By Mark Deterline
Women’s cycling: It is time
In Disney’s animated classic, The Lion King, the sovereign’s most trusted advisor could sense when the moment had come to anoint the king’s successor. “It is time,” he would declare, leading to a solemn assembly in which the Dauphin – or Dauphine! – Would be anointed. All the animals would assemble at Pride Rock, the kingdom’s hallowed ground, for the ceremony. It heralded the coming of a new age, and of a new order, built respectfully upon the one before it.
Marin County is that kind of hallowed ground for cyclists around the world; a real-life land of legend and tradition. Its sacred landmark, Mount Tamalpais, is every bit as mystical and magical as a Disney invention, looming above the countryside and often crowned itself by a wreath of fog floating in from the headlands’ rugged coast. Marin’s fertile soil has nurtured a passion for Continental road cycling for decades, finally inspiring some to seek the freedom of off-road riding in a sort of free-love version of the sport in the 70’s, which – to make a long and intriguing story very short – ultimately contributed to the birth of the mountain bike.
Like snowboarding infused skiing and the ski industry with new life and innovation in the 80’s and 90’s, so has mountain biking stoked the fires of road cycling and racing in the US, as well cyclocross, triathlon and track racing. In fact, there is enormous crossover between the disciplines: one of this year’s Tour de France favorites is a former World Cup mountain bike champion, Aussie Cadel Evans.
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