The wrecking crew turned the page on 2012 way back in August. That’s because for all practical purposes, the New Year begins for us when the doors of Eurobike swing open and every player on dirt rolls out their 2013 mountain bike offerings. Still, it seems like an appropriate time to slow things down, turn to the “real” calendar page and reflect on the things that made an impact during the 2012 year.   

UP: Trips For Kids celebrated their 25th Birthday.

UP: Brian Lopes, at 40 years old, wins the first World Cup Eliminator event.

DOWN: The UCI changes the next Eliminator to make it Lopes’ proof.

DOWN: The Eliminator. It is a silly event that doesn’t translate to any type of real mountain biking.

UP: Enduro racing seems to be taking hold, but the jury is still out. I have my fingers crossed that it will triumph where Super D failed.

DOWN & UP: Willow Koerber-Rockwell says farewell to racing and welcomes her new job as a mom.

DOWN & UP: Melissa Buhl retires with a World Championship and hundreds of wins in her war chest. She is going on to find a cure for some horrible disease. You just watch.

UP: Mountain Bike Action's Managing Editor, Sean McCoy, wins a Clif Bar & Company Volunteer Service Award from the National Interscholastic Cycling Association.

UP: Georgia Gould podiums at the Olympics and Worlds.

UP: Nino Schurter wins the cross-country World Cup Series and World Championship on a Scott equipped with 27.5-inch wheels.

SIDEWAYS: Jaroslav Kulhavy rides under the radar all year and then wins the Olympics. Goes back into hiding.

UP: American Aaron Gwin wins the downhill World Cup Series for the second year in a row.

DOWN: Aaron is still under a World Championships curse and loses his brakes on his race run.

DOWN: Cross-country favorite Catharine Pendrel dominates the early cross-country season but cracks at the Olympics and World Championships.

DOWN: My May Mac Attack joked about a team manager throwing tacks on a course to help his riders. Then somebody did the same thing at a stage of the Tour de France.

UP: Jamis and KHS, who were ahead of the curve, are being joined by a slew of companies offering 27.5-inch wheeled bikes and components. If you are thinking of buying a new mountain bike in 2013, you owe it to yourself to at least demo a 27.5 before making a decision.

DOWN: Fires. It seemed like every trail in Colorado was on fire or threatened by fire during the summer of 2012.

UP: Mountain bike drivetrains have never received as much attention as in the last two years and the momentum continues. Riders can now choose from the stripped-down 1x1 to the thumb-numbing 3x10 and everywhere in between.

DOWN: Picking the correct Mountain bike drivetrain for your bike has never been more difficult or confusing. And it is not a cheap or simple thing to correct if you don’t like your decision.

DOWN: Electronics for setting suspension that cost more than a fork.

DOWN: USA Cycling takes $100,000 worth of their budget (generated from your membership and race entries) and redistributing it to least-needy of bicycle racers: elite professional cyclists. As insane as this sounds, the 100K Challenge Athlete Incentive Program was set up to reward medal-winning performances by American cyclists at the London Summer Olympics. The Challenge awarded stipends for Olympics medal-winning performances totaling up to $100,000 for any single gold medal, $75,000 for silver and $50,000 for bronze.

UP: Georgia Gould, again. This time for pocketing $50,000 from USA Cycling. Hey, a girl has got to make a living, right?

UP: We launched an Apple Newsstand version of Mountain Bike Action and while I just gotta have the print version, the photos jump off an iPad’s screen with detail and colors you can’t match on paper. Being linked to video and photo outtakes with a tap on the screen is an added bonus.

UP: Mountain Bike Action fans in the Philippines. They are the most passionate group of riders I hear from.

DOWN: European bike brands that are only now introducing 29er bikes and expecting anyone to get excited about it. How long has Gary Fisher been at it now? Like 15 years.

UP: Large European mountain bike brands that are getting on the 27.5 bandwagon faster than their American counterparts.

UP: Adam Craig rides a prototype Giant Trance X 29er to win the US National Super D Championship. Better yet, Giant is releasing it as a production bike.

UP: Sho-Air’s Monica “Pua” Mata has a breakout season winning the Pro XCT Series and Marathon National Championship. The girl goes fast and she can go long.

UP: More communities realize that providing a trail network stimulates their local economy improves the health of their citizens and makes the town a more desirable place to call home.

UP: Park City, Utah. Got there twice this year and if the Chief would agree, I’d move the MBA headquarters there.

UP: Riders who took the time to pass along tips, add an opinion and send photos for Trailmix (looking at these photos still the favorite part of my job).

UP: We produced 12 issues of Mountain Bike Action, hundreds of screens on the website, a crazy number of videos and a growing Facebook fan base and the crew (John, Mike, Doug, Sean, Scott, Pat and Eduardo) is ready to do it all again.


This Mac Attack by Jimmy McIlvain appeared in our January 2013 issue. Photo by Jim "Let's Go Ride" Little.