cyccommute 

I've embarked on a project to scan old photos and certain gems keep popping up. Back in 1984, as a new mountain biker (everyone was "new" then), this add jumped out of the pages of Bicycling Magazine, grabbed me by the lapels, and gave me a good hard shake! Who was I to leave a "challenge" just lying there?



The Gant Challenge was a race series open to anyone and was held all over the nation. The Colorado race was held at the Parfet clay pits in Golden, Colorado. The "clay pits" were a closed open pit mine near Golden that produced clay for Coors Porcelain. Chip Parfet was the operator of the family business and was a mountain bike enthusiast.

Working with the Gant people, he created a 1/2 mile track that was more BMX track than mountain bike track. It had deep drops and steep climbs. Pros did several laps. Us "normal folks" did a single lap with 5 heats being held. The top 5 advanced to the final heat. I did my heat and then grabbed my camera. My wife did do pictures so there are none of my suffering but I got plenty of pictures of other peoples' suffering.





The bikes are typical of the era. Long (long, long) brake levers that came from motorcycles. Cantilever brakes. Thumbshifters...friction, of course. Wool shorts. And helmets that ranged from Bell Biker II to Skid Lids to hockey helmets to mountaineering helmets to leather hairnets. The latter were more a basket to make collecting brain material easier following a crash.

There were even gravel bikers far head of their time!


My own path to glory was a bit fraught. I rode way into the aerobic zone for the 5 minutes or so of my heat. As I approached the finish line, I wasn't first and I could see others ahead of me. The race announcer was calling out numbers and names and, as I approached, I thought I was in 6th. "Not bad!", I said to myself. And then he called out "In 5th place, Stuart Black!"

"What!!?? I have to do this again?!", I said to myself as I coughed up and hacked out a spleen.

I didn't finish my second heat last but I wasn't first either.

After hacking out most of my internal organs after the second run, I took pictures of the people who get paid to suffer.





As to my racing career, that was my first and only race. I value my internal organs.

RCMoeur 

Gold anodized rims AND hubs! Sweet!

Those are great photos. All my pix from that era were taken using a 110 camera and can barely make out what is going on.

cyccommute 

I'm pretty sure that is a 1983 Ross Mt Hood.

I had one of those for a while. My wife bought me a Pentax K1000 for Christmas in 1980. As I've scanned pictures (1660 pictures so far but only 3 years worth), I can see how my ability to take pictures got much (much, much) better

Great camera, by the way. I still have it but haven't used it in ages. Damned rugged.

Markeologist

Bullmoose bars … faded away but are now oh so coveted. I see Fisher, Ritchey, Specialized, and WTB teams…this is post-wool shorts era so those are synthetic team uniforms…the plebeians seem to be wearing OP shorts or other non-cycling gear if not synthetic togs themselves. Back in day, I wore synthetic cycling shorts and t-shirts. Still have my 85 Fisher Comp and my “Fisher” gear from this period.

Fredo76

Interesting history, great pictures!

Thanks for posting.

r0ckh0und 

The Ross Force One had those gold rims and hubs and I think it was the first MTB offering from Ross

cyccommute 

Hard to say but this Ross Force 1 listed on Mombat has clamp-on cable guides which aren’t evident in my picture.

r0ckh0und 

It is interesting that there are 2 different versions of this model given the short production due to the copyright issue. My Force one has a different lugged fork crown and braze-on cable guides. Would have to assume the version with cable clamps is earlier.

Pantah

I recognize that place, that's the bike shop next to Fairfax Market isn't it?

Sweet old Fisher! My oldest MTB is a 91' Team Marin in ROUGH shape but my brother has a first year Stumpjumper, a 1983, in very original condition with original Deer Head components. He loves that thing. He figured out a way to run the original rims tubeless and has massive 26x2.6 tires on it. He rides it all the time and hard too. He's quite the talented rider and can generally keep pace with much newer,lighter weight full suspension bikes. It's amazing how much you can do with an older bike, it's far more about the rider than it is about the bike. Just as a fast car does not make for a fast driver, a "fast" bike does not make for a fast rider.

Markeologist

Yes, Split Rock…bike shop and tap room. Also one parcel over from the Marin Museum of Bicycling. Great spot for a beer (or two) after a ride and museum visit…though I would suggest visiting The Lodge and Gestalt House too (the latter being the site of the old Fat Tire Trading post).

Chinghis

Fantastic pictures and story, thanks.

Repack Rider

I covered that race for Bicycling.

SoCaled 

Read this thread, switched tabs to Offerup and this was at the top of the page - https://offerup.com/item/detail/5d79...597ada?cid=7.4 - $600 - LA, CA

cjefferds 

I have a couple of these 83 Ross frames. The first is dated May 83 (serial number starts with 0583)

The other frame is dated July 83….

cyccommute 

My understanding at the time was that it was a race series in numerous locations.

cyccommute 

It was an era when bicycles were changing rapidly and constantly.

cjefferds 

Yes, this is one of the reason I love these early mountain bikes. The pace of evolution from late 70s klunckers and early ATBs to mid-80s mountain bikes was really something. Probably the biggest development in cycling in our lifetime?

John D

I rode "The Gant Challange in Chicago. They made a course in the lakefront park on the grass, with watered down muddy sections. I rode my Schwinn King Sting with Stu Thompson handlebars.

cyccommute 

I actually prefer what came out of the late 80s/early 90s as the bikes got much better. The advances in technology that came out of that time had more impact than the early mountain bike technology of the 80s. Threadless headsets, index shifting, sealed bottom brackets, sealed hubs, suspension, etc are all things that have made bicycling easier and/or better. Road biking benefitted from these advances as well but I doubt they would have ever come along without mountain bikes pushing the envelop.

Repack Rider

Sponsored in part by Bicycling magazine. I worked for them at the time.

cjefferds 

Sure there was nothing really groundbreaking techwise about early mtbs but I would submit that the advent of the mtb did more to expand the scope of cycling than any tech innovation that came after.