So its our first throwback Thursday and we are going to kick it off with a little 1983 action. It was the year before the LA Olympics and the biggest shows on TV were The A-Team and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. We start off with the end of the year at the 1983 CX US national with action from Bike Corner Cycles Cape Cod Inc. George works at the shop and was competing at the time. Here is his account of the race.

In my best elementary school English; ’83 Cross Nationals were held in my home town of Plymouth MA the sport was still in its infancy, mountain bikes were still a few years away on the East coast so we rode our cross bikes in the woods like a MTB. Nationals in Plymouth were the idea of my brother Bill and Paul Curley who ran a bunch of cross clinics for the Mass Bay Road Club, it was the first introduction to cross most of us had. Early on you really didn’t have many choices for real cross bikes most were repurposed touring or club racer style bikes, you could maybe find a few customs or Alan aluminum bikes or Guerciotti steel and aluminum bikes (Alan with different decals) Tilford had a couple of Raleigh cross bikes for Nationals. Nationals themselves had maybe 100 riders total for the mens race I’m pretty sure everyone raced together but I really can’t remember I do know the juniors raced with the senior men. The course was nothing like the “grass criterium” courses they have now, the first natural obstacle was “The Budlight Hill of Death” most guys today wouldn’t even consider riding it (when Bill promoted a race there a number of years ago he had to take it out because of the complaints) we also had I believe 5 sets of barriers, 4 major run ups including a set of telephone pole stairs that were I think 20 poles, and the race was 1 hour plus a lap. I think Tilford won in a time of 1:06. I finished in 12th totally shelled. Most guys didn’t have a spare bike just wheels in the pit, if you did have a bike it was probably your road bike, if you broke the bike you were pretty much out. I’ll look around I think I have a picture of Tilford endoing his brains out on the Hill of Death……It was a different time and a different sport. When I was in Providence for Nationals a few years ago we counted more brands of bikes than the number of riders in the ’83 Nationals!

Regards,

George

George started as a mechanic at my brother Bill's store located in Plymouth, MA. wrenching for a number of years for the shop and for the various teams that frequented the shop. George also raced for 10 years or so as a Category 2 road racer, and still rides a bit.

Starting in 1986, Corner Cycle took over Full Cycle, a small retailer who had started in 1977. After two years as manager, George purchased the store and moved its location across the street to a larger storefront and incorporated the store as Corner Cycle Cape Cod Inc.

Corner Cycles offers nearly 40 year's experience in proper fit and setup of either road, triathlon, or mountain bikes. George is Trek Level 2 Fit certified. We can do motion capture fit with Trek's Precision Fit program. Corner Cycles pride themselves in the ability to diagnose problems customers may encounter, either electronic, mechanical, or biomechanical.

Corner Cycle Cape Cod Inc.

115 Palmer Ave.

Falmouth, MA 02540

508-540-4195

Do you have Pictures of you back in the day racing cross? Send us some pics and a little story and we will show your shop, team or company a little love send them in to scott@crossbikereview.com