– Gary Fisher, 1979

The thing I like best about this video is the good-natured innocence of all involved.  The participants, the spectators and even the reporter are all just figuring it out together.  They have no idea they are creating a whole new sport and they honestly don’t care.  They’re just out having a good time.  Well, except for Gary Fisher being his visionary self.  He knew. 

I had the opportunity to meet Gary Fisher once at a mountain bike race in Lajitas, Texas, probably 1996-97 timeframe.   Me and some friends spotted him between events walking down the middle of the old-west style main street, handlebar mustache, cowboy hat and full-length duster coat, looking for all the world like he’d just stepped out of a time machine from the 1860s.  We went over to talk to him and found him friendly and gracious, more than willing to chat with a bunch of amature bike dorks out for some racing in the desert.  He was there to get some early season racing in before the official start of the pro season.  I remember listening to him talk and thinking, now here’s a guy who operates on a completely different level from most people.

Every time I throw my leg over my current full-suspension carbon wonder bike it’s cool to think of “the Fish” and where it all started, with a bunch of shaggy guys in jeans bombing down a hill in Marin County on modified klunkers.