It’s Thursday – and that means it’s time for another blast of mountain bike nostalgia!
We’re rolling back the clock to almost 20 years ago – 1998 – and the Malvern Classic. The Malverns were basically the Glastonbury of mountain biking combining a huge party with multi-discipline bike racing. Riders would turn up and race downhill, 4X, dual slalom, they’d jump in lakes and they’d drink an unholy amount of beer.
The action was captured, of course, by Alex Rankin and Milan Spasic for Sprung 2 and is packed with some legends of British mountain biking. Look closely and you’ll see a very young Nigel Page (now CRC team manager), Kye Forte, Matt Farmer, Will Longden and more.
If you’re wondering about the random interview at the start – it’s with Hiphop god Afrika Bambaataa, whose soundtrack is used on the section. Sprung creators Alex and Milan had also created a hip hop documentary and used some of the clips through their mountain bike series for a bit of extra spice.
And some good news for 2018
The good news is that the Malvern Classic is back for 2018 – run by British Downhill Series head honcho Si Paton. The race will be held on 15 – 17 June 2018 and will include DH, XC, Quad Eliminator, Dual Eliminator, a Legends Race, Funduro and and Dual Slalom.
We’ll be there and we’ve signed up to host the bunny hop competition – run on Saturday night. There’ll be random prizes, prize money for the winner and some old fashioned good times!
