I love watching these. As a kid who rode similar bikes at this era, and as a current coach and racer of cross country, it is amazing watching what these ladies and guys did on these bikes.
Ahh yes, note Juliana's Ti onZa bar-ends... My name is Dan Sotelo co-founder of onZa. I think that was the first year onZa threw their first major party that went on to set the standard of all Mountain Bike Event parties. My Mom made tons of taquitos, with at least 4 large kegs of beer to wash them down. That first year I only played R&B music like James Brown, Aritha Franklin, etc... I can remember team captains warning and telling me they would not let their Pros go to the onZa party cause they would lose a lot of sleep. I made a promise to shut down the party at 11:PM sharp. So, I took a bike box and wrote in on it, !!THIS PARTY ENDS AT 11:PM SHARP NO EXCUSES!! and hung it smack in the middle of the action. And all were very respectful about the time, by 11:30 it was crickets. That year they had me announce the start of the men's pro class. I was so nervous I almost threw up. That race also was the pinnacle golden moment that the entire world took Mountain Bike Racing as a major world sport as you can see by the NBC world coverage and big brand sponsors. In my opinion, this was without question, MTB's finest and hour.
These were great times for sure Dan. I was a fully supported Onza athlete in 1992 and won the Washington Idaho Montana regional championships with support from you and KHS Bikes. I really appreciate all you and Onza did to support the sport back in these glory days. Like you, I am proud to have been a part of this era. After 30 years and 400 lifetime races, I can say with certainty that the early 90’s were the best years for mountain bike racing.
@@pe47115sick stuff!! I love the stories and the old bikes. I had a heavy old Malvern Star Mongrel back in the 90’s. It wasn’t very expensive. I guess I make up for that now with my 2 GT rigid fork cromo mtb’s
It’s hard to believe a bunch of these guys were still riding non suspension forks at that time. Even by 93 there were still pros without them. I was riding with Rockshox Mag21s as soon as they came out, but missed the Mag20s. By this time, I was riding a Fat Chance Yo Eddy that was nicer than a lot of these pros’ bikes.
I wore Klosers’ old Alpinestars shoes for awhile; those were great shoes! They worked well for mountain biking before clipless pedals came out and I was using toe clips and straps. Got them from a friend of mine who used to ski with Kloser.
LOVE this CLASSIC gem of a video! Blumenthal in a suit, LONG course (winning times of 2:36!) w/ 2nd & 3rd minutes back. Funniest is when they show Weizy's stats (@16:40) as 5'11"/155lbs. Ha! The Vanilla Gorilla is WAY bigger than that 🤣
