The real roots !!

Well now, I have had a storm of messages, phone calls and conversations with the legends of Irish Mountainbiking.
So if you were around in the early days and are reading this let me know !!
richie.byrne@gmail.com

I started mountain biking when i was 16 back in 1987, i knew a few lads that had mountain bikes but didn't go up the mountains so i went on my own starting up at the slade valley and moving on in to wicklow, after a year i saw a guy on a bike up tree rock, it was the first time i saw a biker doing what i was doing, it was Peter Purfield, after a long talk we hocked up every Sunday where there was only 6 guys out Ritchie, Rory, Peter and my self and two guys i can't remember there names, and every week the numbers grew, by the the 90's it was in the hundreds. Peter was doing it before me so he is the true legend of mountain biking, if it wasn't for the like's of Peter, Ritchie, Robin and Joe McCall thing would be very different now.

yeah Brian..
Not only were me and Peter active here in Dublin, Eddie Beechnor Collins was running a big club in Cork.
Darren McGan was active in Sligo and I can't nail down exactly who was active early in Ulster..
But Glyn should be able to tell me that.
No offence to the through the roots guys but that doc is very skewed ..

Very good, getting to our roots will be hard. but love digging for who we are.

got my first mtb in 85, Lived at the base of 3rock, so that was my first place to explore, eventually I saw a notice in the window of Frank's bike shop in Rathfarnham village March 1987, which Peter Purfield had put up, I went along on a spin, And it began from there. Mad started Easter 88 as I remember.
Rory.

Hey Richie,

This may be of interest to you. Morgan uncovered it a while back.

yeah, seen that before.

good men Rory i remember the first MAD spin, ya it was easter 88 sunny day starting at the Yellow house going up fairy castle, Prince William (the old way) all the way to Djouse woods and back by the road, i lived in Lucan and had to cycle to the yellow house and back after the spin. Every spin was like an adventure.
I remember you had a 26" BMX type of a mountain bike. I had a yellow Muddy fox i got that year in 88.

Bloody hell that's some spin! The cycle home to Lucan must have been cruel!

Though none of the tracks around those areas existed that there are now ... Was all mainly on walkers trails and fireroads..

Sure I used to cycle from d Noirthsoide, 10 miles to the Yellow house, and then a 4 or 5 hour spin up the mountains... All on fully rigid Raleigh's or if you were really Lucky Diamond Back's with XT!! :eek:

**Double post pls delete

I got my first MTB in 1987 an MBK (Motobecane) , Peter Buggle had one too , until he brought back a deadly Diamond Back from the states soon after. I lived in Loughlinstown then and use to ride up around the lead mines and killiney hill and stuff.

For a long time I only had a front brake and 7 gears, on one of those lead mines spins with teh dodgy bike we met for the first time I think another moutainbiker , it was Richie , he was so friggin entousiastic , some things never change.

Probably around 88 I did my first club spin with MAD from Yellow House all the way up what seemed at the time a huge hill on the road past killakee , then on the road past Glencree to Sallygap and left to Djouce , by which time I was totally fooked and cold , was wearing a motorbike enduro jacket which was soaked with sweat !! . Struggled up over Djouce and back via I dont know where , surffice to say that nearly put me off serious mountainbiking forever !

Byrner, your nuts. I invented MTB in Ireland back in the day. Bought my first MTB in 1986 a lovely Peugeot, abused that for years on the hills around Mayo. The farmers and the sheep thought I was mental, but I kept telling them, trust me, this will catch on.
Then made it onto “Ear to the Ground” or maybe it was Live at 3 one of the days, Byrner and all the Dubs were sitting in watching Thelma Mansfield and saw this and thought, that looks like fun. MAD was born and it all went from there…. I think I should get a plaque on the wall of the yellow house dedicated to me…

late 87/88 for me - doing cyclo cross above killiney golf course on racers until I got a muddy fox courier and my friend got a Dawes Ranger
Around '90 I met someone on the top of Maulin when I was mountain biking on my own and they mentioned MAD and the Yellow house
Heard of Richie then as he had just "broken up" with Peter Purfield and went his own way..
Was the club financier for MAD when we had about £10 in the bank account

Used to stay up all night in bray drinking champagne cider and then cycle to the yellow house for a days spin and home again
Oh to be young...

Jeysus ...... It's a wonder you aren't better now!!!

Well now, I have had a storm of messages, phone calls and conversations with the legends of Irish Mountainbiking.
So if you were around in the early days and are reading this let me know !!
richie.byrne@gmail.com

I started mountain biking when i was 16 back in 1987, i knew a few lads that had mountain bikes but didn't go up the mountains so i went on my own starting up at the slade valley and moving on in to wicklow, after a year i saw a guy on a bike up tree rock, it was the first time i saw a biker doing what i was doing, it was Peter Purfield, after a long talk we hocked up every Sunday where there was only 6 guys out Ritchie, Rory, Peter and my self and two guys i can't remember there names, and every week the numbers grew, by the the 90's it was in the hundreds. Peter was doing it before me so he is the true legend of mountain biking, if it wasn't for the like's of Peter, Ritchie, Robin and Joe McCall thing would be very different now.

yeah Brian..
Not only were me and Peter active here in Dublin, Eddie Beechnor Collins was running a big club in Cork.
Darren McGan was active in Sligo and I can't nail down exactly who was active early in Ulster..
But Glyn should be able to tell me that.
No offence to the through the roots guys but that doc is very skewed ..

Very good, getting to our roots will be hard. but love digging for who we are.

got my first mtb in 85, Lived at the base of 3rock, so that was my first place to explore, eventually I saw a notice in the window of Frank's bike shop in Rathfarnham village March 1987, which Peter Purfield had put up, I went along on a spin, And it began from there. Mad started Easter 88 as I remember.
Rory.

Hey Richie,

This may be of interest to you. Morgan uncovered it a while back.

yeah, seen that before.

good men Rory i remember the first MAD spin, ya it was easter 88 sunny day starting at the Yellow house going up fairy castle, Prince William (the old way) all the way to Djouse woods and back by the road, i lived in Lucan and had to cycle to the yellow house and back after the spin. Every spin was like an adventure.
I remember you had a 26" BMX type of a mountain bike. I had a yellow Muddy fox i got that year in 88.

Bloody hell that's some spin! The cycle home to Lucan must have been cruel!

Though none of the tracks around those areas existed that there are now ... Was all mainly on walkers trails and fireroads..

Sure I used to cycle from d Noirthsoide, 10 miles to the Yellow house, and then a 4 or 5 hour spin up the mountains... All on fully rigid Raleigh's or if you were really Lucky Diamond Back's with XT!! :eek:

**Double post pls delete

I got my first MTB in 1987 an MBK (Motobecane) , Peter Buggle had one too , until he brought back a deadly Diamond Back from the states soon after. I lived in Loughlinstown then and use to ride up around the lead mines and killiney hill and stuff.

For a long time I only had a front brake and 7 gears, on one of those lead mines spins with teh dodgy bike we met for the first time I think another moutainbiker , it was Richie , he was so friggin entousiastic , some things never change.

Probably around 88 I did my first club spin with MAD from Yellow House all the way up what seemed at the time a huge hill on the road past killakee , then on the road past Glencree to Sallygap and left to Djouce , by which time I was totally fooked and cold , was wearing a motorbike enduro jacket which was soaked with sweat !! . Struggled up over Djouce and back via I dont know where , surffice to say that nearly put me off serious mountainbiking forever !

Byrner, your nuts. I invented MTB in Ireland back in the day. Bought my first MTB in 1986 a lovely Peugeot, abused that for years on the hills around Mayo. The farmers and the sheep thought I was mental, but I kept telling them, trust me, this will catch on.
Then made it onto “Ear to the Ground” or maybe it was Live at 3 one of the days, Byrner and all the Dubs were sitting in watching Thelma Mansfield and saw this and thought, that looks like fun. MAD was born and it all went from there…. I think I should get a plaque on the wall of the yellow house dedicated to me…

late 87/88 for me - doing cyclo cross above killiney golf course on racers until I got a muddy fox courier and my friend got a Dawes Ranger
Around '90 I met someone on the top of Maulin when I was mountain biking on my own and they mentioned MAD and the Yellow house
Heard of Richie then as he had just "broken up" with Peter Purfield and went his own way..
Was the club financier for MAD when we had about £10 in the bank account

Used to stay up all night in bray drinking champagne cider and then cycle to the yellow house for a days spin and home again
Oh to be young...

Jeysus ...... It's a wonder you aren't better now!!!

Well now, I have had a storm of messages, phone calls and conversations with the legends of Irish Mountainbiking.
So if you were around in the early days and are reading this let me know !!
richie.byrne@gmail.com

I started mountain biking when i was 16 back in 1987, i knew a few lads that had mountain bikes but didn't go up the mountains so i went on my own starting up at the slade valley and moving on in to wicklow, after a year i saw a guy on a bike up tree rock, it was the first time i saw a biker doing what i was doing, it was Peter Purfield, after a long talk we hocked up every Sunday where there was only 6 guys out Ritchie, Rory, Peter and my self and two guys i can't remember there names, and every week the numbers grew, by the the 90's it was in the hundreds. Peter was doing it before me so he is the true legend of mountain biking, if it wasn't for the like's of Peter, Ritchie, Robin and Joe McCall thing would be very different now.

yeah Brian..
Not only were me and Peter active here in Dublin, Eddie Beechnor Collins was running a big club in Cork.
Darren McGan was active in Sligo and I can't nail down exactly who was active early in Ulster..
But Glyn should be able to tell me that.
No offence to the through the roots guys but that doc is very skewed ..

Very good, getting to our roots will be hard. but love digging for who we are.

got my first mtb in 85, Lived at the base of 3rock, so that was my first place to explore, eventually I saw a notice in the window of Frank's bike shop in Rathfarnham village March 1987, which Peter Purfield had put up, I went along on a spin, And it began from there. Mad started Easter 88 as I remember.
Rory.

Hey Richie,

This may be of interest to you. Morgan uncovered it a while back.

yeah, seen that before.

good men Rory i remember the first MAD spin, ya it was easter 88 sunny day starting at the Yellow house going up fairy castle, Prince William (the old way) all the way to Djouse woods and back by the road, i lived in Lucan and had to cycle to the yellow house and back after the spin. Every spin was like an adventure.
I remember you had a 26" BMX type of a mountain bike. I had a yellow Muddy fox i got that year in 88.

Bloody hell that's some spin! The cycle home to Lucan must have been cruel!

Though none of the tracks around those areas existed that there are now ... Was all mainly on walkers trails and fireroads..

Sure I used to cycle from d Noirthsoide, 10 miles to the Yellow house, and then a 4 or 5 hour spin up the mountains... All on fully rigid Raleigh's or if you were really Lucky Diamond Back's with XT!! :eek:

**Double post pls delete

I got my first MTB in 1987 an MBK (Motobecane) , Peter Buggle had one too , until he brought back a deadly Diamond Back from the states soon after. I lived in Loughlinstown then and use to ride up around the lead mines and killiney hill and stuff.

For a long time I only had a front brake and 7 gears, on one of those lead mines spins with teh dodgy bike we met for the first time I think another moutainbiker , it was Richie , he was so friggin entousiastic , some things never change.

Probably around 88 I did my first club spin with MAD from Yellow House all the way up what seemed at the time a huge hill on the road past killakee , then on the road past Glencree to Sallygap and left to Djouce , by which time I was totally fooked and cold , was wearing a motorbike enduro jacket which was soaked with sweat !! . Struggled up over Djouce and back via I dont know where , surffice to say that nearly put me off serious mountainbiking forever !

Byrner, your nuts. I invented MTB in Ireland back in the day. Bought my first MTB in 1986 a lovely Peugeot, abused that for years on the hills around Mayo. The farmers and the sheep thought I was mental, but I kept telling them, trust me, this will catch on.
Then made it onto “Ear to the Ground” or maybe it was Live at 3 one of the days, Byrner and all the Dubs were sitting in watching Thelma Mansfield and saw this and thought, that looks like fun. MAD was born and it all went from there…. I think I should get a plaque on the wall of the yellow house dedicated to me…

late 87/88 for me - doing cyclo cross above killiney golf course on racers until I got a muddy fox courier and my friend got a Dawes Ranger
Around '90 I met someone on the top of Maulin when I was mountain biking on my own and they mentioned MAD and the Yellow house
Heard of Richie then as he had just "broken up" with Peter Purfield and went his own way..
Was the club financier for MAD when we had about £10 in the bank account

Used to stay up all night in bray drinking champagne cider and then cycle to the yellow house for a days spin and home again
Oh to be young...

Jeysus ...... It's a wonder you aren't better now!!!

Well now, I have had a storm of messages, phone calls and conversations with the legends of Irish Mountainbiking.
So if you were around in the early days and are reading this let me know !!
richie.byrne@gmail.com

I started mountain biking when i was 16 back in 1987, i knew a few lads that had mountain bikes but didn't go up the mountains so i went on my own starting up at the slade valley and moving on in to wicklow, after a year i saw a guy on a bike up tree rock, it was the first time i saw a biker doing what i was doing, it was Peter Purfield, after a long talk we hocked up every Sunday where there was only 6 guys out Ritchie, Rory, Peter and my self and two guys i can't remember there names, and every week the numbers grew, by the the 90's it was in the hundreds. Peter was doing it before me so he is the true legend of mountain biking, if it wasn't for the like's of Peter, Ritchie, Robin and Joe McCall thing would be very different now.

yeah Brian..
Not only were me and Peter active here in Dublin, Eddie Beechnor Collins was running a big club in Cork.
Darren McGan was active in Sligo and I can't nail down exactly who was active early in Ulster..
But Glyn should be able to tell me that.
No offence to the through the roots guys but that doc is very skewed ..

Very good, getting to our roots will be hard. but love digging for who we are.

got my first mtb in 85, Lived at the base of 3rock, so that was my first place to explore, eventually I saw a notice in the window of Frank's bike shop in Rathfarnham village March 1987, which Peter Purfield had put up, I went along on a spin, And it began from there. Mad started Easter 88 as I remember.
Rory.

Hey Richie,

This may be of interest to you. Morgan uncovered it a while back.

yeah, seen that before.

good men Rory i remember the first MAD spin, ya it was easter 88 sunny day starting at the Yellow house going up fairy castle, Prince William (the old way) all the way to Djouse woods and back by the road, i lived in Lucan and had to cycle to the yellow house and back after the spin. Every spin was like an adventure.
I remember you had a 26" BMX type of a mountain bike. I had a yellow Muddy fox i got that year in 88.

Bloody hell that's some spin! The cycle home to Lucan must have been cruel!

Though none of the tracks around those areas existed that there are now ... Was all mainly on walkers trails and fireroads..

Sure I used to cycle from d Noirthsoide, 10 miles to the Yellow house, and then a 4 or 5 hour spin up the mountains... All on fully rigid Raleigh's or if you were really Lucky Diamond Back's with XT!! :eek:

**Double post pls delete

I got my first MTB in 1987 an MBK (Motobecane) , Peter Buggle had one too , until he brought back a deadly Diamond Back from the states soon after. I lived in Loughlinstown then and use to ride up around the lead mines and killiney hill and stuff.

For a long time I only had a front brake and 7 gears, on one of those lead mines spins with teh dodgy bike we met for the first time I think another moutainbiker , it was Richie , he was so friggin entousiastic , some things never change.

Probably around 88 I did my first club spin with MAD from Yellow House all the way up what seemed at the time a huge hill on the road past killakee , then on the road past Glencree to Sallygap and left to Djouce , by which time I was totally fooked and cold , was wearing a motorbike enduro jacket which was soaked with sweat !! . Struggled up over Djouce and back via I dont know where , surffice to say that nearly put me off serious mountainbiking forever !

Byrner, your nuts. I invented MTB in Ireland back in the day. Bought my first MTB in 1986 a lovely Peugeot, abused that for years on the hills around Mayo. The farmers and the sheep thought I was mental, but I kept telling them, trust me, this will catch on.
Then made it onto “Ear to the Ground” or maybe it was Live at 3 one of the days, Byrner and all the Dubs were sitting in watching Thelma Mansfield and saw this and thought, that looks like fun. MAD was born and it all went from there…. I think I should get a plaque on the wall of the yellow house dedicated to me…

late 87/88 for me - doing cyclo cross above killiney golf course on racers until I got a muddy fox courier and my friend got a Dawes Ranger
Around '90 I met someone on the top of Maulin when I was mountain biking on my own and they mentioned MAD and the Yellow house
Heard of Richie then as he had just "broken up" with Peter Purfield and went his own way..
Was the club financier for MAD when we had about £10 in the bank account

Used to stay up all night in bray drinking champagne cider and then cycle to the yellow house for a days spin and home again
Oh to be young...

Jeysus ...... It's a wonder you aren't better now!!!