I’m having this link sent to me from a number of directions, so I am acknowledging it here. It concerns one of the first off-road clubs. The Rough-Stuff Fellowship was English, similar to the Velo Cross Club Parisian in Paris during the early ‘fifties.
I have had to defend myself for decades against accusations that my colleagues and I think we invented off-road riding. I even wrote a book to contradict any such claim. Off-road riding started with the first bicycles, included the early Tours de France, and then faded from the public consciousness for seventy or so years until revived on 26 x 2.125 balloon tires. In small enclaves such as the byways of England and the outskirts of Paris, riders took to the trails, but their influence on cycling was limited.
Marin County was only one of several places where off-road downhill was popular in the United States. Long before the first Repack races there were the Morrow Dirt Club in Cupertino, the Berkeley Trailers Union BTU) in the East Bay, and the Larkspur Canyon Gang in Marin. I’m sure there were others that I never heard about.
The Rough-Stuff Fellowship dates back to the ‘fifties. Gary Fisher and I heard of it and joined, two of only three members in California. Here is my club patch, which I never sewed onto a jersey or a jacket.
I wrote an article of the RSF club newsletter about the Crested Butte to Aspen ride.
Might as well include some of my correspondence with the RSF.
