Time to dive into more 25 year history. One of the biggest untold stories is how this all came to be. We have talked about some networks, we have talked about some folks involved, but who really started it all? You may have heard about Hans Jenny, but news flash, it wasn’t him! If you were at our kickoff party, you got to witness his son, Jade Jenny, share a great story. For those of you who were not there, here is the recap!
Rewind 30 years, it was 1996 and Jade Jenny was 10 years old at the time. He got the itch to mountain bike from his step brother and equipped himself with a fully rigid, 24” wheel department store bike.
Jade began nudging Hans to take him over to Catamount for one of their weekly XC races. When Hans realized this request was not going to go away on its own, he brought Jade out to a race and rented a bike at Catamount for himself.
The next day was like any other, Jade went to school and got picked up by Hans at the end of the day. However, this did not end up being an ordinary day, when they headed home, Jade found a $1,300 top of the line, Klein mountain bike sitting in the living room when he got home. For those who are newer to biking, Klein was a pretty sweet brand, with cantilever brakes and a whopping 3” of front wheel suspension.
You are probably thinking, wow Jade got a new bike? Nope, this one was for Hans. He was instantly hooked and went all in.
Don’t fret, a few weeks later, he upgraded Jade to a proper mountain bike with bar ends and all the fixings of a hot ride.
A new hobby and a love for riding on two wheels was born. Things accelerated quickly from there. They were racing the Wednesday Catamount series, which at the time could draw in as many as 300+ folks on a Wednesday night.
The first phase of this journey started with the establishment of Bliss Racing. This was a collection of young riders in the area that became a nationally known junior development racing program for DH and XC. Jade, alongside Brooke Scatchard, the Davison sisters and many others, became a Fellowship of sorts, hopping into cars to go ride, train and race.
We have Jade to thank for a spark that started it all. Jade jokes now, “Hans was far more addicted than I was!” What came next was really incredible.
Stay tuned for another week to learn about how this transformed into so many places we have to ride today and a bit more from Hans’ perspective!