The way of the mountain bike

How an 11-year-old kid in California helped create off-road riding as we know it, and a lot more besides

1967

Buys Raleigh Super Course, paid for by repairing tubular tyres at local Palo Alto bike shop.

1970

Begins racing aged 14 having joined the local club, the Belmont Bicycle Club.

1972

Builds first frame from scratch and races it as a junior.

1973

Wins CrockettMartinez race in May, beating two US Olympic riders and earning nickname ‘The Senior Slayer’.

1974

Builds road bike frames for Palo Alto Bicycles shop.

1976

Retires from road racing having raced on the US National Team.

1976

Mountain biking’s first race, Repack, takes place on 21st October.

1977

Builds ‘Woodsie’ bike with 26in wheels and fat tyres for local sociology professor John Finley Scott.

1978

Sees fellow builder Joe Breeze’s ‘world’s first mountain bike’, the Breezer #1, built in 1977.

1979

Builds first ‘Ritchey Mountainbike’ frames, which are sold by Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly in Marin County.

1982

Reaches 1,000 Mountainbike frames, thereby becoming mountain biking’s first mass production builder.

1983

Parts ways with Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly, sets up own company, Ritchey Design.