Matt Fritzinger is the founder of the High School Mountain Biking movement in the United States. Matt has seen his efforts result in nearly 10,000 student-athletes and 3,500 coaches participating in interscholastic mountain bike racing in 2016. The system is anticipated to grow to 20,000 student-athletes in 2020. The United States is seeing a surge […]
Hank Barlow is the creator of Mountain Bike magazine, the first full-color magazine offering off-road enthusiasts the same levels of reporting and production that existed for road cycling. Hank’s wide-ranging ideas and concepts for the magazine helped advance many aspects of mountain biking, including places to ride, environmentalism and clean riding, diversity and innovation, riding […]
In 2005, Jeff founded the Museum of Mountain Bike Art & Technology (MOMBAT), which is housed at First Flight Bicycles, his bicycle retail store in historic Downtown Statesville, NC. The shop has been honored with numerous local and national awards including being voted the #3 bike shop in America by the Active Times. The museum […]
When Giovanna Bonazzi traveled to the US in 1992 to compete in World Cup mountain bike events, she was already a role model for Italian women. In the early 1990s mountain biking was still very much centered on US brands, teams and athletes. By 1992 Europe was building a strong mountain bike racing foundation, but […]
Brent Foes has applied his ability with fabrication and craftsmanship to bring innovations to off-road cycling through simplicity, with products that stand the test of time and the riders that have chosen his frames. “Made in the USA his way” is his approach. He was not the first to use hydro forming for his bike […]
Advances in any sport are evolutionary. Successful ventures are built on and refined, while failed ones are discarded. This premise guides Mark Norstad, the founder and owner of Paragon Machine Works, when he designs and manufactures his bicycle frame building components. Mark Norstad took up riding bicycles off road in the early 1970s, before they […]
Pure passion is something that cannot be replaced with anything else. Wolfgang Renner has contributed to mountain biking on many levels as a manufacturer, journalist, race organizer, traveler and 3-D photographer. In a nutshell, he is mountain biking’s first advocate and promoter in Europe. And when asked why, he will only say: “I simply love […]
Josh Bender, aka Bender, quickly made himself a name in the emerging Freeride scene in the late 1990s. His name became synonymous for going big on a mountain bike, hucking off cliffs very few dared, at heights the sport hadn’t seen. This led to a lot of media attention and raised the bar to a […]
On August 13, 1994, with the deafening blast of the old double barrel shotgun echoing off the surrounding 14,000 ft. mountains, Ken Chlouber (Klo-ber) changed the face of mountain bike racing forever. Ken is the founder of the iconic Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race. He is a true pioneer in the sport of ultra-endurance […]
Over the last 30 years Paul, Simon and Jonathan Kennett have completely transformed off-road riding in New Zealand by organising world-class events, promoting rides through their national guidebooks, building sustainable trails coupled with mass tree planting, and winning widespread support for mountain bike access. Their latest accomplishment is the organisation of one of the world’s […]