never met, but we had extensive correspondence. I was a member of the Rough-Stuff Fellowship, the UK off-road club. I even contributed to the RSF newsletter.
posted by Repack Rider at 7:22 PM on December 16 [2 favorites]

Mountain bikes were what we should have had as kids. My cohort were a generation too early. (and far from Mt Tam...)

But I still ride my mountain bike (32 yrs old now) quite a bit. I've changed the knobby tires for ones that are a bit better for gravel. The bike is great for bike paths, rail trails, and just rambling around.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:39 PM on December 16 [1 favorite]

So glad to see this on the blue. Wende's photo archive is a national treasure capturing an influential moment in time. Thanks Repack Rider for sharing with us as well!
posted by St. Oops at 8:16 AM on December 17 [1 favorite]