Battle At Durango

Battle at Durango

The First‑Ever World Mountain Bike Championships

Durango, Colorado, September 1990. Six days of racing, one hour of film.

The 1990 VHS box for Battle at Durango

In 1990 the world met in the Colorado Rockies for the first unified World Mountain Bike Championships. Rainbow jerseys, big sponsors and the fastest riders on dirt showed the sport had come of age.

Mark Schulze and his crew filmed it from every angle they could find: from the ground, from the air, and from cameras bolted to bikes and helmets. The result is a one-hour record of the Cross-Country, the Downhill, the Hill Climb, the Dual Slalom and Observed Trials, with pro interviews and an original score in hi-fi stereo. ESPN carried the races on television; the tape includes scenes that never aired.

Director
Mark Schulze
Featuring
Ned Overend, Juli Furtado, John Tomac, Greg Herbold, Tinker Juarez and many more
Running time
59 minutes
Released
1990 on VHS
Award
International Sports Festival Spirit Award
Endorsed by
National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA)
More
IMDb

Six days in the Rockies

In barely a decade, mountain biking grew from a fringe pursuit into a world sport. In September 1990 it held its first unified World Championships in Durango, Colorado. The people who started the sport rode alongside the people who were taking it worldwide.

The week felt like a cosmic prom held in the Rocky Mountains, with Durango in full autumn color as the backdrop.

Helmet cameras, bike-mounted cameras, aerial shots and multiple angles follow the sweat and dust of the climbs and the roar of the descents. Riders take on steep grades, thin air and each other in a sport built on technique, endurance, camaraderie and respect for nature.

Never has a mountain bike race been more thoroughly and masterfully recorded.

Men’s Cross‑Country

  • Ned Overend United States

Ned Overend, 35, a father of two and the hometown favorite, battles young Thomas Frischknecht of Switzerland and a pack of hungry contenders for 36 grueling miles before riding away with the gold. Before the race, Overend takes a camera on a preview ride and explains his plan for the course.

Riders lift and untangle bikes in a crowded pileup at the start of the men's cross-country race
Seconds into the men’s cross-country, the start turns into a pileup.
Rider number 83 sprawls on the grass beside his bike as the field rides past
Rider 83 goes down as the rest of the field streams by.
A long line of mountain bikers races along a dirt trail through a green meadow lined with spruce trees
The field strings out across the high meadows.
Thomas Frischknecht in a red jersey rides past spectators on a forest trail
Thomas Frischknecht of Switzerland.
Ned Overend rides a rocky climb while Thomas Frischknecht runs beside him carrying his bike
Frischknecht (176) shoulders his bike on a climb while Overend (175) rides it.
Ned Overend in a stars-and-stripes jersey leads Thomas Frischknecht in red along a grassy trail
Overend leads Frischknecht through the trees.
Close-up of Thomas Frischknecht and Ned Overend riding side by side
Frischknecht and Overend, wheel to wheel.
Close-up of Thomas Frischknecht in a red helmet and jersey, spectators behind him
Frischknecht keeps the pressure on.
Close-up profile of Ned Overend, sweating, in a white Specialized helmet
Overend, 35 and riding in his hometown.
Spectators line a steep rocky climb beneath a hand-painted banner for Ned Overend
Fans hung a banner on the climb for “Deadly Ned.”
A rider in a stars-and-stripes jersey speeds along a dirt trail, spectators blurred behind
Overend at full speed.
Reporters hold microphones and tape recorders toward Ned Overend after his win
Reporters crowd the new world champion.
Three riders with medals raise their arms on the podium, the winner in the rainbow jersey
The men’s cross-country podium.
Ned Overend smiles while holding a large American flag on a sunny lawn
Overend with the flag after the race.

Women’s Cross‑Country

  • Juli Furtado United States

Juli Furtado, still new to mountain biking, takes the win from the established national champion, Sara Ballantyne.

Women racers in helmets wait in a line at the start of the cross-country race
The start of the women’s cross-country.
Three women race up a grassy climb, the leader in a USA jersey
The leaders on a climb.
A racer sits on a dirt slope beside her fallen bike as another rider passes
A spill on a steep section of the course.
Juli Furtado in a stars-and-stripes jersey rides past the finish banner
Juli Furtado reaches the finish to win the first women’s world cross-country title.

Downhill

  • Greg Herbold United States, 6:36
  • Cindy Devine Canada, 7:40

Durango’s own Greg Herbold charges down 1,500 vertical feet of rocky ski run at Purgatory in 6 minutes 36 seconds, on the edge of control. Canada’s Cindy Devine wins the women’s race by a split second over her teammate and rival, Elladee Brown.

Greg Herbold grins in a pink helmet, white sunglasses and a neon jersey
Greg Herbold after his downhill run.
Three riders raise flowers and flags on the podium, Greg Herbold in the rainbow jersey at center
Herbold in the rainbow jersey on the downhill podium.
John Tomac leans his bike through a loose, dusty turn on a gravel slope
John Tomac kicks up dust on the descent.

Hill Climb, Dual Slalom and Observed Trials

The lung-burning Hill Climb, the head-to-head Dual Slalom and the balancing acts of Observed Trials bring out more of the world’s top riders.

Jacquie Phelan in polka-dot tights climbs a dirt trail past wildflowers
Jacquie Phelan on the climb.
A rider in a red jersey pops a wheelie past a crowd lining the course
A veterans’ bronze medalist pops a wheelie for the crowd.
Rider's-eye view from the handlebars of a trials bike perched on a large boulder, spectators around the taped course
The view from Hans Rey’s handlebars in an Observed Trials section.
Hans Rey, wearing a helmet camera, balances his bike on its rear wheel beside a rock
Hans Rey rides a trials section with a camera on his helmet.
Hans Rey hops his green trials bike onto a boulder as a crowd of photographers watches
Rey hops the rocks in front of a packed crowd.
John Tomac in a green and blue jersey lifts his bike over a lip as spectators watch from behind barriers
John Tomac lifts off in front of the crowd.
John Tomac in a Raleigh jersey talks with a man as a cameraman films them
John Tomac, in Raleigh colors, talks to the camera.

Riders in the film

On the video store shelf

The film went out on VHS in the United States and was later released in Italy in an Italian-language edition.

Front of the 1990 VHS box for Battle at Durango, with a downhill racer and the podium
The original VHS box, endorsed by NORBA and advertised in Mountain & City Biking magazine.
Back of the VHS box with six race photos, a description of the film and sponsor logos
The back of the box. Photos by Richard Etchberger, Brian Starr and Neal Palumbo.
Italian PAL edition cover showing a trials rider against the sun, labeled In Italiano
The Italian-language PAL edition, released in 1992 by Fun Video Distribution.

In the magazines, 1990–1991

“Now you can get complete coverage in video form. And we do mean complete!”

Mountain & City Biking, April 1991

Mountain bike magazines in the United States, France and Italy covered the release. Select a clipping to read it full size.

Mountain Bike Action advertisement for Battle at Durango with a podium photo and ordering details
Mountain Bike Action, December 1990. The first ad, with a pre-release price of $24.95.
Page from French VTT Magazine with a news item titled Durango en vidéo and a photo of the VHS box
VTT Magazine, France. “Durango en vidéo” invites French readers to stretch out on the sofa for the Purgatory descent, the climb, the cross-country, trials and dual slalom. Copies shipped to Europe in PAL or SECAM.
Mountain and City Biking March 1991 cover, a full-page Explosive Video ad, and a short Too Cool Video announcement
Mountain & City Biking, March 1991. The magazine helped sponsor the film and announced its release: “done and it’s hot.”
Mountain and City Biking General Store feature titled Re-Live It, with the VHS box at center
Mountain & City Biking, April 1991. “Re-Live It!” praises the helmet-camera, bike-mounted and aerial footage, and the scenes never shown on television.
Mountain Bike Action feature Guide to Off-Road Videos, with the Battle at Durango box among other videotapes
Mountain Bike Action, April 1991. Its guide to off-road videos: “Just you & Overend in the privacy of your home.”
Italian Tutto Mountain Bike magazine clipping describing the video, May 1991
Tutto Mountain Bike, Italy, May 1991. Calls the film the official record of the Durango worlds, filmed with several cameras including one on “king” Ned Overend’s bike.

Award and sponsors

  • International Sports Festival Spirit Award
  • Officially endorsed by the National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA)Advertised in Mountain & City Biking magazine
  • Sponsored by Raleigh Cycle Company of America, Mountain Bike Specialists, PowerBar and Aussie Racing Apparel
  • A portion of each sale went to NORBA’s trail access work

Watch the full film

One hour at the first World Championships, from the start-line pileup to the podium.

Watch Battle at Durango