Author Description

Charlie Kelly was the first man to build and ride a mountain bike, in Marin County, California in 1974. He went on to organise the Repack downhill races for ten years, making mountain biking the most exciting cycling craze, first of the Bay area, then of California and finally the world. With his partner, Gary Fisher, Charlie set up the MountainBike Company which gave the machine its name. Interested Japanese engineering companies began to make equipment especially for mountain bikers and produced beautiful looking bikes, which inspired the first mass-produced MTBs. The founding fathers of mountain biking are fascinating to riders the world over. Beginning in flower power San Francisco and involving bands like the Grateful Dead, the story retains the power of that once in a generation period of change.