i thought this was a good intervies with the mtb legend.

bloody talented man for sure and not just riding bikes.

Good interview but I still think he looks wrong without the tache.

Enjoyed that. I was living in Phoenix in the nineties and remember how surprised the local bikers were at how dominant the Europeans were at the olympics in 96, never realised that there was a drug issue in MTBs. Ned comes across as a very down to earth champion, hopefully we’ll all still be pushing hard in our later years …

Enjoyed that, but this bit rankled a bit:

remember how surprised the local bikers were at how dominant the Europeans were at the olympics in 96, never realised that there was a drug issue in MTBs

Blaming their loss on the dirty Europeans is a bit shit, I seem to remember there was a fairly famous US road rider that also used drugs at the end of the 90s, Lance something-or-other? I think it’s more likely that as the sport became more popular the competition grew, and where previously Ned could be competitive that didn’t last once you had another US-sized population (with a huge history of bike racing) to compete against. He’s still a great athlete, but it’s clear that when all the winning athletes are from the same country (Tomac, Giove, Ned etc) the sport is less competitive.

Blaming their loss on the dirty Europeans is a bit shit,

+1

The US XC scene was very disparate and they didn’t compete internationally so were just way off the mark without realising it. There is an excellent film ‘Off Road to Athens’ which covers this – the US Olympic committee decided places on the US team would be awarded on UCI points rather than domestic placing and suddenly they all had to race abroad. Very much a shock to the system, it turned out being State champion in Ohio really didn’t mean much when competing against the best in the world….

Interesting video, thanks. His mention of drugs seems slightly different to Tomac’s where Tomac said the road was bad for drugs but MTB wasn’t – which was part of the reason why he moved to MTB. Suspect that changed a bit down the line (he does say it bled into MTB) as I do recall a few MTB racers getting caught in mid to late 90s.

Found the video – main bit is around 2.30 but first 4-ish mins cover it – https://youtu.be/17mNrYE_2CM

I thought Tomac moved to road from MTB , but found it pretty tough.

Yes it was a big shock I imagine going from racing Rishi Grewal and a few others to fields in europe full of pro roadies and cross riders…

Great share, enjoyed that, thanks raceface!

I seem to remember there was a fairly famous US road rider that alsoa large number of pro riders used drugs at the end of the 90s,

FTFY. Armstrong just got away with it longer than most of the others. Also, he is an arrogant **** so a lot of people were happy to see him exposed.

I do recall a few MTB racers getting caught in mid to late 90s.

Missy Giove was a big case, although without any googling I can’t remember if that was recreational or not.

Forget about the drugs, when did he get re-branded from “Ned the Shred”?

Myles Rockwell got done for recreational stuff – if memory serves me correctly. I don’t think Missy got done whilst competing but she did get caught being involved in a rather large drug bust as I think she was driving the vehicle it was being moved in.

I think Ned had a coupe of nicknames, his climbing ability earnt him the ‘lung’ name as he did very well at altitude and could climb pretty much everything (at the time).

Moustache and his mole/birthmark on his cheek appear to have gone in that video…

Missy Giove was a big case, although without any googling I can’t remember if that was recreational or not.

Caught smuggling 400kg of weed IIRC.

FTFY. Armstrong just got away with it longer than most of the others.

Should say I wasn’t ignoring the use of drugs in Europe (UK included), just didn’t like the way he was making it out to be the only reason the US athletes stopped winning.

Still like him, though. Although he definitely needs to grow the tache again 🙂