Old School Mountain Biker wins Gold in China

[GoldenEraMTB]

I got to watch the Olympic MTB Cross-country race, (at least the parts NBC televised), and I have to say it looked to be a much more technical course...which required more than great cardio to win.

Julien Absalon of France continued his dominance in taking the Gold while ridding away from the field. It was beautiful to watch. Congrats!!!

Now, what does this have to do with retro MTB cat?
During the telecast, one of the announcers stated that Absalon has been Mountainbiking since 1996, and I figured if that's the case, he might very likely be a retrobiker

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

So once again, cheers for a dominant cross country mountain biker from the mid-90s winning Gold in China this past week!

Though the machine he won on was thoroughly modern...I believe an ORbea

 

[IbocProSX]

He's 28 years old, that makes him 16 in '96, would make some sense.
Though my guess is many of us here outdate him by some margin, well I do.

Technical course, yes, they averaged 18 kph for the race.

Enjoy!!

 

[GoldenEraMTB]

He's 28 years old, that makes him 16 in '96, would make some sense.
Though my guess is many of us here outdate him by some margin, well I do.

Technical course, yes, they averaged 18 kph for the race.

Enjoy!!

That's like 10mph...the poor americans were one lap down toward the end

Perhaps somone needs to ask him what is his favorite old school bike from when he was just a kid...

He also took the gold in Athens in 04...I believe.

 

[yo-eddy]

I like his style of riding, pretty fast and still relaxed on the technical stretches...even reminded me a little of good old JT... hanging on the back, knees pointing outside, elbows pointing outside and very relaxed upperarm mussles (wich you good see very well on the superslomo shots) great camera work too!

 

[acole]

Fame at last!!!!


That is me and two mates next to the official. I have the union jack flag around my neck.

A good day out until the motorbike that I rode to get to the event was impounded by the police!!!!

 

[GoldenEraMTB]

Fame at last!!!!


That is me and two mates next to the official. I have the union jack flag around my neck.

A good day out until the motorbike that I rode to get to the event was impounded by the police!!!!

At least it wasn't the Klein

 

[ozpete]

Lets not forget Anne-Caroline Chausson, BMX womens gold medalist who was world downhill champion for the almost the whole of the '90s and beyond in either junior or senior divisions.
Proper old school showing the kids how it's done!

 

[GoldenEraMTB]

Lets not forget Anne-Caroline Chausson, BMX womens gold medalist who was world downhill champion for the almost the whole of the '90s and beyond in either junior or senior divisions.
Proper old school showing the kids how it's done!

very true...thanks for adding that to the thread!

 

[ozpete]

Thanks for the nod there GoldenEraMTB.
I actually got around to watching the replay and see JA do his thing.
With the BMX, I think the Brits may be in denial after their great hope fell on the last turn.
But with all due respect, since when are the berms on a BMX track covered with ashphalt/bitumen? How many riders washed out a front wheel on the berms? Too many for co-incidence?
I know it's been +20 years since I had a crack at BMX, but the courses then were always just dirt.
Why then, after how much lobbying, etc., to have BMX included in the games, to have some sort of hybrid, mixed-media course that the contestants would not be familiar with? Or am I out of touch and this is normal?

 

[sniperworks]

There where alot older MTBer in the field who have been racing long before Absalon.

For instance (and oldest of the pack)
The Dutchman Bart Brentjens

He won Gold in Atlanta 96 and World Champion in 96 when Absalon was just starting to race.
Got Bronze at the Olypics in Athens

And before 96 he was first overall in the Worldcup

Bart in atlanta:

Sadly he didn't finish this time, because it was his last major race.

Still a good victory by Julien,