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STAR LETTER WINS...
Lezyne Pocket Torque Drive torque wrench & Alloy Drive (M) mini pump worth £105
THAT’S GOTTA HURT WINS...
661 Recon Advance knee pads (M) & Rail Classic gloves (L) worth £125
SHOT OF THE MONTH WINS...
DMR OiOi saddle, Deathgrip (Thin) grips & V11 pedals
worth £123
INSTA-BANGERS WINS...
Lezyne Super Drive 1600XXL & KTV Pro Smart lights worth £160
STAR LETTER ONE MINT LIFE
I started MTBing in about 1987 and have been an MBUK reader since issue one (I managed to lose that in a house move). My first MTB was a God-knows-what, which I wrecked, so I saved up and bought a splatter-paint Kona Cinder Cone. I grew up in Pickering, close to Dalby Forest, but as I joined the RAF in ’88, most of my MTBing was done in the area around RAF Wittering, and not in the great woods around my hometown.
I devoured the UK MTB mags, reading them from cover to cover. Like for many of my generation, Mint Sauce and MBUK are synonymous with mountain biking! I have some memorabilia – old calendars, mugs, Andy Pegg’s Race and Flowers Team race shirt – and got a Mint tattoo a while back.
I entered all the comps the mags had, and won two, attending the 1993 Newnham World Cup with Teams Schwinn and Ritchey (above left), and being picked to spend a few days on your test team in the Lakes – although, unfortunately, I was scheduled for guard duty on my RAF station, so never got my prize.
I moved to Sweden at the end of ’93. Like for a lot of riders, cycling was on the back-burner while the kids grew up. Getting back into it via Retrobike, I built a few of my dream bikes from back in the day – a Fat Chance Yo Eddy, two Pace RC200 F1s, a Roberts D.O.G.S. B.O.L.X and a Tim Gould Schwinn Team replica. I still have one of the Paces and the Gould frame and fork, but as these retro bikes rekindled my interest in MTBing, I sold the other frames and parts to finance modern bikes. Currently, I have a Pole Taival hardtail and a Pace RC295 full-sus.
The modern bikes have followed me on holidays and work trips, when possible – to Stellenbosch in South Africa, Spain, Israel, the Alps (for the Pass’Portes du Soleil) and also last year’s Worlds with my old MTBing mate John, from the Newnham ’93 trip. We’re going to meet up again this year, for the Worlds in Fort Bill.
I’m 60 next year, so MTBing, MBUK and Mint have been a large part of my life, and will continue to be so – unless I break or wear out! I’m still trying to get better (I’ve always been a middling MTBer), so am taking some jump lessons. I haven’t felt th
