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Mountain Bike Hall of Fame Inductee

Heidi

Der hund ist laut und braun
Aug 22, 2001
10,184
797
Bend, Oregon
Paul Thomasberg is to be inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame at the Interbike trade show this October. Paul's accomplishments in the sport of Mountain Biking extend to every aspect of it. He has made signifigant contributions to the development of the technology of the mountain bike, has had a storied racing career, is a dedicated trailbuilder and advocate and is a promoter and orignator of Oregon's premier mountain bike event, Bend's Big Fat Tour.

Paul started tweaking bikes when he was a kid so so he could huck them in the woods and eventually became part of Shimano's fabled skunk development team which turns out the XTR componant group.
As a racer Paul was world class in both Downhill and Cross-Country, finishing 3rd and 4th respectively in the 1990 World Championships. His imprint is on many of the trails you ride out there, recently he was one of the leads in achieving a mountain bike provision in the Mount Hood Wilderness proposal. That's the abbreviated version, here's the extended story, written by Mark DeJohn, which also served as the nomination:
http://cotamtb.org/news.php?040831125718t
 

Heidi

Der hund ist laut und braun
Aug 22, 2001
10,184
797
Bend, Oregon
OK - so my first real ride here in Bend, I tagged along with some guys from a local mtb tour company called CogWild. The leader of the ride was some guy named Paul Thomasberg, who they told me was an old pro. I rode all day and chatted with this guy and didn't know who he was!

Wow - 3rd in DH and 4th in XC at a World Championship race, that's a great accomplishment. I don't think anyone had done that since.
 

ÆX

Turbo Monkey
Sep 8, 2001
4,920
17
NM
Heidi said:
OK - so my first real ride here in Bend, I tagged along with some guys from a local mtb tour company called CogWild. The leader of the ride was some guy named Paul Thomasberg, who they told me was an old pro. I rode all day and chatted with this guy and didn't know who he was!

Wow - 3rd in DH and 4th in XC at a World Championship race, that's a great accomplishment. I don't think anyone had done that since.
paul is a cool guy. i have met him a few times.

tomac won worlds xc and second in dh in 1991. :eviltongu

i wish someone would nominate me. :(
 

Echo

crooked smile
Jul 10, 2002
11,819
15
Slacking at work
reflux said:
question: why does mountain biking need a hall of fame? just curious...
Seriously... do you know of a better way to honor and remember people who have put in huge amounts of effort to make the sport better for everyone who participates?
 
J

JRB

Guest
Echo said:
Seriously... do you know of a better way to honor and remember people who have put in huge amounts of effort to make the sport better for everyone who participates?

Should there be a stupid people hall of fame??? I see stupid people that really are dumb enough that they should be famous for it.
 

Skookum

bikey's is cool
Jul 26, 2002
10,184
0
in a bear cave
loco-gringo said:
Should there be a stupid people hall of fame??? I see stupid people that really are dumb enough that they should be famous for it.
cool i could actually be inducted into that! :)

So uhm where is the hall located at?
 

indieboy

Want fries with that?
Jan 4, 2002
1,806
1
atlanta
bcd said:
paul is a cool guy. i have met him a few times.

tomac won worlds xc and second in dh in 1991. :eviltongu

i wish someone would nominate me. :(
someone will soon enough alex!!!

your buddy jed scheinder was raving to me how bad ass your bikes are!