John Tomac: History Lesson
John Tomac is without doubt one of the greatest ever mountain bikers. You probably know that already. But it’s pretty eye-opening to look back over Tomac’s career achievements.
When John Tomac took to mountain biking early in the history of the sport, he already had a national BMX title under his belt (in cruiser class), and he was destined for great success nationally and internationally in MTB and also road racing. In 1990 he reportedly raced more than 100 races in road, XC and DH. What a machine!
His road influence famously crossed over into the mountain biking when he raced with drop bars on his MTB (amazingly, with success). Apart from his accolades (in ’91 he won the XC World Champs and took second in DH as well as winning the XC World Cup and claiming one of many NORBA titles), Tomac’s charisma and working man image went far in promoting not only the athlete but also creating a buzz around the sport. Tomac was as big-time as they come.
Later in his career — when he was still rapid (Tomac took second in downhill at the infamous Chateau d’Oex World Championships) — Tomac started his own bike company, Tomac Bikes.
Tomac formally retired from racing in 2000 but his skills didn’t stop there. John’s son, Eli, has grown into arguably the fastest motocross racer of the moment (his recent supercross title and previous MX titles confirming he has racecraft as well as raw speed) with the help of his father; growing up on the Tomac ranch with mountain biking, motocross and numerous other sports at his fingertips can’t have done any harm.
