Greg "H-Ball" Herbold (Born December 11, 1962
) is an American former professional
mountain bike racer.
He competed in many forms of cycling including
cross-country racing and
Mountain bike trials
Mountain bike trials, also known as observed trials, is a discipline of mountain biking in which the rider attempts to pass through an obstacle course without setting foot to ground. Derived from motorcycle trials, it originated in Catalonia, Sp ...
but, was most notable for his
downhill mountain bike racing career. Herbold was inducted into the
Mountain Bike Hall of Fame
The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (MBHOF) was founded in 1988 to chronicle the history of mountain biking. Formerly located in Crested Butte, Colorado, it relocated to Fairfax, California in 2014 and became part of the Marin Museum of Bicycling.
S ...
in 1996.
__TOC__
Mountain biking career
Herbold was born in
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
.
He won the first
dual slalom
Dual slalom is a mountain bike racing discipline similar to 4X racing.
It consists of two racers racing two almost identical tracks next to each other down a slope. The courses are usually short; one run lasting about 30 seconds. It is filled w ...
race at
Mammoth Mountain
Mammoth Mountain is a lava dome complex partially located within the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, in the Inyo National Forest of Madera and Mono Counties. It is home to a large ski area primarily on the Mono County side.
Mammoth Mount ...
in 1987. A year later, "Over the 1989 Labor Day weekend, September 2–4, around 1,500 mountain bike aficionados united under a blazing sun at Big Bear Lakes, CA, home of the NORBA National Championships... By Monday, the morning of the downhill race, many of the riders had gone, leaving the steep, technical 1,200-foot descent to the daredevils. Greg "Hair-ball" Herbold careened down the chute of deep ruts and shifting dust with hidden rocks to finish first with a time of 2:28... Herbold, on that fine line between finesse and out-of-control, also won the dual slalom event."
["Big Bear Hosts National Championship, by Patricia Mooney, Norba News, Volume V, Number 13, October 1989, p.5]
Herbold won the Downhill Class at the
1990 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships
The 1990 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships were held in Durango, Colorado, Durango, Colorado, United States. These were the first World Championships in mountain biking to be organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale, Union Cycliste Inte ...
in
Durango, Colorado.
He won the NORBA National Downhill Championship in 1988, 1989, and 1993, and the North American Downhill Championship in 1991.
He appears in the videotape "Battle At Durango: First-Ever World Mountain Bike Championships" produced by New & Unique Videos of San Diego and released in 1991.
After retirement from racing, Herbold worked in the cycling industry, at
RockShox
RockShox Inc. is an American company founded by Paul Turner in 1989, that develops and manufactures bicycle suspensions. The company led in the development of mountain bikes. It is now part of SRAM Corporation.
History
Start
RockShox was fou ...
and later
SRAM.
References
External links
Greg Herbold at the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame
1962 births
Sportspeople from Denver
People from Durango, Colorado
Downhill mountain bikers
American male cyclists
Living people
UCI Mountain Bike World Champions (men)
American mountain bikers
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