Riding girl’s bikes seems to be a developing theme, anything else you want to tell me?
No, it stops there…I gave up all the underwear ages ago!
You were the first to run riser bars?Yeah, I couldn’t understand the skinny flat bar idea, I just wanted my MTB to be set up as close to my BMX as possible. I went to Walmart and bought some shitty riser bars of a women’s bike (!!!), slammed my seat and went racing. Everyone else in the pits thought I’d lost my mind but look where we are now. It wasn’t just me, there were some crazy ideas that everyone was trying to be faster and make the bikes work better, because to be honest, in the beginning they were pretty sketchy.
What part of racing do you miss the most?Shit talking was rampant. I mean you would line up against your buddies and if anyone overheard us the rumours would fly that so and so hated each other but it was just part of the game, a part I loved. It made it exciting and got you ready to race. I miss the actual racing and if I wasn’t such a f–ked up old man with injuries and body limits I could still go faster than most of the kids.
Who was your hardest dual slalom competitor?A lot depended on the tracks, but I would have to say Lopes. He was like a rocket. I had to hope that the track would throw something my way because on the less tech tracks he was gone. I think Carter, King and I had more natural riding ability but Lopes could kill us with his power. He would rocket into a corner, then rocket out so it was a real chess game to see where you get under or over him. Carter had a great racing sense and could read tracks really well and King the same, Mikey could also make great starts. I think my strengths lay in the more technical tracks and I was never happier than when I saw a short first straight followed by a big jump or corner or something that would allow my natural bike control to come to the fore.
What about downhill?I would do things in downhill that no one else would try until I did. The same in dual slalom actually, I was a guinea pig for a lot of track features. I mean 
there were races that I tried certain lines or jumps because I knew that if I could pull it off I would win. Not by a little, but by a country f–king mile. People would come up to me in the pits and say, “I heard you were gapping that section or jumping over this”, or whatever and I would say, “Are you kidding, that would be mental!” But I had been trying it, I just didn’t want them to know until after the race when I beat them. Many times it didn’t work though and I had some pretty spectacular crashes and some bad injuries.
Oh yeah, I was the first mountain biker to have ‘custom’ paint. We were all just failed MXer’s actually and I’ve known Troy (Lee) for ever. All the first helmets were hand painted by him and he was doing stuff 20 years ago that people hadn’t dreamt of yet. I would imagine some are pretty valuable, Troy has even hand signed the back of most of them.
How much riding are you doing now?Well, I last rode a DH bike about a year ago and that had been the first time in about eight years. I can’t believe what they are capable of now. We were getting all pumped on four–inches of shitty bounce back in my day, now these things are like full–on moto bikes and you can hammer them. Hopefully we can ride trails later too, this will be the first time in about two years that I’ve ridden any of that stuff. I’m still going to show the groms a thing or two.
Did you know at the time that you were part of something special in the development of the sport?Well yes. Money was big, teams were big, corporate sponsors were lining up to have their name attached and you could just see by the product development that what we were doing was pushing the envelope. I mean you could suggest something and in a matter of weeks, or even days, it was built and ready for you to test. At the time you are just doing your thing and riding the wave, so looking back it isn’t necessarily more special I’m just glad that I could be a part of the heyday if you want to call it that.
Where do you see the industry headed?This all–mountain or enduro racing seems to be taking off. A lot of it has to do with the bikes. I mean just look at my Santa Cruz bike, it’s a killing machine! If we had seen this back in the day to race downhill we would have gone berserk. But I can’t really say, bikes to me now are just a way to stop becoming another old fat bastard!
How do you want to be remembered?Ha ha, I’m already forgotten! I love bikes, they’re in my heart, so as long as I’m as a good father and person then I know what I did in my career and that every time I rode my bike I did all I could to win.
It’s late when I leave and as the electric garage door closes behind me I steal a last glimpse and staring back at me is a massive 3’x6’ B&W framed print leaning against the wall. It is the famous image of Cully, shot by Geoff Waugh, flying over the heads of spectators at Big Bear California from sometime in the late 90’s. Riding a hardtail with V–brakes and an XC helmet, Cully put one over on Palmer, Lopes and Pistol Pete who had all failed to clear it and beat Mike King in the final. He told me earlier in the day it was the first race after his father had died and one of his favourite race shots ever. I have to agree.
