Anybody race/raced their Cannondale?

[petergt4]

Back in the mid 1990's, I decided I wanted to try out mountain bike racing. I figured I was in good enough shape, that I may go somewhere with it, but unfortunately, it wasn't the case. Still had fun though and I have these few photos of that time (scanned from prints from 35mm film, that were taken by my late father).

I had a Killer V 900 that I bought brand new in 1993, which I rode for about a year before starting racing. I went through the 1994 and 1995 racing seasons and participated at local events north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I secured a single sponsorship from a local outdoor store, who didn't pay me, but in return gave me their store jersey to wear at the events and offered free service and wholesale pricing on parts (both of which I took full advantage of). At the end of two unsuccessful seasons and with the manager of the store leaving for another job, I didn't pursue any more racing after that.

This first batch of photos were taken at the "Norco-Gripshift Challenge" which was a weekly race series held in Terrebonne, Quebec on the property of the city's highschool. It was a decent track which we did several laps of. Consisted of single track, BMX-style rolling jumps and a short but steep downhill.

 

[petergt4]

In the 1995 season, I did the Norco-Gripshift Challenge again and entered the season-ending, provincial (state for you U.S. readers) championship race at Mt. Tremblant, Quebec. Wow, what a disaster this was for me! Totally outclassed by the competition and the terrain was more aggressive than what I had faced during the Norco events. You can see by the dirt on my face and the scrapes on my knee and elbow that I crashed and ended up DNF. Still had a blast though.

It was at this point that I decided that I could forget about racing bikes for a living, so I might as well try to build/make them for a living. I moved to Vancouver, B.C. in 1996 and went to trade school for welding, with the ambition of working for Rocky Mountain Bikes as a welder... That didn't pan out either but that's another story for another day!

 

[black lightning 1987]

Nice photos. Were the races at Mt. Tremblant at the (auto) race course? It's a track that was off the schedule during the time I worked as a mechanic, though all the series I worked in (Can-Am, Trans Am, IMSA, CART, USAC) raced there at one time or another.

I raced my road bike in a few road races and time trials but never raced a mountain bike. Never thought to bring the camera to any races for some reason. I don't think any of the events I did are still held. Would have been nice to document them with some photos. So easy to do now compared with relying on film.

I have several NOS Canadian made Rocky Mountain framesets in the attic. Always intended to get them built up for sale, but so far have only done one of the ten or so that are up there.

 

[petergt4]

Nice photos. Were the races at Mt. Tremblant at the (auto) race course? It's a track that was off the schedule during the time I worked as a mechanic, though all the series I worked in (Can-Am, Trans Am, IMSA, CART, USAC) raced there at one time or another.

I raced my road bike in a few road races and time trials but never raced a mountain bike. Never thought to bring the camera to any races for some reason. I don't think any of the events I did are still held. Would have been nice to document them with some photos. So easy to do now compared with relying on film.

I have several NOS Canadian made Rocky Mountain framesets in the attic. Always intended to get them built up for sale, but so far have only done one of the ten or so that are up there.

No, it was held at the ski resort and incorporated the downhill and cross-country ski runs. It was a 20km course and we did two laps(!). The race track is some distance away from the ski hill. Did you ever make your way out here to the west coast, at Westwood, just north of Vancouver? It was long dug up and built over with luxury housing by the time I moved here, so have only heard the stories about from my car-club friends. Apparently it was quite a challenging track, even for some legendary pros who raced there back in the late '50s/early '60s.

My dad was a photographer and took me to these races, so that's why I have them. Yes, not like today with digital photography...

Wow, ten Rockys! The story with them was I was going to apply for a welding job there, but one of my coworkers (whom I met at the first job I had out of welding school) said not to bother. He applied there too and got as far as doing a welding test for them and passed. So, they talked about pay and what job he'd start with and basically for the first year, a welder tacks on cable stops and gets paid $7/hr (minimum wage at the time). He was polite but said no thank you. The factory where we working, we were making more than double that starting off! And we were just welding together steel pallet racking shelves for warehouses!

 

[black lightning 1987]

Never got to Westwood, closest we raced was Seattle International, now known as Pacific Raceways.

I bought the Rockys on closeout. They are mostly hybrid types, but good for gravel and commuting.

Bet they didn't have trouble finding people to weld even at $7.

 

[Zachariah]

I love race bikes, but the stresses of racing turn me off. I ride for fun and fitness...and, I'm good with that.

All in all....a valiant effort!

 

[black lightning 1987]

I agree with you. I remember doing a Cat 4 road race near Springfield IL 25 years ago with some guy in the pack that was screaming at people - he was so wound up. Nothing at stake but he wasn't having any fun and kind of ruined the day for everyone else.