Even the legendary Mark Weir had to start somewhere and in the awesome race resume above (big thank you to Anthony Medaglia for rounding it up) you can see that even in the beginning, Weir started full throttle. Cross Country, Downhill raced in hardtail or even devoid of suspension class, didn't matter, Weir owned it. In Weir's wording above, he had hoped to "improve my skills as an all around mountain bike competitor." Remove around from that sentence and you have all mountain competitor. Makes sense that the man (Weir is a man,) regarded by many as the Godfather of All Mountain, owned it - he rode 150 - 170 miles per week for crying out loud, of... everything. What makes less sense to me is why he faxed it to DICRG - apparently that stands for Dental Implant Clinical Research Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan - perhaps a little sponsorship future planning with foresight that a life of shredding bikes is hard on the overall tooth count? Can't say. Can say that it's pretty apparent Weir's been a badass from the start. Rad races in there too, Ring of Fire in Occidental, Downieville when it was still Coyote Classic, too many Lake Sonoma wins - you can tell sufferfest was Weir from the start. Here's to Weir, riding everything before there officially was All Mountain, and to, well, dental implants. Catch you next Thursday.