Happy 20th birthday, MBUK

Mountain Biking UK, Britain's best-selling bike mag, is 20 years old this month. Happy birthday, MBUK!

If you're not a UK-based rider, it's hard to appreciate just how large the mag looms in the consciousness of just about anyone who's ever taken an interest in riding off-road on this small island of ours. Despite its consistent sales success, it's attracted its fair share of criticism over the years. Giving over page space to minority niches like trials, deliberately supporting young talent and cheerfully going out of its way to challenge preconceptions, MBUK has often been derided as a 'comic', 'for kids', and generally unsuitable for 'serious' riders.

To which I've always replied, well, it's aimed at kids of all ages (cos bikes are great, and allow all of us to relive a little bit of our childhoods every time we ride). And it's also, as far as I know, the only mag anywhere to cover cross-country, downhill, freeride, trials, dirt jumping, street and every variation in between. For all its faults, I think MBUK's great.

It's also been a blast to work for. Although the mag's been around now for longer than I've been riding (I got my first bike muddy in 1990), I'm slightly amazed at the realisation that I've been a contributor for 12 years. Cue this unashamedly nostalgic random trawl through some of my early MBUK images:

Jo Burt, Devils Dyke, South Downs

This picture was actually never published in MBUK, but it was shot for a 'last ride of summer' feature. Jo and I headed out for a blustery trundle over the downs under a sky that was changing every few minutes. We'd stopped here for a rest, and I spotted the shaft of sunlight from behind this cloud. Jo climbed the hill, I snapped off a couple of frames... and the light was gone (the signpost has long since, disappeared, too, replaced by a far less aesthetically pleasing fingerpost).

Brett Tippie, Kamloops, BC

Richie Schley and Brett Tippie, Pemberton, BC

In 1998 the bike media was just beginning to pay attention to the burgeoning freeride scene in British Columbia, but there was scant interest in the UK. So I packed my bags, headed over to Vancouver for a couple of weeks and spent a total of three days shooting with Rocky Mountain's 'Froride team of Richie Schley, Brett Tippie and Wade Simmons. MBUK ran the resulting pics in three separate features, and the 'Froriders went on to become international stars (though the two facts aren't, I suspect, related).

Jo Burt, Shoreham airport

MBUK's cartoonist-in-residence, Jo Burt, needed a new set of suspension forks from Yorkshire-based manufacturer Pace. He also knew someone who knew someone who had access to a small twin-engined plane based at nearby Shoreham airport on the south coast. A couple of phone calls and a slightly singed credit card later, and we were both crammed - with Jo's bike - into a tiny aircraft, on a mission. Less than 9 hours later we were home with a shiny new set of forks...

Solar eclipse, Dartmoor

How d'you shoot a total solar eclipse for a mountain bike mag? Perch a bunch of riders equipped with lights on the edge of a big rock on Dartmoor, ignore the new-age chanting from the neighbouring rock and watch in subdued amazement as daylight turns to dusk in a matter of a couple of minutes. There's no trickery in this shot - it really was this dark. Very strange - shame we couldn't actually see the sun (the camera was pointed in exactly the right direction, but there wasn't much I could do about the thick cloud cover).

MBUK Olympics, private pool, Somerset

The 2000 Olympics gave the mag all the excuse it needed to invent its own version... with added bikes. Cue much classic MBUK silliness and a mad day of shooting. Somehow - I'm still not sure exactly how - we'd managed to persuade the owners of a high-end private health spa to let us use their outdoor pool for a couple of hours. Paying guests looked on in polite bemusement as we held impromptu high-dive and synchronised swimming competitions. Portholes in the pool wall gave me this underwater view - which was just as well, because I hadn't thought to rent a housing for my F5.

Jeff Lenosky and twin towers, NYC

As far as I know, the iconic World Trade Center twin towers have only ever appeared in MBUK once - in this image. Which, in a classically ironic piece of unfortunate timing, hit the newsstands on 12th September 2001. Events beyond our control, and all that...

Josh Bender, Utah

Josh Bender was the maverick rider who, almost out of nowhere, shook up freeride by attempting drops that no-one thought possible. Whilst he received huge publicity and some notoriety as a result, he also attracted an almost unprecedented level of hostility. I was heading out to Vegas in early 2002 anyway, so I gave him a call and asked if I could go for a ride. I found a friendly, surprisingly self-deprecating rider whose smooth, fluid style on his local Utah trails would probably have silenced many of his critics. The resulting pics ran in a interview-style feature in MBUK.

Oli Beckingsale, Cwm Carn

This is still one of my favourite cross-country pics, shot on a section of trail that's since been clear-cut. I remember this shot because I was running out of light, shooting at 1/125sec and f/2.8 on Fuji Provia 100 pushed a stop to ISO 200... and with a single remote flash hidden away behind a tree. Yep, I was shooting remote flash waaaaay before digital.

Thanks for the memories, MBUK. Here's to plenty more...

Comments

[MikeD]

[i]Despite its consistent sales success, it's attracted its fair share of criticism over the years.[/i]

I suspect that that might be "because of" rather than "despite" ;-)

[Seb Rogers]

Ah. Yes. I see what you mean...

:)

[Sack Up Sports]

Wow! That Brett Tippie picture is amazing!

[Marcus N]

That great Devils Dyke pic might not have been published but I'm sure Jo used it as a basis for a mint sauce 'toon once, I haven't bought mbuk since about '98 so it was probably a while back!