Yes and Yes. I know the owner of MTBR, Francis Cebedo, and have ridden with him a bunch of times.
I've been riding since 1985 so I know the trails in the Santa Cruz mountains very well. I was riding UCSC and Wilder before suspension was invented and well before disk brakes came into being. We rode down technical descents back then but you didn't have the luxury of 5 inches of travel front and rear and disk brakes to get you out of trouble. If you jumped or dropped off something and landed front wheel first, you usually went over the bars. If you rode in wet conditions, your cantilever brakes didn't slow you down all that well. The technology today definitely has made it easier for people to jump into the sport and have a much less steep learning curve.
In the 80's, it was rare to come across another mtn biker on the trails, and when you did, you usually stopped and chatted with them to see what kind of gear they were using. The sport has definitely come a long way since i started. I started racing in 1987, dropped out for a year or so between 88 and 89 and then started back into racing full boar in 1990. I was a member of a bike shop team in Los Gatos and when it looked like the team would fold since the shop was closing down, I took over management and brought it to the next level. I kept myself and 5 friends sponsored for 4 years. In that 4 years, I managed 4 mountain bike teams and 1 cyclocross team. For the first 2 years, Alpinestars was our title sponsor and the next 2 years Schwinn was our title sponsor. When Alpinestars was our title sponsor, we were called Alpinestars California. The Schwinn team name I think was just Schwinn Homegrown. At the time, Schwinn sponsored many teams across the US and we were their NorCal team. Salsa was the title sponsor for the cyclocross team and we were called Salsa Crossbones.
I raced until 1997 and then gave up racing for a while. I reached the semi-pro class. I picked up racing cyclocross racing again around 2004. I joined the Rock Lobster team based out of Santa Cruz a couple years later and have been a member off and on since. I race the 45A's. I've had tons of injuries over the years and I screwed up my hip last year at the Harbor High cyclocross course. I took this cyclocross season off and just worked a shit-load of overtime instead. Lately, I've been wrenching on trucks more than I've been riding which is kind of weird. I might be done racing for good but I could easily see myself racing again as well.
I'll be cycling as long as I can. Cycling, mainly mountain biking, has had such a positive impact on my life and I couldn't imagine not doing it. Most of my vacations are trips to go mountain biking in different areas out of state. It's the main reason I bought my 3rd Gen because I wanted a reliable truck to take me places and can handle some off-roading.
I also help build and maintain trails to give back to the sport I love.
Anyway, that's my cycling resume.
