forrest wanted some info, so i gave it to him.

from forrest gladding, a crazy 1 speed guy, snow boarder and racer i knew back in the 90's, also, who likes pow pow and shreds little cottonwood in summer and winter.
blog it here

Cris, this will be my intro followed by the questions.


When I was younger I lived in Colorado and raced mtn bikes. There were a few names that the Colorado boys feared from Utah: Osguthorpe, Nobis, and Fox. This was back before cell phones and the internet. News had it of a kid that was winning all the races a state next to us. I got to ask him a few questions.

1) Hardest bonk? well mostly these come on training rides since i dont eat or drink anything. well, come to think of it i dont eat or drink during a race so it might be that the race/adrenaline takes over and i barely make it to the line in a semi normal state of mind. i have a bad habit of taking off way too hard and surviving trying to get the to the finish without many people passing me.

2)Proudest result?

well the first thing comes to mind is the tour of gila road stage 5. cat 2 in 2003. i dominated the wests best on the hardest stage.check it here.
http://www.tourofthegila.com/2003race/day5mens2.html
last year it was the 50 mile race in park city on july 22nd. i got lost and they gave me a dnf, but i still won the race.a month later on aug. 26th they had it again and i won it again, this time i didnt get lost.
results at www.thee100.com

3)Do you really not wear a helmet when not racing?
i never wear the helmet, i think they are gay and if they wouldnt make me during a race i would never wear it then either.
i dont crash, except when the green lantern follows me, or if i fall its at slow speed and i never need it. i do tip over like once a year but that doesnt count. this may sound stupid but i never go out of control, i dont believe People or cars just dont run into me so that whole mind set pisses me off. i am always in control and i attract to me what i want. i dont need chaos, idiots or traffic accidents around me so i dont allow those people to interfere with my surroundings.
there is a whole different mind set to this philosophy? that people dont know about or want to believe. and it has nothing to do with hitting a tree or having an asteroid land on you.

4)First race?

thats funny cuz its on the trail that i ride like 4 times a week in the summer. part of the trail that i know backwards, have been on over 100 times.
irony,
wild rose 1988 had some crazy loop up on the what is now agony escalator, shoreline into city creek and up around the ensign peak radio towers. i got last and i remember bonking really bad but didnt know what was going on. dehydrated and blown, 3 hrs later im done and ride downtown at hardees trying to figure out how to get home out in west jordan. i rode home and that took about another 1.5 hrs. that day was pain and suffering a great intro to the next 20 yrs of my life. yaaa

5)First mtn bike ride and how old?

i had a bmx bike but in 87 i picked up the goose, tomac special with 18 gears. i was 14, rode it around corner canyon and did a few sundance races where me and bart locked horns for the first time. we both smoked the sport class, all ages were combined and they couldnt hang with the 8th graders.

6)First win?
well i won most all the junior races around here, a lot of combined sport races. i dont know the first one probably like the 2nd or 3rd one i did. i started winning junior norbas in the 90's got on the national team and raced durango 1990 worlds. that sucked, then italy 1991 and got 2nd.
hell ya

7)Has NORBA killed mtn bike racing or are you still stoked on it?

norba is gay, they ruined it.
i just go cuz thats the biggest race. the courses are lame and there are no people there, racing or not. the spectators dont care about it, and the racers dont either. last year was lame, i was at 70% of normal physically,
lined up with 12 guys and won. come on that is out of hand. back in 1992 experts lined up with over 200 guys. now its down to stupid age groups and 12 guys at a "BIG" race.

really gay.

9)Biggest local influence from the cycling world?

local? nobody, i knew a few guys that were good back in 90's i dont think they influenced me. they were just drunks and stoners. so a few years later i dropped them.
i used to like tomac back in 90 through 95 but then he retired and the since then the sport has been dominated by dopers who dont know how to drive a bike, cant hang on the dh and are consumed with sponsors, road bike fitness and world cup points.i say this in general and there are a few exceptions to my critical answer.

thats a tragedy.