FLASHBACK FRIDAY: 25 YEARS AGO IN MOUNTAIN BIKE ACTION
Checking out our September 1999 issue
The September 1999 issue of Mountain Bike Action featured some of the most interesting bikes and events of the time.
One bike featured on the inside of the magazine was this 18.5-pound hardtail, that was put together by D. Morgan Foster of Back Alley Mountain Bikes in Wildomar, California. It came with a custom frame made by Russ Denny, crafted from Easton Elite tubing, and built up with some of the lightest components available at the time.
Ron Koch, who is MBA’s editor today, was one of MBA’s main test riders in 1999. He appeared in our test of the Curtlo 24-Hour Racer, seen here, and he also appeared in the small inset photo on the cover of the magazine.
THE DOWNHILL DUEL AT GLEN HELEN
One of the most exciting races of that year was a special mountain bike race that was organized by Troy Lee and held during the break at the Glen Helen Motocross National. There were 20,000 spectators there who came out to see the motocross event, and many of them gathered to watch the mountain bike race. There was a purse of $5,000 that was up for grabs by the top mountain bike racers in the race that day. The event was dubbed the “Downhill Duel at Glen Helen.”
Among the racers who showed up were Brian Lopes, Shaun Palmer, Wade Bootes, Joe Lawwill, Mike King, John Tomac, Dave Cullinan, Shaums March, Cedric Gracia and Eric Carter, who designed the course.
There were 16 riders in all, and they competed in groups of four, until they got down to the final top-four riders.
Shaun Palmer, riding for Specialized, got some serious air over the jumps that day at Glen Helen Raceway.
In this photo, Eric Carter is in the foreground, heading for the finish line in the finals, as Cedric Gracia (left), Wade Bootes (Trek), and Brian Lopes (1) take to the air behind him. Carter ended up taking the win, Gracia took second, Lopes took third, and Bootes took fourth.
