The 93 Derby shoot was a chance to get all WTB friends, family, racers, and employees together to do one massive photo shoot. Hipsters on Instagram today refer to this as their past weekend. This was a big deal for WTB and many beautiful black and white shots were had, many of which seem to keep resurfacing as I sift though tangles of historic archives here. In the shot above, you can see that in 93, apparently helmets were optional. You can also see that the helmet on the right, yes, that one that looks like a Rhode Gear but isn't, I am pretty sure that stunner is the original Giro then re-released as an urban helmet with overwhelming popularity in San Francisco. I say pretty sure because I'm probably wrong. In the photo below, you can see the famous Mark Weir scowl in a time... before Mark Weir.
You can also see the future in some of these photos. Nope, I'm not saying tube socks will come back in the future but hey.... wait a sec... No, I'm talking about the photo below:
Photos like this one put it all in perspective why Mark Slate fearlessly created the first 29" mountain bike tire, the WTB NanoRaptor in 1999. In 1993, above, he was clearly on a wheel size that was too small for him. Also from the future, look at the dude on the right. He's wearing at least one knee pad and has a handlebar bag - talk about predicting trends, whew, enduro and bikepacking all in one visored package.
Here's to more group shindigs.