Here we are gathered at what could be called the cradle of mountain biking. It was 20 years ago to the day at this very spot that Repack, the race, came into being. And it was from Repack, that what was later to be called mountain biking, went national.
Now, people have been riding off road since the advent of the bicycle, but the key to the mountain bike's success was the balloon tire, which was popularized by Schwinn in the 1930s. 26 x 2.125-that was the key. The big wheel with the big cross-section. The balloon tire fired the imagination for how far one could go off road.
But that would have to wait. The then new double-tube balloon-tire bike fueled the bike boom of the 1930s and '40s-on the road. And yes, there have been people riding off road since the advent of the balloon tire. All around the country, in isolated pockets, off road activity would come and go. Neighborhood kids in the Alleghenies, a canyon clan up in the Ozarks-many places. They'd catch the bug for a summer or maybe play at it sporadically over the course of a few years, but inevitably they'd go onto something different. Same is true of Marin County. Many isolated occurrences.
It took another bike boom, in the 1970s, to make the difference. The obvious hit that mountain biking is today would have you believing that once someone figured out the correct formula there was no stopping it. Well, the correct formula wasn't one bike. It was a mountain called Tamalpais, people who loved the outdoors, and an inexhaustible supply of bikers that kept momentum going.
My first encounter with 26 x 2.125 balloon tires was in the late '60s. Friends at Tam High had such bikes, but I must say I scoffed at them. What clunkers! Then I heard about the Canyonites in Larkspur. They were even more into it, and even had races. I believe the Canyonites are responsible for planting the major seed.
By 1973 mainstream cycling in the form of Velo Club Tamalpais and friends had caught the ballooner bug and this was the beginning of the inexhaustible supply of riders. For a bunch of roadies with a major jones for cycling and an in depth knowledge of all the roads between the Golden Gate and the Russian River, it was like a whole new country was discovered right at our door step.
Being proficient at riding off road tends to be largely due to handling skills, and with this competitive lot it was only a matter of time before someone said they were fastest downhill.
Repack was discovered by Fred Wolf and other Ross Valley friends in the early '70s. By 1976 after many a coaster brake had been Repacked, the race was born. Fred Wolf and Charlie Kelly rounded up a Navy chronometer and an alarm clock and Alan Bonds egged on the others. In fact, it was Alan who won that first Repack race twenty years ago.
Word quickly travelled through the towns around the mountain and Repack became an instant magnet for those wishing to display their handling prowess. So eager were we to compare handling skills, the first nine Repack races were held on the average of one a week.
Repack was the crucial event in the development of mountain biking. Here for the first time, Mount Tam bikers were all drawn together on a regular basis to share their stories and share their ideas about the new bike. This cross-pollination of ideas spurred the bike's evolution and solidified the sport.
In all there were 24 Repack races. Twenty-two of them were held in 1976 to 1979, mostly in the fall as the road-race season wound down.
Racing generated new excitement and an event to focus on. Racer and reporter Owen Mulholland spread the word out of Marin with his story, "California bikies are 'mountainside surfing,'" in VeloNews, February 10, 1978. Then in January 1979, San Francisco's KPIX-TV shot that segment for "Evening Magazine". It eventually aired around the country on CBS affiliates. In '79 Charlie Kelly published a story in Outside Magazine. The word was out of Marin and before the nation.
So Repack not only catalyzed interest in fat-tire, off-road riding around Mt. Tam, it created nationwide attention for the fledgling sport-and that no doubt instantly renewed the interest of all those people around the country who had earlier ridden balloon-tire bikes off road. We were now all in the right place, at the right time.
The part I like best about this whole mountain bike thing is that while "we were just having fun", we were birthing an activity that has greatly popularized a vehicle that can be so beneficial to our individual health in the recreational sense and one that is so beneficial to our world health in the utilitarian sense.
Thank you Repack.
-Joe Breeze
Copyright Joe Breeze
