Tinker Juarez

David “Tinker” Juarez was a cycling legend who was a pioneer in mountain biking and BMX racing. He competed at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics in mountain biking, but those events really came well after his prime as a cyclist. Juarez was the 1995 gold medalist in mountain biking at the Pan American Games and won a silver medal at the 1994 World Championships. He was US mountain biking champion in 1994-95 and 1998.

Juarez started out as a BMX racer but switched to mountain biking in 1986, although from 1987-89 he also raced F-1 BMX events, a cross between road racing, mountain biking, and BMX racing. In 1982 he was second at the Pro Cruiser JAG World Championships, an ABA sanctioned event. In 1983 he was third at the JAG BMX World Super Bowl Championship.

Later in his career, Juarez turned to endurance racing. From 2001-05 he was NORBA National Champion in the 24-hour solo category. Juarez finished third in the 2006 Race Across America (RAAM) in the solo-enduro category. He continued competing through 2010 in endurance races, winning multiple 24-hour events, was Masters World Champion in 2010, and even in 2018, at age 57, won the Maah Daah Hey 100 in Medora, North Dakota. Juarez was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2001.