Jr. Pro X racer Gunnar Bergey sent me this photo. His old man Randy shot it waaay long ago, and it is full of funny stuff. Oh, how fashion has changed
To start off, it is the first ever prototype EWR Woods Bike that I made in 1991. Believe it or not, I still use essentially the same frame geometry today! It has a first generation Rock Shox fork and an Ibis Trials stem. The old "custom flared" drop bars have drilled out Campy brake levers (which are currently on my fixie) and there are Deore XT thumb shifters afixed on the ends of the bars. Believe it or not, it shifted phenomenally well in the drops with full cassette sweeps a breeze to make. Deore XT pedals were chi chi back then, as were Diadorra mountain bike boots.
So this photo is from the first straight at the old 1992 Doe Mountain Downhill race. I am wearing the first gen Bikesport jersey, an electric blue turtleneck my parents gave me for X-mas, a moto-inpired JT V100 chest protector given to me by Mike Gentilecore (he still rides with them today!) and a fashionable Troy Lee visor is duct-taped to my helmet. I was obviously torn on whether I was a roadie, MTB racer, motocross wannabe or just John Tomac. Those races were huge back then, drawing upwards of 700 or more people. Gunnar Shogren and Floyd Landis had legendary battles there, rode all three events and even camped out there. Those events were epic.
Gawd those colors were obnoxious. I am glad to see that fashion has changed. Too funny to look back at this stuff. Thanks for the trip back, Gunnar.
Oh yeah, I still have that number plate.
