The sport of DH mountain biking has some very humble beginnings in the dusty mountains around Fairfax, California. There are several people perceived as “the forefathers” of our sport, and Charlie Kelly is one of them…

Charlie Kelly is one of a group of hugely important people within the mountain biking community. Some of you may know of his name; some of you may not. Charlie and a group of friends were the first people to organise and take part in the first ever downhill off road bicycle race….The Repack.


SDH: So, Charlie, without you and your friends I might well be sitting in front of the TV, cheering on some overpaid athletes chasing a ball around a field every weekend instead of getting out on the bike - thanks for that! I guess the obvious first question is what made you decide to ride a clunker down a dusty mountain road?

Charlie: In 1969 my friends drove my battered Peugeot 403 into the ground. I figured that if I got another car, the same thing would happen. I would fool them! I would get a bike! I would save enough money by riding a bike that I would be able to afford a better car, one that they couldn't destroy. As it turned out, I kept riding my bike and I never got another car. Because I took up cycling, with no peer group and no source of information, it took me about a year and several bikes before I had advanced to a Peugeot PX-10. It was the cheapest bike you could get then with sew-up tyres, but from the first day I rode a cheap ten-speed I noticed that no one seemed to ride as fast as I did (they seem to have caught up recently). At that time there were not too many cyclists on the roads of Marin County, and a girl I was dating told me I should meet this guy she knew, because he was just like me, a hippie bike fanatic. A few days later I saw the guy she described, whose name was Gary Fisher. He was on his bike, so I joined him and his friend and introduced myself. The first place we went together was the office of the Grateful Dead, but that's another story. Gary and I eventually became roommates and I moved up to a Colnago, but our fancy Italian bikes were not well suited for local errands so we acquired a couple of one-speed "clunkers" for town use. Eventually we took them out on the many dirt trails and roads of Marin County, although we were hardly the first to do so.

SDH: The bikes you used back then were far less technically advanced than the bikes we are used to today. What modifications, if any, did you make to your clunker to ride it down the mountains?

Charlie: Gary was the first in our crowd to put a tandem hub with a five-speed gear on his old bike, although we had seen some other guys at a cyclo-cross race the year before who did it before we thought of it. At first we used a pair of "stem-shifters" mounted next to the grip, but then Gary located a cheap "thumb-shifter" used for five-speed touring bikes. They only came for the right hand side, so we just turned one around. Some of our crowd still rode one-speeds with coaster brakes - fine for downhill. When we started racing the Repack course in 1976, the limitations of the old coaster brakes were far too apparent. Most of us added front brakes. You needed lots of leverage on the brakes, so we used the longest motorcycle levers available. Even if you only had a five-speed, you put a front derailleur on the bike to keep the chain on the chainwheel. Since the frames were "one-size-fits-all," we had to extend the cheap seatpost to its limit for tall riders. If you bounced on the saddle, you would bend that seatpost, so we added the QR seatpost clamp in order to lower the saddle for the rough downhills. BMX or motocross bars were a lot stronger than the bars that usually came on a bike.

SDH: I guess the next logical step was holding a race, which you and the other riders did. Who came up with the general idea and who organised it?

Charlie: Every ride ended with a race down the last hill. It was a little crazy trying to ride in a group of any size because one rider in particular had no regard for anyone else's safety. After a lot of talk, we decided to hold a time trial to find out for all time which of us was the fastest, without subjecting ourselves to the dangerous rider. I'm not sure we ever figured out who was the fastest, and one race turned out to be far from enough. The first race was timed with an alarm clock and a Navy chronometer. Because someone has to keep the records, that task fell to me, along with the ever-growing list of telephone numbers. I started organizing the races, and helped purchase the digital timers that we needed for precise timing. After a while, the race became my project because I was doing it and that meant that no one else had to.

SDH: Why was it called the Repack?

Charlie: By now everyone has heard the story. The course descends 1300 feet in 1.8 miles and the average rider plus bike was a total of about 250 pounds (100 kg). The coaster brake absorbed all that energy in a cylinder smaller than your fist, which would get so hot that some brands would just fall apart, and the tougher ones would heat up to the point where if you spit on it, it would sizzle away in a second. Sometimes the hub would literally smoke. If there was any grease left in the hub, it would be running down your spokes, and the brake would make alarming noises until you went home, took it apart, and “repacked” it with grease.

I took this photo because I knew someone would steal this sign. Still it lasted

SDH: Did you push your bikes back to the top or was there a car shuttle?

Charlie: Some would push up the course to check conditions. A good time pushing up would be 40 minutes. (The record for climbing the course is 25 minutes, by then National champ Joe Murray.) Others might ride part of the way up the hill in a variety of pickup trucks that would fail the safety inspection in Gabon, but even that required a couple of miles of riding and a couple of steep climbs to the start. The semi-remoteness of the location helped keep the races from being discovered by whatever local officials might take a dim view of it - that would be all of them!

SDH: There are some group photos on your website and as each year went past there were more and more people in the photos. Did you ever think it would attract as many people as it did?

Charlie:We figured one race would settle the question for all time. Later, when Joe Breeze built ten of the first real mountain bikes, we figured that would be enough for worldwide demand. We were crazy, but not crazy enough to predict what mountain biking would become.

SDH: Riding a bike down a mountain back then must have been very strange to some people - were you ever accused of being a bit mad in the head!?

Charlie: I started hearing that when I took up skateboarding in 1965. Not much has changed since then.

SDH: As one of the major players in the development of the sport, being involved in the formation of the first governing body, the National Off-Road Bicycle Association, was almost natural. What was your part in the formation of NORBA?

Charlie: By 1983 we realized that if racing was to become anything more than small, local events, we needed a national body to standardize rules, provide insurance and, eventually, to conduct national championships. There were not so many racers and promoters that we couldn't all gather in one room, so we did, and the meetings were held at my house. For my part I collaborated with Tom Hillard to write rules, and I used the Fat Tire Flyer mailing list to reach interested riders. Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, Denise Caramagno and I all went to that year's international trade show in New York to announce and promote our new association.

SDH: As the sport developed, the bikes did the same. You became involved with the first company to make nothing but off road bikes, making you the first mountain bike company. What was it called and how did you make the bikes?

Charlie: Because my roommate Gary Fisher did not have one of Joe Breeze's first ten bikes, he went to framebuilder Tom Ritchey to get a frame built. Joe had already shown Tom his bikes, so Tom understood what was required. Tom built three frames: one for Gary, one for himself, and one for a friend of Gary's. A month later, Tom called Gary and said that he had found the project so interesting that he had built nine more, but no one in his area, some 50 miles from Marin, cared to buy them, so he wondered whether Gary could help sell them off. Gary brought them home and showed them to me, and said offhand, "Do you want to help me sell these bikes?" I said that sounded like fun, and we literally counted up the money in our pockets, a total of about $200, and opened a bank account in the name of Mountainbikes. No one would have projected the result of that conversation.

SDH: Not only were you involved in the first mountain bike company, you created the first publication specifically for mountain bikers, The Fat Tire Flyer. How long did it run for and how much did you contribute to it?

Charlie: The Fat Tire Flyer started as a club newsletter. We had decided to start a mountain bike club, and we held a meeting. Because I had published some of my work, my girlfriend and I volunteered to do the newsletter. The club never held a second meeting, but the Flyer went on for seven years. I acted as editor and primary writer (under several names), I learned how to do layout, handled the mailing list and shot a lot of the photos. It was by far the most creative effort I have ever made, because there was no one to tell me what I couldn't do.

SDH: From here you moved on to write for some of the best-known cycling magazines in the US at that time. What was your favourite piece of writing?

Charlie: It's hard to select one story over all the others, but being paid to go to the Giro d'Italia and ride in the team car beats a lot of other ways to make money.

SDH: Downhill Mountain Biking is now a world-wide sport recognised by the UCI and the majority of national cycling federations. It brings a lot of like-minded people together to enjoy something slightly different from the norm. Did you ever think it would ever grow to what it has become today?

Charlei: It's sometimes difficult to believe that our insane, underground event would lead to all this, but you can trace downhill mountain bike racing directly back to that morning in October 1976 when six friends decided to settle for all time who was the fastest. I remember a conversation with one enthusiastic participant, who gushed, "This is someday going to be an Olympic sport." I showed him who knew about cycling. I said, "That is about as likely as an American winning the Tour de France." In other words, not even a remote possibility.

SDH: The technology of DH mountain bikes has come on leaps and bounds in the past ten years. We have gone from using cable cantilever brakes to fully hydraulic disc brakes, from hardtail frames with short travel forks to full suspension where 8” of travel is now the norm. What has been your favourite piece of technology introduced into the DH side of the sport?

Charlie: I love full suspension and lots of travel, and a lock-out for climbing. Hydraulic brakes are a great improvement, since the Repack course would paralyze your hands from gripping the brake levers. There is no way my aging skills are competitive with the kids I see now, who get insane amounts of air time.

SDH: In the UK we have a thriving DH scene. We have a well-established National Points Series, and successful race series in every corner of the country thanks to a dedicated band of organisers. We also have a fantastic selection of DH dedicated internet sites like [southerndownhill.com] bringing the latest news and reviews. How do you think the sport will evolve in the future?

Charlie: You mean, give us a prediction that we can laugh at in a couple of years? It's already gone so far beyond anything I could have imagined that my wildest prediction would end up being too conservative. One thing I will say is that it gladdens my heart to see how thriving the English downhill scene is.

SDH: There are some incredibly talented DH riders on the World Cup circuit. Who has caught your eye over the past couple of years?

Charlie: I don't follow racing at all any more. I used to when I knew all the main people, and when the bike mags paid me to go to a lot of races, but I have had very little to do with the bike industry over the last 15 years, and most of my friends have long retired.

SDH: In 1998 you were inducted as a charter member into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. How did you react when you were told?

Charlie: This may sound a little self-centred, but I figured that there was no way I wouldn't be one of the first in it, along with my friends Gary and Joe. If not us, then who? It would not have occurred to me to start such a thing.

SDH: Are you still riding these days?

Charlie: More last year than in the five years previous. I finally broke my 30-year old Colnago frame in February, but when Gary heard that he loaned me a very nice Lemond road bike from his personal stash of maybe fifty bikes.

SDH: Are you still working in the bike industry or have you gone down a different career path? I saw something on your website about moving Grand Pianos?!

Charlie: The bicycle industry is an extremely volatile one, and over the years all of my friends with small companies have been crushed and bought out. I got out early enough that I didn't suffer. My last real connection with the industry ended in 1990 when my editorial position at Bicycling magazine was terminated. Now and then I contribute a piece to a magazine called Dirt Rag, but that's about it. Currently I am working on a movie about Repack and the associated cast of characters. I own a piano moving company. There are a lot of reasons to enjoy piano moving, aside from the fact that it pays hugely. I spend my days driving around with a couple of friends, and every time we get out of the truck, we do something that amazes people. I enjoy the fact that at the age of 59, I can do it six days a week, and I'm still the best guy on my crew. Did I mention that it pays a lot? If you want to make real money, do something that scares the crap out of 99% of the population, and only one person in a couple of hundred is physically capable of. How many jobs let you show off all day? Plus, it pays great.

SDH: Do you have any other interests apart from bikes?

I play in my own band. Guitar and vocals, and I'm the front man. We are The APHIDS. I roadie for another band, the Sons of Champlin, and I have been their roadie since 1968, although they did not perform much between 1977 and 1997. This is the last of the '60s SF bands still playing. Because the singer is a member of the supergroup Chicago, and another is a member of the Doobie Brothers, we get together for 12-15 shows a year whenever the guys are not on tour and we can round everyone up. You can't put together the old football team, because no one has knees any more, but we can put on a rockin' show and it's a great excuse for a bunch of old friends to get together. In 1979 I broke my leg skateboarding in a pool at the age of 33, and I gave up vert skating then, but I have always been the oldest person I know who can skateboard, and every time I get the stick out, the kids can't believe how the old guy can get around on it. Wife. Kid. Dog. House. Business.

Photo from Repack... 1976

Well Charlie, once again thanks for taking the time to do this interview. I hope we have educated our readers a little about the beginnings of our sport.

Best Wishes for the future...
[southerndownhill.com]


Interview by Sean McGowan
May 2005