News - The Class of 2002
The following press release was forwarded to BIKE by our friends at the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.
The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and Museum is pleased to announce its 2002 inductees. They are as follows: Jacob Heilbron, Industry; Michael Kelley, Advocacy; Mike Kloser, Racing; Elaine and Maurice Tierney, Journalism; Brian Skinner, Pioneers; and Laird Knight, Promotion.
Plan to attend the 15th Annual Mountain Bike Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 6, 2002, starting at 6:30 p.m.
For more information on the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and Museum, go to www.mtnbikehalloffame.com.
Jacob Heilbron
Jacob -- or "Jake the Snake," as he has been known since his Canadian Cyclocross Championship -- has been and continues to be an integral part of the Canadian and international bicycle industry. Since introducing the first mountain bikes (Ritchey) to Canada in 1980 from West Point Bicycles, his retail bike shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, and founding Rocky Mountain Bicycles in 1981, Jake's industry presence has been large.
In 1988, Jake founded Kona Mountain Bikes with Dan Gerhard and current Hall of Famer Joe Murray. This is not to say in the years between founding Rocky Mountain and Kona that Jake was idle. He was cofounder of the Canadian Off-Road Bicycle Association, founded the oldest continuously run mountain bike race in Canada (Vedder Mountain Classic) and organized the first (unofficial) Canadian MTB Championships in 1984.Hall of Famers Joe Murray, Max Jones and Dave Wiens had their racing days with Kona. Kona's commitment to racing is continuing into the new millennium with racers such as Geoff Kabush, Ann Grande, Scott Beaumont, Tracy Mosely and a Clump of Out of Bounds riders taking extreme riding to a new level.
Since 1988 Jake, along with Dan Gerhard and the Kona crew, has taken Kona to being one of the top 10 bicycle companies in the USA and has blurred many an international border along the way. Currently, Kona bikes are sold in 30 countries around the world. Jacob and Kona have also been a big supporters of industry advocacy, starting with the Buck-A-Bike program and continuing with the IMBA/Kona Interbike Bowling tournament, and a permanent, on-staff advocacy coordinator. -- Mark Peterson
Michael Kelley
In the category of advocacy, Michael Kelley's efforts and accomplishments have risen to counter the constant crusade against off-road cycling.
Northern California led the way in inventing the mountain bike, but also in the battle for access. Trail closures hit hard during those fledgling years, and Michael Kelley responded as an unfailing advocate. In 1987, he formed the Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay (BTCEB), the second-oldest mountain bike advocacy group in the nation. He was president of BTCEB for a number of years. As it came together, BTCEB helped develop and utilize the tools of advocacy that have become standard operating procedure in the mountain bike movement. These include bike patrol, trail maintenance and participation with the agencies that regulate access to trails and open spaces. That effort helped spawn similar regional groups all over the country.
A short time after forming BTCEB, Michael and others realized there were significant regional issues that needed to be addressed, and that there was strength in numbers. Toward the end of 1987, he and others began meeting to discuss issues common to the Bay Area. It was determined that the challenges were great, and the group decided to pursue establishing a national group to advocate for mountain bikes.
In January of 1988, Michael attended the Bike show in Long Beach, California, and discovered that other activists were thinking along the same lines. Later that spring, they formed the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). Michael was a key player in the growth of IMBA. He served as its vice president from the beginning until 1999, and was on its board until 2000. During his tenure with IMBA, Michael saw it grow from a very small organization run out of the closets of Michael, Jim Hasenauer and Don Douglass. Because of the great distances separating these players, the work was accomplished during weekly Monday-morning phone conferences. The perseverance of Michael and other early advocates caused IMBA to mature from a tiny group with almost no funds to the organization that it is today, with a budget in excess of $1 million, an office in Boulder, Colorado, and a staff of more than 12.
Over the years, Michael has unflaggingly preached the IMBA gospel in his writings and advocacy efforts. He has continually concentrated on finding common ground between groups. By way of example, he is very interested in relationships between cyclists and equestrians, and has often been an ambassador of our sport to equestrian groups. This was evidenced in 1998, when he gave a very well-received presentation at the National Symposium on Horse Trails in Forest Ecosystems, in Clemson, South Carolina.
Over time, Michael's interest expanded into other areas of trail and open-space advocacy. He served on the boards of the California Trails and Greenways Foundation and American Trails, and has been a key player in the East Bay Area Trails Council for 13 years. He has been on the Board of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council (BARTC) since it was formed more than 10 years ago, and has been secretary of that organization since 1996. BARTC's mission is to establish a 400-mile trail around the ridges of the San Francisco Bay Area; as part of his efforts, Michael has worked very hard to ensure that multi-use is a significant goal of that project.
Currently, Michael is working hard to defend the 1994 Park City agreement between IMBA and the Sierra Club from unwarranted attacks.
Clearly, Michael has not tired from the battle he's chosen. He has not only been an ambassador to mountain biking, but also an avid participant. I have had the pleasure in recent years of partaking in some of his favored "all-day" rides. I've seen that his hours in the saddle have given Michael the real passion it takes to confront the foes of common sense in their drumbeat against mountain biking. -- Nick Cedar
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