CARL DECKER’S BLOG: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP REMINISCENCE

(Editor’s note: Giant Factory Off-Road Team pro Carl Decker, awaiting the 2010 World Championships in Mont-St.-Anne, Quebec, thinks back to the first time he rode the event--in Durango, CO, in 1990.)

The first true International World Mountain Bike Championships were in 1990, in Durango, Colorado. I was there at the age of 15, with my Dad and my Bridgestone. This week’s UCI World Championships at Mont-St.-Anne, Quebec mark the 20th Anniversary of that inaugural race. I think I’m the only racer at this year’s Worlds that rode that race in 1990.

Today, as I rest my legs and hide from the heat, in preparation for Saturday’s competition, I’m having a good time remembering that race in Durango….. (cue harp music)

My strongest memories are from watching the Downhill events. Back then, most Downhillers also raced XC, and vice-versa, and they did it on the same bike. Fully rigid bikes were outfitted for DH duty by simply lowering the seat with a quick release lever. Suspension forks were unavailable. SPD pedals were just an engineer’s idea at the time. Tires larger than 2.2” wide did not exist. Cutting-edge brakes meant cantilevered rubber rubbing on a rim.

Downhill, at the time, was what Super D is now. XC racers racing XC bikes on an XC Downhill. Double track descents mixed with singletrack and even the occasional climb. The DH at 1990’s Worlds had a 30 second climb in it that would have today’s racers boycotting the event.

My favorite memory from that weekend was this: John Tomac, the only rider at the event with drop bars (aside from myself) ripping by on a steep access road littered with nasty waterbars.(Read more……)