The team first came together in 1989 because of our common love of Mountain Bikes, we didn't actually start racing until October 1990 when Graham and I entered a race near Eastbourne in the South Downs. At that time we didn't have a team name. And as you can see from the picture no horns yet! The race, the Wipeout Challenge at Filching Manor was what would now be called a "short course" race. Based on a quick tight course in and around an old quarry, it ran on motocross rules.
This is virtually the same as cyclo cross, in that you race a given time rather than a number of laps. When the time is up the leader is allowed to cross the line and does one more lap, then everyone finishes together. It also consisted of a number of heats. Both of us failed to qualify for the final but took part in a "non qualifiers final" which Graham won and I came 13th. At this time Pete didn't have a bike so couldn't join us.
By the time the 1991 season arrived we were Mad Cow Racing and we launched an assault on the British Mountain Bike Federation, National Points Series...
The first round was in March 1991 at Blandford Forum, it was a complete mud fest! It is significant in that this was the first and only mountain bike race that I beat Graham in! He would say this was because he punctured and his handlebars came loose. The real reason is most probably because 75% of the race was a very muddy cross country run with a (clogged up) bike on our backs and I was always better at the endurance running game.
The picture shows one of the very few parts of the course where you could ride (but only because it was downhill). And yes flourescent pink and purple lycra was quite "normal" in those days!
Before this race I had replaced my old £300 Raleigh Mirage with a shiny new £2000 Cannondale SM1000, it wasn't so shiny and new afterwards. A baptism of mud as it were.
In the backgound you can spot a banner from series sponsor, Animal. Strangley we discovered one of these had "accidently" found its way into our van after the weekend!
The scene moved on to South Wales and another round at Margham Park, run by the infamous Schmoo. The cross country included the also infamous mega ascent that is a trademark of Margham. The weekend also included a slalom event, the first for the UK, see right. No i'm telling you, lycra that appalling was perfectly normal for the period!
Later that day we were approached by the owners of Animal who had a clue we had appropriated their banner. Largely because it was hung on the side of our tent!
We tried to argue that they should let us keep it because we would get it seen at a lot more events than just Mountain Biking. We didn't convince them.
Later that evening we bumped into the guys again in a pub in Porthcawl. Now it should be remembered that in those days Animal were not the huge brand name they are today and it was pretty much these two guys based in Poole selling velcro watch straps, so a £60 banner was a big deal for them. At least we got some drinks out of the episode.
The National Points Series moved on to Newnham Park in Plymouth were as well as competing in Slalom, Downhill and Cross Country, we had a go at the Hill Climb Competition (Straight up what later became known as the Pipeline return) and Graham won on Tony's bike after mangling a chain ring on his first attempt. We also had a go at the Pro-Flex, Offroad, Daihatsu Bunny Hop competition. Graham also turned out to be a success at this and Tony and Pete failed miserably.
We had also met up with the Animal boys again and decided to try them for some "sponsorship". However they had been getting big time grief from The British Cycling Federation and were in no mood to chat. We said OK and left them alone, which I think came as a surprise to them.
It must have been appreciated as later they gave us a huge box of watchstraps, water bottles and stickers (quickly applied - see photo) and from that point onwards we always claimed to be "supported" by Animal.
The big race of the weekend was the cross country, Tony can be seen here climbing the large grassy slope up to the top of the infamous Pipeline Descent. Don't be fooled by the number of riders behind him however, they were the other slow guys!
In fact the race ended in disaster for both Pete and Tony. Pete lost a crank on his last lap although he managed to scoot home. Tony punctured at the start of his last lap and although he attempted a speedy repair, he managed to tear his replacement tube so was forced to DNF
To be continued...
