After my post last week about the 1997 Grundig MTB XC Wold Cup in Budapest, I stumbled upon my photos from 1995 – the first time I saw the best mountain bike riders riding our favourite trails. It was a dream coming true and to make it even more special, it was organized in Csilleberc.
Csilleberc used to be an elite pioneer centre/camp back in the communist times, it was a special place, where only the most privileged kids were allowed to go and spend a week or two during the summer, engaging in pioneer activities. It was a bit like boyscouts but because it was compulsory, everybody hated it and only busybodies were the ones who fought hard for the privilege to go. That being said, we were all a bit jealous when said busybody was off for a week to the mystical pioneer camp at Csilleberc.
Given its history, you can imagine how excited we were when we realised that we would be allowed to roam freely the once exclusive camp, it just added another level of excitement to the already very high expectations.
I got into mountain biking in 1993 and we all had crappy bikes we were just mucking around, so you can imagine how amazing the whole World Cup circus was, with all the team trucks, the amazing bikes, the superfit riders, the whole thing was just magical.
That being said, my photos sucked. Mind you, I was only 16 at this point, without any serious knowledge how to operate a camera and without the ambition to become a photographer so again: apologies for the rubbish photos.
I do remember, however, how proud I was of photo #3, the one with Alison Sydor. At that point, I hadn’t heard of panning, so it was just a lucky moment and I was shooting with my Dad’s old Zenit E. It’s not particularly well composed but Alison Sydor is very sharp: had I composed that photo properly, it would have been a picture I could have been proud of. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Next in the line is the 1998 World Cup at some point this week.
