MTB Hall of Fame Announces Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå, Shaun Palmer, Rob Warner & Diddie Schneider as 2023 Inductees

 only shot of Rob with clothes on.

 @k2theg: true story

 there's a "Bicycling & Mountain Bike Hall of Fame" ....?!

 with how much old mountain bikers talk about Palmer, I was surprised when I just looked up his results...I knew Rob Warner had that WC win, but assumed Palmer was more successful racing. Dude also had a single win.

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.

 @owl-X: NORBA Nationals were one of the main measuring sticks in those days... unlike now how it's all UCI WC.

 @owl-X: Let’s have Palmer and Warner settle this on the Repack course the morning after the induction ceremonies/night out in SF. Charlie Kelly officiates.

 @ChazzMichaelMichaels: What did he do for downhill?? He made Shaun Palmers Pro Snowboarder. That's what he did for downhill.

 @ChazzMichaelMichaels: Palmer was already well known as a pro snowboarder and had serious star power outside of the sport. By demanding, and getting, reported seven figure contracts, he opened the door for other downhill racers to land much bigger contracts, which helped to professionalize the sport during the late 90's heyday. Unfortunately the sport crashed shortly thereafter, so his bigger legacy ended up being Fox 360 pants, Vans, and flat pedals, which is pretty killer too. HOF material, without a doubt.

 @DirtCrab: his TLD painted bus should get him in the HOF all by itself

 @owl-X: THAT is absolutely fascinating ! Mad to think they we so close. Proves that back then, personality’s were as big as results. Or not !

 @owl-X: So, gaining entry into the HoF isn't always results base. It can and should include your contribution to the sport and both Rob and Palmer inspired a generation of riders to GET into the sport from their antics, videos and racing.

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.

 @ChazzMichaelMichaels:

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…

 @owl-X: but those don’t reflect the near misses with 96 in Cairns where he was 0.1 off the gold medal and similarly at 99 Are when he was leading at wiped out on one of the last corners.

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?

 @owl-X: It's hard for the youngins to grasp just how much of a hand grenade Palmer was to the establishment in both ski/snowboard culture and biking at the time. Those in power feared him; those coming up idolized him. He changed the trajectory of the sport in a major way. There was outright hostility to "his kind."

And that's why in 2023 I still can't ride my f'in snowboard at Mad River Glen!

 @ChazzMichaelMichaels: Palmer came into mountain biking as a pro snowboarder and MX racer. He also owned a snowboard company. He was basically unknown in mountain biking and then started doing very well immediately. His story probably wouldn't have been so intriguing if he looked like everyone else. But he wore MX gear, didn't follow any of the trends, and said what he wanted. He got noticed in a big way.

 @owl-X: You had to be there. Everything changed when Palmer came on the scene. Turned the whole sport upside down.

 www.instagram.com/p/BhsmNucHdBq/?hl=en. Palmer was in 3 years ago yeah.

 @deadmeat25: Did more for downhill? Same record as Rob Warner, Cedric Gracia had better results than Palmer over that timeframe. I'm nearer 50 than I'm 12. I was a Palmer fan, had the poster, still have one of the bikes. But what did he genuinely do for DH?
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.

 @ChazzMichaelMichaels: You had to be there, Chazz - I was. USA treated the UCI series like the oddball Euro uncle it was back then. We followed and raced the US NORBA series until Palmer, Missy, Donovan, and Rockwell started to make waves and clouds of smoke.

 @owenbfoster: That was snowboard hof, not MTB.

 @stikmanglaspell: ah. that makes more sense. what a go-getter

 Oh, and I forgot to add that all the wins were on her hardtail. She said it on a YouTube video once.

 reverse engineering?

 If they built it the way modern bikes are built, it would have broken early and often. Forks and head tubes were not strong enough for modern slack angles.

 Amen

 Its "ABOUT F%^&ING TIME!!!!"

 Figured I was too late to the party to make that comment.

 I'd say that title goes to Missy Giove.

 @Swede16: She opened the door. Palmer came in and burned down the house. They both walked off into sunset together with beers laughing at the chaos

 Keep pretending. MTB has been completely re-dorked by Enduro, Strava, fanny packs and tight fitting stretchy clothes not called Lycra.

 I was racing expert in the NORBA circuit when he was around. Him racing guys like Carter, King, Lopes, etc (who wee also bringing a BMX vibe) was fantastic. Palmer was oozing natural talent AND the drive and ethic to push it. He was a threat in any salmon race and most DH races back then. Not to mention his winter sport prowess....and made a 125 Supercross main. Bonkers!

 Yup, guy was just special, one of those people with the tools to do literally anything...

 @bman33: how does “salmon” racing differ from “slalom” racing?

 @BikesBoatsNJeeps: one is raced in the water and smells much worse than the other.

 yes! pretty sure we had that running on a loop on a TV at a shop I worked at in the late 90's....fun times!

 Now I want to get my tapes and DVD's out too. Still have TONS of that stuff. ....back when the videos had some feel to them and not made by every guy with an iPhone.

 I watch chainsmoke on youtube at the beginning of every bike season. It takes me right back to that happy place when I was a kid. Some of the songs are on my biking pump up mixtapes. "kids, kids, yeah the kids don't know"

 well you're about to find out this year. Or not, because nobody I know will actually buy any Discovery subscription

 his voice is my inner monologue on mtb rides. Phil Lliggett, when I ride road. My GF couldn't care less about MTB racing, but loves Rob's commentary.

 He'll forsure be doing the redbull DH series that is on its way.

 @spottba: Rob Warner and Sel Masekela. I hope it happens

 ..he's stilling doing commentary but with Crankworx now

 @SATN-XC: That's awesome, I didn't know that!!

 Haha..! Both legends

 He also dismantled a rich Australian mining magnate named Clive Palmer who started up a right wing political party and stupidly ripped off 'We're Not Gonna Take It' for his advertising campaign. Dee made many Australians very happy.

 They read my mind:

"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."

 I just looked at the Wikipedia page for it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Bike_Hall_of_Fame and it's extremely weird. It's long on Californians, early frame builders, pre 1990 race stars, and after that, just kind of random. The good news is that in 2005 they inducted "The British Columbians" (i.e. all of us?) and then in 2010 the Fro Riders? Like they couldn't be arsed to name figure out which of them might be important enough to put in on their own. Darren Berrecloth is in there but not Wade Simmons or Brett Tippie. Josh Bender (2018 ) is there but not Brandon Semenuk. Bender is actually historically important in a certain way but it's shocking that they don't have Todd Fiander and Dangerous Dan who are, along with whoever figured out how to run modern lift-served bikes parks, responsible for the modern face of mountain biking. At least there seem to be a number of trail building and advocacy people in there, so that's somthing.

 Yep! Located where rich, salty octogenarians no longer allow mountain biking.... For now

 @C8503: Marin is NIMBY's and "get off my lawn"'s birthplace.

 shaun palmer is widely regarded as the "nice boy" of late 90's mountain biking. his welcoming attitude and warmth was rivaled only by his dedication to training. he retired in 2005 to focus on becoming a children's book author

 Gunn-Rita is one of the most bad-ass xc racers ever. Won her last WC gold at 45!

 @arek: This comment deserves a thousand likes

 Are you 7? GRDF retired like 4 years ago.

 @Dopepedaler: rather than give a women credit where credit is due you bring up someone not even relevant to the story.

 @alexdeich: Do they still do "comment gold" on the pinkbike podcast? I haven't heard it for a while. Top contender right here.

 @JoeHelvoigt: It's clear that my comment did not land with the gravitas I intended. The original poster said they were too young to know any of those names. As such, I took the most current example of a (well-known) generationally dominant mountain bike racer and used it as an analogue for how insanely, utterly dominant GRDF was in her illustrious career. It was not meant to diminish GRDF accomplishments. Quite the opposite. It was meant to highlight just how historic GRDF's performance were and that when talk about mountain bike racers (men and women) GRDF needs to be one of the very first people you mention. But, if I have to explain it this much I have clearly failed. So...my sincerest apologies to all those of whom I have offended with my less than adroit syntax. So yeah...gimme those down votes.

 @Dopepedaler: Your 1st post would have been an apt response if someone had called GRDF a female Schurter; "No, he's a female Gunn-Rita. She did it first". I shall DV your first comment and UV the 2nd for appreciation of your humility. Good to recognise when people admit they made a mistake

 @alexdeich: aka the Tinker Juarez of his time

 @deadmeat25: Don't scared of the XC racing.