The Making of Ultimate Mountain Biking Video
On Location with the Pros
Patty and Mark marry in the mountains on their mountain bikes
Wedding On Wheels and The Great Mountain Biking Video
Marrying each other in the wilds on our mountain bikes committed Mark and me until death-do-us-part to the sport of mountain biking. We marked our first wedding anniversary by the completion of “The Great Mountain Biking Video,” a guide on how to enter the sport that featured clips from the first mountain bike helmet cam.
Birth of Ultimate Mountain Biking Video
Marking our second wedding anniversary, with progressive sponsorship and a comfortable budget, we released “Ultimate Mountain Biking: Advanced Techniques & Winning Strategies.” It is a visually exciting compilation of races, fat tire festivals and special appearances by the pros who share their expertise and winning form in Cross Country, Uphill, Downhill, Singletrack & Switchbacks, Turns & Berms, and Trials segments, with information on training, nutrition, stretching and strengthening, and bike preparation.
Ot Pi Isern at Mammoth Mountain Trials Competition, 1988
Our Buddy, World Trials Champion Ot Pi
We shot our first scenes at the 1988 Mammoth Kamikaze where “Ot Pi” Isern won the World’s Observed Trials Championship. His aerial 180’s off towering logs and a notorious gondola car were hors doeuvres next to the way he feasted our eyes several weeks later at the sea cliffs of Corona del Mar. On the moonscape terrain with palm trees and sunshine as backdrop, Ot Pi tempted fate while bouncing on his back tire, then his front tire, suspended a hundred feet above the sea frothing on the dizzying shore below. He was a fraction of an inch between our speeding hearts and a camera-ready death.
His aerobatics naturally drew a crowd of beach people whom it was my job to clear out of each scene as Mark shot footage. We spent the day with Ot Pi and his buddy, Kevin Norton (National Trials Champion), who had met the Spanish daredevil in Europe, and who now hosted Ot Pi’s American visit.
Ot Pi Isern at Corona del Mar, 1988
Ot (“Observed Trials” ) Pi – a name synonymous with amazing feats – lived up to it that day. On the Monty his father built him, he jumped cleanly up several feet onto the spines of jagged rocks, balancing on his front then back tire, and finishing with his trademark flourish – a 180-degree flying dismount.
In his velvety Barcelona accent he informed us his practice “consist in lift weights three times a week.” He pointed at 150 steps that spanned up from the beach to the top of the cliff and said he had hopped his bike up and down them three times every day he had been visiting Kevin. “With practice,” he said, “you can be world champion.”
Moab, Mountain Biking Mecca
With visions of Trials still in our heads, Mark and I traveled to Moab (“Mountain Bike Mecca”), Utah for the ’88 Fat Tire Festival where we captured some slickrock shenanigans and spectacular vista shots. One of the highlights was the annual grand Halloween bash where mountain bikers disguised themselves as witches, devils, robots and wizards. The big prize winners were a cactus and someone made up to look like Slickrock.
Cindy Whitehead and Palm Springs Desert Classic Series
Next on the agenda, Cindy Whitehead’s Palm Springs Desert Classic Series January, February and March 1989, where we videotaped the stars in action, cruising up a relentless monster hill and down a soft, steep, rock-studded technical singletrack where John Tomac flatted not once, but twice, then crashed, surrendering Race 3 in the series to Paul Thomasberg. This little clip from that race series will show you just how tough the course was.
While on her training grounds, we set a date with Cindy Whitehead (National champion) to show and tell about Singletrack and Switchback riding. From the first time I mounted my bike, Cindy had been my absolute idol. Her historical Sierra 7500 victory without a seat for most of the 50-mile race still inspires me every time I race. Eating her dust on a singletrack in the canyon where Mark and I married–well, it was the culmination of many dreams, hopes, and lots of sleepless pre-race nights. Discovering she was simply a kid-next-door with a great sense of humor, an infectious laugh and inspirational riding style, positioned her indelibly in the “big script” as not only a great rider but a terrific person.
How Do You Go So Fast?
I asked Cindy, “How do you go so fast?” She said, “When I’m racing I think to myself, ‘Can I go faster? Can I go faster?’ And if I can, I pedal harder, and if I can’t, I just tuck and go for it.” She, like the other riders, stressed how important it is for mountain bikers to “be courteous to equestrians and hikers, slowing down on blind turns. We must share the trail if we are to keep our land access.”
Jimmy Deaton
Mark and I had the biggest catastrophe of the shoot when Mark went to fetch National Downhill champion, Jim Deaton at the airport and came back empty-handed. After some fast calls to Raleigh, Jim and the airport, all miscommunications were ironed out and Jim arrived early the very next morning. Whew, our relief was swept away by awe at his speed-of-light style down stretches of untamed terrain at San Diego’s Mission Trails. For one scene, Mark, a nasty downhiller in his own right, wearing a 20-pound helmet-cam took off behind Jim, who immediately blasted out of sight.
John Tomac and Jimmy Deaton race each other in Mountain Bike Dual Slalom at Mammoth Mountain, 1988
In “Ultimate Mountain Biking Video,” Jim, a soft-spoken guy with a great smile, completes a Downhill section that blisters the eye, scorches the mind. How can he go so fast? “I don’t feel fear. I let my arms and legs absorb the shock, I carve into the turns instead of braking. Before I race I always pre-run the course usually just to know what’s coming. Then in a race I just go as fast as I can.”
Glen Adams, Schwinn Racer
Another rider with the need for speed was Glen Adams (Schwinn Bicycles) on “Preparing the Bike & Yourself” and “Turns & Berms.” He agreed that a casual pre-run on any new course is a good idea but be prepared for the unexpected no matter how many times you’ve ridden a course.
He recounted one time he blazed down a favorite run he’d “…ridden a million times, blindfolded! But this one time rounding a nice speedy turn, I ran right into a big hill of dirt some bulldozers had plowed up that was never there before. Hurt myself pretty good on that one.”
Apple Pie A La Mode
After completing Glen’s scenes, he accompanied us to the ’89 Julian Fat Tire Festival for a weekend of fun riding and “relaxation.” Glen who hails from Utah, land of “real big mountains,” led the longest ride of the weekend–a fifty-miler up and over the Lagunas. Later that evening, the three of us shared a fresh-baked apple pie a la mode–just dessert for eating 50 miles of Glen’s dust.
It was tough putting Glen on a plane back home. As is the nature of mountain biking, we had become very close in the short time we were together. The morning of his departure he made time to tune up my bike just so I could “ride easy.” What a bro!
David Tinker Juarez, Race Leader
Tinker Juarez (then of General Bicycles), two-time winner of the Desert-to-Sea 150 and ’89 season National points leader (until the last minute) was refreshing in his unassuming manner. He fought hard to attain his prowess. It was amazing to watch him climb and climb, part man, part mountain goat. To see him cruising up, ever up, in his big gear, and cresting without being winded.
Tinker Juarez and mom Rose at Cindy Whitehead Palm Springs Classic, 1989
Tinker’s mother, Rose, who could well be mistaken for his sister, would come to his races to root him on. You could tell their easy-going relationship was also a hard-won victory: proud mom and determined son.
At the third and final race in Cindy Whitehead’s Palm Springs series, Rose told me about Tinker’s recent road crash. He came home wounded badly, losing blood at an alarming rate and refusing to go to the hospital. Rose applied a tourniquet which finally stopped the bleeding. Tinker stayed in bed for three days in chills and fever before recuperating.
Within a month his wounds hardened to scabs, he came to Palm Springs and slid into Finish just behind Thomasberg. Tinker, from the ranks of the people, proves if you keep trying and hold tight to your dreams, you can be race leader.
Margaret Day, MTB Nutritionist
Long-legged Margaret Day, 1988 National Champion, also proved that anyone can win. She hosts the “Cross Country” and “Nutrition” sections in “Ultimate Mountain Biking.” She shows off her easy-going grace in the saddle. And she makes it look easy. She soundly illustrates that you are indeed what you eat, and a champion racer must be nutritionally savvy.
At dinner with Margaret that evening, she appreciated the Vietnamese cuisine which featured fresh vegetables, lightly sauteed chicken and seafood. She turned down a glass of wine, sticking to water.
John Howard and Denise Mueller
The pro known mostly for his amazing on-the-road achievements is John Howard, Director of the International School of Champions, Olympian and speed-record-holder as the world’s fastest man on a bike. He attained 152 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats while drafting a race car. Lately he has been enjoying mountain biking and shares his years of training wisdom in his “Stretching & Strengthening” exercises sections. Featured in the video with him is Denise Mueller, a 16-year-old National road racing champion. She recently tasted mountain biking championship status in the Big Bear finals.
After riding with John, Denise and her dad on the technically robust trail past where Mark and I married, John said that if he had it all to do over again, he would have been mountain biking a long time ago. We feel that way, too, John! (*Denise Mueller just set the women’s record for fastest landspeed record on a bicycle.)
It seems you’re never quite sure how well you’ve done something until someone else recognizes you for it. For Mark and me, the 1990 NORBA National Championships at beautiful Big Bear turned out to be not only one of our finest weekends of racing but an opportunity to receive kudos on the video from our strictest critics, the pros featured in “Ultimate Mountain Biking Video.”
