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(plane roaring)
(air whoosh)
- So, we're here in Marin County
just north of San Francisco.
We're going to meet a few really interesting people
and learn a lot about the history of mountain biking.
- Yeah, which of course mountain biking
fundamentally started in Marin County
way back in time.
And we're going to go and chat with
three of those founding fathers.
(pop music)
- So, we're now in Fairfax,
which is home of the Museum of bicycling,
but also for me it's a really famous place.
It's for Repack, the original down hill track.
- Yeah, but it's kind of funny actually
thinking of mountain biking,
the original part of it was downhill racing.
- Yeah.
- Technically, these guy's pushing
these old paperboy modified bikes
up to the top of that mountain over there.
- So, this is where it was invented
but there's some dispute of where people
rode off road the first time. - Sure.
- (Neil) But, there's no dispute
this where people like Charlie Kelly,
Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher.
This is where the first bikes were made.
- Yeah, and hopefully we're going to see
the very first bike released, an iteration of that.
- So, we drove around Marin,
I call it Marin growing up in the UK and the 90's
you see the bikes, but actually it's called Marin isn't it?
Of course. - Marin County, yeah.
- There's loads of famous names
from the bike company like Palisades trail.
- Bear Valley.
- Muir Woods.
- Yeah, They're all here...
- We recognize old names,
- Yeah, it's really cool to see.
it's almost the mecca of mountain biking.
I'm going to take a look right.
- [Neil] We're 30 minutes north of San Francisco,
so it seems crazy to come straight out of the city.
You're into this amazing landscape.
Looks like some amazing trails up in the woods as well.
- Yeah, you can see why it's a lends itself so
perfectly to mountain-biking.
- It's a little bit hippie.
It's kind of really affluent around right here, but...
- Very much so, yeah.
- Loads of cool old camper vans,
and stuff to drive around, it's a cool place.
- A lot of those early stories I heard where
it was always an affluent place.
- Yeah.
- And it was almost frowned upon
that these repack riders back in the day
were doing something so against
the grain in society.
- There was loads of cool street art.
I was in Fairfax when I saw that stuff.
- Yeah, it was really cool.
Loads of stuff detailing sort of the GPS
coordinates of that original, right?
I'm hoping we can go see that--
- I really want to go.
I used to race down hill as a pro.
It's like, this is where it all started,
I've got to go and see it.
I'd love to go and do a flat down run down it.
(mellow music)
- So, it's time for a history lesson.
We've got a couple of very important people
to tell us all about mountain biking.
- Somewhere we have always wanted to go.
Let's go check and it out.
- [Doddy] Walking in, we were greeted by
Charlie Kelly and given a tour of the
fascinating bike history in the museum.
Charlie Kelly's a real character.
Growing up in Marin County, he was a keen cyclist,
who helped organize the Velo-Club Tamalpais.
A roadie for the psychedelic rock band,
The Grateful Dead, organizer of Repack races
and the co-founder of the mountain bikes company,
alongside Gary Fisher.
- I was hanging out with this Grateful Dead girl
who said "Man, I know this guy's just like you...
he's this hippie bike fanatic, you know,
and hangs out with the Grateful Dead.
You're the Sons of Chaplain roadie.
You guys would just like immediately be friends.
And the day I saw him,
he's only the second guy I had ever seen
on a soft tire bike.
We introduced ourselves to each other
and, you know, history and all that.
But that's how I met Gary.
- [Doddy] Gary Fisher, a fast young road racer,
that was temporarily banned for his hair being too long.
He met Charlie through his shared love
of the Grateful Dead.
He was right there at the start of mountain biking.
In fact, he was considered,
along with Charlie and Joe, as one of the inventors
of the modern mountain bike.
- We're riding down, driving down the road,
and here's this kid hitchhiking
and had a beard down to here,
had hair down to here...
We pick him up, you know?
Slides in.
And so we just became friends from that moment on,
you know, and of course, as you can clearly see,
we've been dear dear friends for 45 years.
- Yeah.
Joe Breeze, a bicycle frame builder
that turned his hand designing and building
the very first all-new mountain bikes
and amongst the fastest racers on Repack.
- Gary and Joe are the two guys
I've shared most of the adventure in my life with, you know?
There's a bond there that you just can't duplicate.
- [Doddy] Re-pack is the name of the race
that took place in the slopes of Mount Tamalpais,
above the town of Fairfax.
The down hill time trial dropping 300 meters
with an average grade of 14 degrees.
The winners became legends around time.
- The course was selected for a number of factors.
One...
it's here...right?
Two, it's really steep.
It's a super challenge.
And third, when you're done you're home, you know?
The race really went on for about
maybe three and a half years,
the real heyday of that race.
And by the end of that era,
it was known to be the best free show in Fairfax.
- But this was a big deal,
I'd walked through town and
people would stagger out of the bars
and say "You got to win next week Gary.
My money's on you."
You know, and all this stuff,
and it was like people would walk out there
in the woods to see it,
and when I go around...
they go around looking for prizes.
No problem.
- Everybody knew when the race was
and, in addition to all the participants,
the girlfriends and the wives and the friends;
we'll they'd hike into the bottom because
that's where most of the really hard turns
were near the bottom anyway.
Where all the photos were taken.
Now, Joe was the immediate catalyst,
but if it wasn't him it was going to be
somebody else because the bike was going to
evolve to deal with the environment
and if the environment is going really fast
downhill on something rough,
well you're going to come up with big tires.
You're going to come up with a different geometry
and Joe was the guy who did it.
- Charlie Kelly, who came to me, that one day
and says "Hey, build me a new frame.
I'm tired of busting these old frames."
And I'm looking at him like, "Well, aren't
we just having fun out here?
You want me to get serious about this now?"
And so....
He says "Yeah."
And he starts waving about $300 in front of me or so.
And then I think well I could probably
get tubing for 10 frames for that
and that's what I did.
And I drew them up very carefully
with a side view and a top view,
make sure everything was going to work out.
This is the prototype.
This Breezer...
it's the first time had a frame built
specifically for what we're doing,
outfitted with all brand new parts.
First shiny new mountain bike, essentially.
- The first few trips down it,
we all were riding on coaster brakes.
But, all the heat from that friction
that you need to slow down
all goes into something the size of your fist,
and that thing is just about white-hot
because of the smoke just pouring out of those hubs
and the grease will be running down the spokes there
and if you let the thing cool off,
it would just howl,
you had to go home and repack it with grease.
Otherwise, it was howling and howling.
- [Doddy] Legend says that this
small group of riders actually invented mountain biking.
- We really changed people's perception
of what a bike is.
I mean totally change their perception of what a bicycle is
and what it could do and everything.
Once they try it, there's no going back.
- We didn't invent the mountain bike.
The bike is...
Somebody invented the bike a long time ago.
What we invented, if anything, was a new way to use a bike
which is raced downhill on bad roads.
But, I think...
if anybody else had come up with
the same idea of racing downhill;
probably would have evolved similarly
and we just happen to be the guys
that live at the Waimea Bay of mountain biking.
- Sure.
- You know, where those guys sit on the beach
and look at the wave every day.
Every day all day.
And and I say the guys who invented
surfing didn't drive to the beach they lived there.
You know?
We live at the mountain biking beach.
- [Doddy] Gary Fisher still holds
the record time for Repack.
Four minutes, 22".
Mountain biking eventually moved on
and the local authorities made it
more difficult to ride the trail.
The last two Repack races in 1983 and 84
were a bit for old times sake.
After the 1984 race,
Marin County land and water managers
made it clear that Repack, the race, could be no more.
There was little resistance.
The races time had come and gone.
But, could the time theoretically be beaten?
- It's a good...
I mean I did a good time on it,
but it could be broken.
There's no doubt about it
and somebody's a faster pedaler than I was.
And the bikes are certainly better, you know,
then what we're running.
- Well it's fascinating, oh man.
- Go some good swaggers, oh.
I'll tell you what...
I can't believe I used to ride that stuff...
on those bikes, it's ridiculous.
- It's only over there, Doddy.
- I know, I haven't got a bike, so...
- I've got a good idea.
Don't worry.
I've sorted us some bikes,
just happened to pull straws
and got us one.
- Okay, I see where this is going.
- This one isn't even the shortest one.
- Okay, pretty good condition that.
Nice saddle,
nice crispy orange chain, wise control handlebars,
stem like a tiller on a canal boat.
Very good.
- This is....
(car honks)
(Doddy laughs)
the very best beach cruiser.
- [Doddy] There's no brakes on that thing.
- Coaster brake.
- Ah.
- It's what the boys did back in the day,
so if it's good enough for them, good enough for us.
- Think most folks are bent as well.
- Ha!
I'm lucky.
(laughs)
- Well, at least my brakes aren't on the wrong way around.
(heavy breathing)
- [Cameraman] Why you pushing your bike, Doddy?
- It's not optimum climbing position kind of bike.
I think you'll find that the guys at Repack back in the day
used to push their bikes all the way at the top
until someone decided to put twin chain rings on them.
This has got one gear, so...
think you'll find I'm exempt from climbing.
But, it's flat now.
So I should probably go.
- That's it, we're at Repack...
Home of down hill mountain bike racing for me.
I'm so excited.
- Slightly nervous.
- I'm excited.
(laughs)
- All right.
Laughing at bikes, but back in the day,
their bikes probably weighed as much as both of these.
- Well (mumbles)
- Well, original one was over 15, think.
The Breezer a number one, well for them.
This is not going to work like we thought.
Well, not going to work like he thought anyway.
It might do for him,
but I'm hoping he forgets
his breaks in every way around,
because that's the only chance I'll have.
- [Cameraman] I think he's changed them
to the right way around.
- Has he?
Oh, damn.
I'm genuinely concerned now.
What you can't see is there is actually enough gradient here
that as soon as you're off the brakes your in trouble
and there aren't any brakes except
for the one that doesn't do anything.
(nervously laughs)
Cool, at least I'm going to look really good doing it.
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(laughs)
- I can't even get my feet in the right position.
This is genuinely scary.
It may not look at these breakneck speeds, but...
But, this is genuinely...
(rock music)
- [Man] What'd you think of that, Doddy?
- It's all right.
- I do.
Sorry you drew the short straw.
And these corners have been a lot of fun,
but I feel like I've got to go to the top.
- Someone has to.
- May never get a chance again.
I'm going to push this all the way to the top
and do a full run of Repack.
(murmurs)
- Enjoy.
(rock music)
- So, while you've been up there top of that mountain,
I've been in here in Gestalt Haus, local bikers pub,
having a couple of beers.
I've got to tell you I did get a short straw there.
- You did.
- It wasn't even enjoyable, I've got to say.
I have to come back another time.
To be honest, it was hard work on the bike I had,
never mind yours.
- How long did it take you to get up there?
- Took my about 40 minutes to hike to the top.
But, it was worth it.
Views are amazing.
It's just really nice to be up there.
Turned round, came back dying.
I've got to say, it's pretty tamed by the trail,
you know and a fire road,
but once you come down hill fast.
It's blind roads and it's like a rollercoaster hallway;
blind corners, fast, drifty.
I loved it, it was amazing.
They used to do it all on those bikes.
That was incredible.
They must have been fully--
- So, they were fully tapped back then.
- I'm impressed.
- [Doddy] Wow, there you go.
That's pretty cool.
Cheers.
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