MTB Hall of Fame Announces Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå, Shaun Palmer, Rob Warner & Diddie Schneider as 2023 Inductees
The Marin Museum of Bicycling & Mountain Bike Hall of Fame has announced the 2023 Hall of Fame inductees, a group of four mountain bike legends whose contributions to the sport have helped shape it into what it is today: Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå, Shaun Palmer, Rob Warner and Diddie Schneider. We'd like to recognize each of their riders for their immense contributions to the sport and note the well-deserved place each of these riders has earned in mountain bike history.
 | For 2023, the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame honors an international cast of 4 luminaries, each of whom have left an indelible mark upon our sport in the arenas of competition, race commentary, and bike park design and construction. |
Shaun Palmer
| Without a traditional cycling background, Palmer’s approach to the sport was inherently different—he dressed different, he acted different. Unlike his competitors—who utilized a mix-matching of XC and road race equipment that didn’t quite seem to match the quickly evolving technology of the bicycles they were riding— Palmer wore baggy motocross-style gear, skate-style shoes and flat BMX-style pedals. Palmer’s tattoo-clad appearance alone seemed to perfectly match the persona of “downhill”—loose, fast and unapologetically different. In parallel with the bike’s innovation, Palmer was equally innovative in terms of the style gravity riding necessitated. In a world where form follows function, Palmer provided a vision for the sport that none before him could see. While physical fitness was the core value of “cross-country,” Palmer offered a new perspective for “downhillers”—where attitude ruled all. |
Read more here.
Diddie Schneider
| Trail builders from all over the world have been inspired and motivated by his work, he had a huge ripple effect that has changed our sport and the way of where and how we ride. Trail building, bike park, and destination potential was long not recognized by the majority of our industry and riders at the time when Diddie was one of few who recognized and pioneered this trend first. Diddie has also amassed a huge amount of media attention, from bike magazines, TV and media – and through his many published articles. He has been a keynote speaker at numerous trail building and tourism conferences worldwide and his trails and parks are recognized by insiders as the industry standard of the highest quality. |
Read more here.
Rob Warner
| Rob will be the first to acknowledge that, had he put as much effort into his racing career as his commenting job, he might have had a much longer time as a pro. Racing’s loss, though, is our gain, as his commentary and hosting of the World Cup Downhill and Cross Country series on Red Bull TV over the past ten years have been peerless, attracting many viewers to become fans of what are considered to be the blue ribbon events of mountain biking. |
Read more here.
Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå
| Passion for the sport and hard work; the key factors in the fantastic journey and career of Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå. Her achievements include 10 x World Champion, 9 x European Champion and Olympic Gold in Athens 2004, but it is the 30 UCI World Cup wins that range from 1996 to 2018 that demonstrate the determination that has allowed her to reach the highest levels. |
Read more here.
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99 Comments
and head-to-head they were really close, splitting the 18 times they raced against each other: www.rootsandrain.com/compare3370,4001
Huh.
But yeah. Halls of Fame are strange, always seem to be run by weirdos.
And while ill admit the entry to HoF used to be a bit of a clown car, it's far more legit now than ever.
Proud of these people for getting in and I advise anyone to stop by the HoF in Fairfax, its a great walk through history.
Without Palmer, dh as stand alone bike or racing event never rally takes off. Without dh, the free ride movement of the north shore in the early 2k’s doesn’t happen. Without either of those two parts of the sport, your modern day long travel trail bike would still be a 100mm bike, which is what they all riding back then…
As someone working as a teenage in a bike shop in the mid/late nineties, Palmer was everything to downhilll. I get the haters because he’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But honestly, he was just a sea change from the Lycra crad crowd. I remember he fell out with Fox clothing and wore jeans scribbled with Specialized during qualifying, suffice to say that was fixed by the finals - I’m not saying that’s what you want, but how many of todays riders would have the belief/confidence in their worth to pull the same?
And that's why in 2023 I still can't ride my f'in snowboard at Mad River Glen!
He did more for downhill than you'll ever do for anything in your whole sad, pathetic and inconsequential life...
What an ignorant prick...
We are back to tight clothing, salaries have not increased, arguably Red Bull have probably done more for DH's exposure. I get that he was exciting, and the bad boy and we all love the lager swilling, oh could do better if I trained. But perhaps Vouilloz had a second or two up his sleeve in Cairns? We'll never know, and don't need to.
I suspect Palmer did well for him, why not ask for the big salaries if someone will pay it? It certainly hasn't trickled down if the latest surveys are anything to go by.
Side note: People get not inducted purely based on their results and accomplishments, but also on what impact they had to the history and development of Mountain Biking.
"You only need to re-watch Danny Hart’s World Championship-winning run to understand how Rob Warner puts in as much effort as the racers on track. That one clip is probably one of the most-watched mountain bike commentaries online at nearly five million views."
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