MTB Hall of fame names 2007 inductees

Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain) (Image credit: Jon Devich)

Four individuals will be inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, at Interbike, in Las Vegas: Hill Abell, a leading Texas advocate, Sal Ruibal, mountain biking's biggest supporter in the mainstream media, Alison Sydor, a world champion racer and industry innovator Frank Wadleton.

According to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame website, www.mtnbikehalloffame.com, Hill Abell earned his nomination in the advocate category. He's been mountain biking since 1984. That same year Hill and his wife Laura bought the Bicycle Sport Shop in Austin, Texas. Their store became the only shop in Austin to specialize in mountain bikes. Besides sharing his passion daily through the shop, Abell has worked tirelessly as an access advocate in Texas, which although it is the second largest US State, it only has 3.8% of it is public land. Abell has played an important advocacy role with his local Austin Ridge Riders, the Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association and the Texas Bicycle Coalition. He has also been on the IMBA board of directors for nine years. His most recent project is with the Austin chapter of Sprockids.

Sal Ruibal, the cycling reporter at USA Today, was the first prominent journalist to chronicle the sport in the mainstream media. Since he began covering the sport in 1995, he's introduced mountain biking to a mass audience around the world. His articles in the largest American newspaper reach more than 10 million readers every day many non-cyclists. He's written about people, tactics, equipment, and "the culture and the societal impact of mountain biking" as stated on the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame website. The list of athletes he has covered reads like a who's who of mountain biking. He once wrote about his ride with well known mountain biker, US President George W. Bush. In his free time, Ruibal mountain bikes, even racing at 24 hour events.

Alison Sydor is a household name in mountain biking. Her resume boasts three world championship titles, the 1996 Olympic silver medal, three UCI World Cup titles and 17 World Cup wins. The Canadian began her cycling career on the road, winning four national road titles and representing Canada at international competitions. She began her mountain bike racing career in 1991 and most recently has been winning multi-day mountain bike stage races.

Last but not least, Frank Wadleton won a nomination in the industry category. Wadleton "built his first frame in the summer before seventh grade (1972) from parts of 10-speed frames and shopping carts." Wadleton worked with John Parker of Yeti as well as with industry partners Shimano, Campagnolo, Onza, Barracuda and many others. Wadleton now works for Spooky. He lists some of his biggest accomplishments as being involved in the development of Easton frame tubes, fabricating the first set of two-fingered Shimano brake levers, welding the first set of two sided clipless pedals for Don Mirah, designing bar ends for Onza, co-designing all Yeti frames, pioneering the "soft tail" design, being, and building frames for the likes of John Tomac, Juli Furtado, Tinker Juarez, Brian Lopes, Miles Rockwell, Missy Giove, Sarah Ballentine, Don Mirah, Davis Phinny, and Greg Orovits just to name a few.