The 5 o’clock hero of ’90s racing

Mild-mannered, Surrey-born rider Barrie Clarke turned to mountain biking from cyclocross and road racing. Through the ’90s he was rarely o the podium at home, winning three Elite XC National Championships – no mean feat at a time when British riders were regularly winning World Cups. Barrie had some close calls with the World Cup podium too, but unlike his counterparts he also worked a full-time job as a BT engineer. He’d train in the early hours on his commute to work and then cat-nap at lunchtime before his evening blast home. To race internationally for Raleigh and for GB, he’d book long weekends o . It wasn’t until much later in his career that he went full-time as a pro, and he was perhaps one of the least-hyped and most underrated riders of that time.