‘Fro Riders’ Will Enter Mountain Bike Hall of Fame

Paul Andrews, BI editor — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:39:15 +0000

In a dramatic step into the 21st Century, the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame is inducting the pioneering freeride band called the “Fro Riders” — Wade Simmons, Richey Schley and Brett Tippie — into its hallowed quarters on September 22 at the Interbike show in Las Vegas.

A dignified lot, no?

We wish trailblazing trail builders Ross Kirkwood, Dangerous Dan Cowan and the incomparable Digger (Todd Flander) were included as well, because without them the Fros would never have fro’d.

But there’s always next year.

These guys took mountain biking out of the suffocating realm of organized racing and liberated the sport with creative, no-holds-barred, out-there trail building and riding techniques. Vancouver’s North Shore, Whistler’s Mountain Bike Park, and all the spinoffs worldwide, including the Seattle area’s own Duthie and Colonnade skills parks, would never have happened without the charisma and recognition that the Fro Riders brought to mountain biking.

Congrats guys, well-deserved.

The Real Dirt on Digger

Paul Andrews, BI editor — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:49:43 +0000

The rap on British Columbia trail builders used to be — back when “Fromme” was called Grouse Mountain and Whistler was a placed you skied — that the word “switchback” did not appear in the Canadian dictionary.

Today Canadians are arguably the best bike trail builders in the world. And at the top of any pantheon of legendary trail builders has to be the soubriquet Digger, renowned along with Dangerous Dan as progenitors of today’s freeride boom.

Spend some time with Digger on NSMB.com.

Bike Intelligencer » digger british columbia

‘Fro Riders’ Will Enter Mountain Bike Hall of Fame

The Real Dirt on Digger