Troy Braswell: SBMBC Guest Speaker August 1999

Troy talked about his experiences in the history of mountain biking at our club meeting.

Over the years, Troy has saved memorabilia from the world of mountain biking. He came to our meeting very prepared, which showed that he had spent many days/hours going through his biking materials and selected some of his best items to share with us. He showed us an original copy of Victor Vincente of America's (VVA) the legendary Reseda to the Sea Race flier/newsletter (two pages, both sides), fourteen miles race in Topanga Park, which was published in 1984. Troy participated in one of these races in early '80s (mind you that these were not NORBA or any other organization or agency sanctioned races, nor was there any yellow CAUTION tape marking the trail, if there was a real one!) These races were very informal and strange things like the "short cut rules" were common. Having never ridden in Topanga Park, Troy managed to get lost during the race after struggling without water in 100-degree temperatures. It seems that someone (none of the participants) had decided to erase the chalk marks from the trail. He was rescued by his wife and friends hours later. In typical of VVA fashion, the winner received an old bowling trophy and some home made beer.

In the early days of the sport, there was a lot of confusion about what trails were open to mountain bikers (even the city/state/national park agencies were not familiar with mountain bikes and had no idea that people were able to ride on trails. If a person from one agency gave an approval to use a bike on certain trails, another agency would give a contrary opinion.) Troy and his friends were going to ride the ----- trail in a national park. When Troy called to ask if mountain biking was allowed in the park, the officials said yes without really knowing what a mountain bike was. The adventurers even shared their bikes with a very friendly ranger, but as they were leaving, the ranger casually told them that he thought bikes were not allowed in the area. With this in mind, they planned to carry their bikes on their back packs (nothing like a sub 23-lbs, or for that matter a sub 35-lbs--talk about a HEAVY bike) through a different area to access a trail they were told was legal to ride. Meanwhile, his friend had changed his mind and decided to push his bike up the dirt road instead. After four to five miles, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by rangers who impeded them from continuing any further and made them turn around. It turns out that a ranger had seen the tracks of the bike being pushed and had called on radio to intercept them. Unknown to Troy, Tome Ritchey had been arrested trying to ride the John Muir Trail a few weeks before and the forest service was then alerted about mountain bikes. Nevertheless, Troy tried to talk his friend into doing it at night: dragging bushes behind them to cover the tracks and sleep during the day. That did not go over well so he tried unsuccessfully to get an expedition together to ride ----- trail in Africa, which a year later two Englishmen did ride it, and to this day no one has ridden the ---- trail.

Troy has sponsored or supported many races over the years, at first BMX and then dual slalom downhill racers. The BC USA Hall of Fame features a lot of well known pro racers like Dave Cullinan, Eric Carter, Brian Lopes, and Cheri Elliot. These were the times that mountain biking was becoming more popular, and people who were standing next to you at the race start up line were just average Joes who later became somebody well known. During the '80s some of these young BMX racers practiced gate starts behind Bicycle Center. 1988 was the first year that the Dual Slalom was introduced as a race event in this sport at the world championships held at Mammoth Lakes, and Troy convinced Dave Cuulinan to try it. As the number 3, qualifier "Cully" was advancing through the field when Troy heard the announcer request a hacksaw for number 3 at the finish line. After running down to help, he found Dave with a flat tire and asking for a hacksaw to cut the seat post so that he could lower it. Dave had to jump on the truck to be taken back to the starting line, leaving Troy with the disabled bike. He fixed the flat and attempted to run the bike back to the start line where Cully was waiting to race the next round. Running up the steep slope at over 9,000 ft. did not last long, but luckily an employee on a quad runner saw Troy and gave him a lift. When the bike arrived Dave spouted "my derailleur needs adjusting", grabbed John Tomac's 24" bike, (do not try this nowadays or you'll have to answer to a higher source), jumped out to a lead at the start and promptly crashed. The nest year Troy gave Cully a specially prepared slalom bike and a pair of BMX leathers with "Hacksaw" printed on the back. This time Cully waded through the competition, jumping high above the gate poles for a stunned crowd. Each time the truck took him back to the start, the crowd gave him a thundering ovation. The 18-year old won first place and a $1,000 for his efforts. This was the beginning of a great racing career that would earn Dave Cullinan six figure salaries and many victories. You can learn about some of the other champions that started at Bicycle Center at the BC USA Hall of Fame on the web site.

Troy brought one of his prized toys with him to the club meeting, an actual repack clunker that was raced in the original classic Repack race. The bike has been fully restored and is in excellent condition. It even gets ridden on special occasions. He also brought with him old newsletters from different clubs, bike races, and fun rides; old magazines; fat tire festival brochures; and a lot of photos. By the way, Troy is a great photographer, and you can see some of his awesome pictures hanging in his shop. To wrap up his talk, Troy asked a quiz question: who came up with the mountain biking term? And the answer is----------. If you know the answer, please let us know! If you do not know the answer, e-mail us.