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2009 Mountain Bike Hall of
Fame Inductees Celebrated
Crested Butte, CO
Since 1988, the bicycle industry has
celebrated the best of its own with the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame induction
ceremony at the Interbike Show, and the 2009 inductees included French
downhiller Anne-Caroline Chausson, Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail
Association (COPMOBA), Marin County designer/fabricator Dave Garoutte, and
the pioneering Larkspur Canyon Gang.
The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame resides
in Crested Butte, Colorado, with Don and Kay Peterson-Cook as its curators.
The annual gathering of the pioneers
is always a star-studded affair, with several inductees in attendance. For
2009, returning members in the audience included Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher,
Ned Overend, Scot Nicol, Ross Shafer, Mark Slate, Marilyn Price, Greg
Herbold, Tim Blumenthal, Steve Boehmke, Maurice Tierney, Cindy Devine,
Ashley Korenblat, Chris King, Steve Blick, Philip Keyes and Brian Lopes.
Anne-Caroline Chausson
Industry veteran Steve Boehmke
inducted French downhiller Anne-Caroline Chausson, who not only won the gold
medal in the 2008 Beijing women's BMX race, she claimed 15 International
Cycling Union (UCI) senior world championship rainbow jerseys, 14 French
championships, and seven Mountain Bike World Cup championships. Compatriot
Cedric Garcia accepted her award, as Chausson was unable to attend.
Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail
Association (COPMOBA)
International Mountain Bicycling
Association (IMBA) director Mike Van Abel inducted the founding members of
the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association (COPMOBA), who worked
with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to develop the 144-mile
Kokopelli Trail between Colorado and Utah, the 142-mile Tabegauche Trail in
Colorado, and the Paradox Trail. The organisation celebrated 20 years in
2009.
Dave Garoutte
Salsa founder Ross Shafor was
eloquently emotional about his multi-decade relationship with Marin County
designer and machinist Dave Garoutte, one of the bike industry best-kept
secrets. Shafor regaled the crowd with the numerous time he'd present a
simple concept to Garoutte, only to have a finished prototype in a matter of
days. Garoutte has refined, developed and machined products for Charlie
Cunningham, WTB, Koski, Salsa, Fat City, Serotta, Moots, Gary Fisher, Santa
Cruz and several others, including Harley-Davidson and Yamaha Motor Sports.
Garoutte was also a founder member of the Bicycle Trails Council of Marin,
one of the first non-rpofit mountain bike organisations in the world, and
one responsible for keeping mountain biking legal on the historic Mt
Tamalpais, the birthplace of mountain biking.
Larkspur Canyon Gang
Much has been said and written about
the history of the commercial mountain bike, and no two individuals have had
more ink or coverage rendered than Marin County pioneers Joe Breeze and Gary
Fisher. After providing a stirring history lesson of noticing grade-school
kids riding modified old Schwinn balloon-tyre bikes in Larkspur, California
in the late 1960s, early 1970s, Breeze passed the mic to Fisher, who added
his own blend of pazzaz and bravado. Fisher -- like Breeze -- has adamantly
deferred to the many spokes in the wheel of mountain bike invention, and was
thoroughly generous in his praise for the group of industrious and
fun-loving teenagers who became known as the Larkspur Canyon Gang.
For more information, and to become a
member of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, visit
mtnbikehalloffame.com.
Source:
Bike Radar
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Posted By: Diesel
Date: 09/27/2009 |
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