I've been Mountain biking a loooooong time and I can't think of a time during all those years when Tinker wasn't winning something!
Even before that, he was a BMX legend! (a pro since 1977!)
He's 51 and currently leader in the USA Cycling Pro Mountain Bike Ultra Endurance Tour.
Four-time US 24-hour solo champion, three-time NORBA XC champion, two-time Olympian, 3rd in RAAM, etc, etc.
Plus of course, he's always been unmistakable:
[img] 
[/img]
Anyone got any stories? Memories?
I overtook him when he raced SSMM 🙂
allthepies - ha! well done. I guess he's an easy and memorable visual target!
Well there is a caveat to my tale!
He was racing a 24H solo whereas I was not racing but trying out a demo bike on the course 🙂
was gutted when he didn't show at the 24 Hour Worlds in Finale a few weeks ago.
I got all excited when his name appeared on the list.
I overtook him when he raced SSMM
Aye, me too in 2005!
Awesome rider, and all round nice guy, though I find it a little difficult to understand how Tinker could be an stw favourite, considering his religious beliefs, and the average stwer's tendency to play the man not the belief.
I overtook him when he raced SSMM
Aye, me too in 2005!
Yes top bloke, I was chatting with him for very brief time before he put me in my place...
Someone on another thread mentioned that he once did 24hr on a turbo trainer for training, and also something about a concrete saddle!!
I couldn't find any references on google, anyone heard such things?
hels - Member
I'll throw in Tinker Juarez to even up the odds for the MTBers. There are many stories, about training for 24 hour races by riding a turbo staring at a blank wall for 24 hours, using a concrete saddle etc, all true.POSTED 11 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
Oddly, this from the other thread is about the only reference to that I can see. All true? I remain to be convinced.
He is a legend, though!
[img] 
[/img]
Did he ever give Steve Makin his pump back?
I also noticed that he wasn't running a stem top cap at SSMM which I didn't think was very British.
I raced him a couple weeks back in Arizona - super friendly guy but not much going on up there. He's renowned for getting lost on course, and some people say that he needs a team manager next to him on the start line to say 'PEDAL' when the gun goes off.
Also, he was on the Movavie Cannondale team for a few years with some of my close friends. They told me how his kit was always special one-off editions because he'd never use shorts with a chamois or any other kind of padding...
no he bloody didn't as you well know Barnes 🙂
Possibly one of the first people to ever backflip a bike. For that alone he has legendary status.
[img] 
[/img]
oh yes, I remember reading that he didn't use a short insert.
I didn't know he was a freestyle BMXr - I always assumed it was purely racing.
Very interesting.
Sorry you lost a pump to him Steve 🙂
I've never heard the stories of him getting lost on course. That's funny.
Surely a stem top cap is a racing requirement, just like bar end plugs!?
I'd heard he once rode the Tour Divide non-stop, singlespeed, with no seat...
We saw him at the 1994 worlds in Vale. A very distinctive rider. Amazing that he was free style and xc.