The Vail Valley first entered the world of international mountain biking in 1991 with a made-for-television event entitled “Ride of Your Life”. That fall, Vail Valley officials traveled to the World Championships in Italy to lobby for Vail to be put on the 1992 World Cup schedule. They were rewarded with the 1992 World Cup Finals.
Traditionally, mountain bike racing had not been a particularly spectator-friendly sport, with racers leaving the start line and winding their way around the roads and single-track of a mountain resort to reappear at the finish. Only the dedicated race fans were able to leap frog the riders to find good on-course vantage points during the course of the race.
The Vail Valley Foundation took it upon themselves to find a way to bring the racers to the spectators, rather than expecting the spectators to either wait around at the finish or bushwhack up the mountain. The result was the decision to place the cross country start/finish area in the center of Vail Village and create three distinct loops, each of which incorporated a different section of Vail Village or Lionshead Village so that spectators could walk to different areas of Vail in order to easily see the riders on each lap.
This strategy paid immediate dividends. While not only attracting sizeable crowds to watch the races, the Foundation also was awarded the 1994 UCI World Mountain Bike Championships, just two years after Vail’s inclusion on the World Cup calendar.
The 1994 World Mountain Bike Championships are still viewed as the largest single event in the history of the Vail Valley, with approximately 40,000 spectators on hand for Senior men’s and women’s cross country and downhill competitions. Athletes from 44 nations traveled to the Vail Valley for the week of racing.
In addition to the 1992 World Cup Finals and the 1994 UCI World Mountain Bike Championships, the Vail Valley has also played host to World Cup mountain bike events in 1993, 1995, 1997 and 2000. The 2000 World Cup was in preparation for the 2001 UCI World Mountain Bike Championships.
The Vail Valley defeated candidates from Italy and Japan to earn the right to host the 2001 World Championships. Ironically, the announcement was made during the first week of the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships, hosted by Vail and Beaver Creek... also a project of the Vail Valley Foundation.
While marred by the tragedy of September 11, which occurred in the middle of the event, the 2001 Championships were viewed as a major success, despite the difficult times, as 20,000 spectators were on hand for American Alison Dunlap’s emotional Elite Cross Country victory as she rode across the finish line carrying an American flag and immediately collapsed to her knees in tears with the flag draped around her.
