How One Person Changed Mountain Biking Forever - So Why Are We Going Back？ ｜ Retro-Spec'd

It's 1995. Your phone was modeled off of a house brick. Fashion was basically the same and David Hasselhoff had just reunited Europe. Mountain biking, however, looked like this. But it wouldn't stay that way for long. I mean, looking back at the early days, it's quite easy for me because I was involved in those early days. But I suppose when I started, the World Cup had been going for a few years, World Champs had been running for a couple of years before. But it was mainly an evolution of cross country. The sport needed its own identity and it needed to break itself away from cross country and road. I feel like it looked too similar to those two, yet it was an action sport, inherently dangerous in nature, inherently cool with the airtime and technical rock gardens. It needed to look like these riders meant business, like they were taking themselves seriously, like they were protecting themselves for the risks they're about to take. 96 was the first time I met Palmer, the start of 96 in Panticoaster in Spain. And he came straight in. I was riding for MBUK, I was in a Nike onesie, full lycra kind of suit, racing in that. And Palmer just wore motocross stuff. He came in, baggy jersey, baggy pants, looking pretty damn cool. We all felt like idiots, I guess, after he came in looking so cool. When you first saw Sean Palmer riding a full suspension mountain bike with dual crowns that looked like a moto, wearing gear that looks like moto, it was like this instant, like, you can't put words to it, but like, whatever this is, I want more. And then in 97, I signed for GT in America, and the GT program had some Axo motocross pants, but for the BMX team. So I got my hands on those as soon as I could once I got on the GT team. The era of Palmer and PD sparked a massive change in how riders and racers wanted to look. And once that ball started rolling, it didn't stop for two entire decades with moto inspired baggy kits. Although the sport changed hugely and protection improved to keep up with the more technical tracks, the bulky armor was still putting off some of the riders. So much so that some of them chose to get creative. The French rounds, we used to have to run back protection, and I got disqualified for running the cardboard taped into the jersey one time. And I know I wasn't the only one to do it. And I was a little bit annoyed that it got all the way to the racer. And I went through all practice with that thing taped in there. But that just goes to show that the protection back then was uncomfortable and bulky. I remember seeing Loic when I started racing and him taking the biggest slams in practice, but wearing full body armor and full kit and just get back up with no problem. And I was thinking like, man, I wish I was comfortable enough to wear all that protection. Riders like Loic Bruni showed us what we should be wearing, even if it wasn't as refined or as comfortable as it is today. Now that riders can ride unrestricted, even with full armor on, what do these elite riders actually wear to keep themselves safe? I wear knee pads, gloves, and chest protector, back protector. Knee pads, chesty, elbow pads. I always wear elbow pads. I would never ever go without knee pads and without gloves and full face helmet. These are the mandatory things for me. And even chest and back protection is really, really important. Now it's evolved to where it's super comfortable. The protection is really nice to wear. I wouldn't ride without it now. I've got, yeah, I just don't want to have scabs all over my body. I want to be feeling as good as I can when I race. And it helps you to be able to push the limit in practice, take a hit, and not have any issues. Of course, clothing had gotten more comfortable, but the biggest changes to usher in that new modern era of mountain biking were just around the corner. In one dry, wet French race where the clothing would get tighter, the wheels were going to get bigger, and it opened the floodgate for customization. We'd always had these sort of gentleman agreements that we wouldn't wear lycra. We wouldn't like take our visors off our helmets and all that sort of stuff for quite a few years because we wanted the sport to look really cool in the press. But there was definitely riders at that point that were starting to push a lot tighter pants and wearing like a size small instead of a size that actually fitted them. The first kind of bigger change I realized was when everybody went to pants instead of shorts, and the shorts were like obviously white and baggy. And then everyone started wearing pants, and they got tighter and a bit more skinny everywhere, and also the shirts got tighter. I remember Loic always having the tightest kits. When your main job is to go as fast as you can on a downhill bike, you want to have every advantage and gain that you can. So it may not be the same as an F1 aerodynamics, but a tight kit. It not only makes you feel like you're ready to race, but it definitely gives you that little bit of extra help. Looking fast is one thing. Feeling fast is another thing. And as riders were deliberately sizing down in their kits, it was only a matter of time before the sponsors stepped up and started to provide a kit that was fast straight out of the box. So what does it mean for riders to get a custom kit, and does it help or does it hinder? I think having a nice race kit is actually like motivating to me. If you're like feeling good in the kit you're riding in, you're riding more comfortable, and you're like riding more confident as well, and it kind of makes you faster. I think I still get as excited as all the riders when the new kits turn up. You see a box and it's got Larry's name on it and I want to get straight in there and have a look what color he's got this week. If you want to go out here and enjoy the sport, you want to be confident when you hop on your bike. And the kit plays a big part in that. You want to feel like you can move the way you need to on the bike. You want to feel like you're not restricted. And you also want to feel protected at the same time. And I think now we're coming back into a position where the kits are getting to be very close to that level of aerodynamics without looking so ---- and giving you the protection that you need. But what about all the people who aren't interested in going between the tape? Where is mountain biking going next for them? And is it always destined to follow moto? I don't know if this is at all going to be relevant to what the piece is that you're doing, but you just reminded me of something I noticed. This year in the lift line at Whistler, one thing I really noticed is there was a time, you know, pretty much all of the time leading up to now, when you get in the lift line, you see somebody with a custom bike or a custom jersey or a custom painted helmet. You're like, oh, who's this? It's probably somebody that I know. It's like somebody who's, you know, in the scene, a pro, and I'm aware of them. Either I know them or I've seen their videos. And now you get in the lift line and just like everybody's got something really cool, whether it's on their bike or it's what they're wearing. And I went, wow, this is crazy. This is like a turning point. And what I think is going on is like our sport is finally actually building up a bit of a culture and a bit of a style that people want to be a part of. They want to emulate. And I think that's a really good thing. I think that's something that our sport has lacked compared to lifestyle sports like surf, skate, snow. Our sport is younger than all those sports. So it makes sense that we're behind in that regard. But the fact that I start to see it happening right now, I go, oh, this is great.