Thirty Years of Mountain Biking

Sometime this month I'll cross the thirty year mark of riding mountain bikes.  Let's take a look back over the main line of bikes – there have been several other beaters, gravel, etc. in there, but let's keep this post somewhat in size:

1995 Trek 820

Oddly enough, having bought this bike in November 1994, I hadn't realized that this was a 1995 model.  The photo isn't of my actual bike, it's a pic from the Trek catalog.  Mine was the sage color in the inset, a much cooler color than the blue/black fade shown.  It was a good start, but there were a lot of plastic-y bits on the drivetrain and brakes that didn't hold up for the off-road mayhem I was committing (mostly on my own body as I learned to ride off-road).  Good around-town bike though.  In about a year it got upgraded to:

1996 GT Karakoram

This is the bike I really learned to ride on, and ride it I did: first race (shown), Crested Butte, Moab, Homochitto, Oak Mountain, etc.  Then about a year and a half later, a screaming deal on this bike crossed my path:

1995 Trek Y-22

It was new/old in a shop in north Alabama, and actually starred in that shop's TV ad.  A real looker, I raced it into the state's top ten in my age/skill class in 1997.  Fast, but it was always a looong bike for me, and I had some spectacular crashes on it.  On a whim while out car shopping in 2000, I test rode the next bike.  I wasn't looking for a bike, but it fit so well:

2000 Trek STP 200

Now this was the bike.  By the time I was done with it thirteen years later, the frame and the cranks were the only original parts, having gone through two forks, five wheels, several complete brake sets, and a half-dozen drivetrains.  With 1.5" of extremely simple rear suspension, it was all the cush needed in the local woods trails.  The only bike I ever raced to first place, in an adventure race at Chicasawbogue in 2001.  Still, technology marches on, and at some point "repairs" become more of "restorations" as the NOS parts bin drew empty of good 26" ceramic-rimmed wheels for the V-brakes.

2013 Specialized Epic

More cush for my aging back, disc brakes, 29' wheels, and a new generation of components that could be maintained.  It was a weird beast, kind of tall for its 4" of suspension, and a somewhat awkward in tight trails.  It had one of those transitional geometries, while the bike makers were getting the new 29" wheels sorted out.  I only raced it once, never really went on the road with it to exotic trails, but I did get 10 good years' use out of it.  The last real ride on it was the 2023 OMBA Epic 50 miler – very fitting for a bike of this name.  Again, parts obsolescence caught up with that one-off rear suspension, so I move on to:

2022/2023 Giant Anthem

Geometry sorted out, this 29er fits and carves like the 2000 STP and rolls even better.  Tons of new tech on this bike: 1x12 drivetrain, dropper post, tubeless tires, and carbon fiber everywhere.  Parts supply train updated, this'll probably be viable for a decade or so.  It was a true dream ride in this year's OMBA Epic.

Well, that's it for 30 years of bikes.  As far as the doctors' bills, I've probably spent more on those than the hardware shown here, but I'll spare you the details.  Onward to the next 30 years.