Myles Rockwell (born August 19, 1972) is an American former professional downhill mountain biker and winner of the 2000 UCI Downhill World Championships. He 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. Si ...

in 2019 and into the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame in 2021. In 2004 Rockwell was arrested for growing

Marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

, he was released on $10,000 bail.

Career

After racing for

Yeti Cycles Yeti Cycles is an American bicycle manufacturer located in Golden, Colorado. Early history Yeti Cycles was founded in 1985 by John Parker in California, when mountain biking was gaining in popularity. Parker was a welder who built movie sets in ...

in 1993 and his victory at the ''Reebook Eliminator'' in

Mammoth Lakes Mammoth Lakes is the only incorporated town in Mono County, California, United States. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 7,191, reflecting a ...

and the 3rd place in the UCI Downhill World Championships, Rockwell joined the newly formed Volvo Cannondale Mountain Bike Racing Team in 1994 together with the downhill riders

Missy Giove Melissa 'The Missile' Giove (born 1972) is an American professional downhill mountain biker. Throughout her career she won 14 NORBA downhill titles and 11 world cups. Giove's other accomplishments include three overall NORB ...

and Franck Roman. Rockwell played a vital role in the development and testing of mountain bikes and components. In the 1994 season, Rockwell used a ''Cannondale Super V'' full suspension bike with its original high-pivot design and approximately 75 mm of travel on the rear wheel, and either a prototype ''Cannondale Headshok'' or a Rock Shox suspension fork. In 1995, Cannondale engineers, Rockwell and his teammates presented the downhill scene with the ''Cannondale Super V DH Active'' offering 152 mm of travel in the rear and 114 mm in front with the ''Cannondale Moto'' fork. This bike was the beginning of "super-long" suspension travel for mountain bike downhill. It was also one of the first professional race bikes with

disc brakes Disc or disk may refer to: * Disk (mathematics), a two dimensional shape, the interior of a circle * Disk storage * Optical disc * Floppy disk Music * Disc (band), an American experimental music band * ''Disk'' (album), a 1995 EP by Moby Other ...

. Rockwell was forced to take a break from racing due to injuries in 1996 and 1997. Rockwell was part of the development of the ''Cannondale Super V DHF / Fulcrum'', a team-only downhill mountain bike with a virtual-pivot point and three chains for optimized pedaling efficiency and an adjustable head tube angle. Rockwell's 1998 Fulcrum is on display in the

Marin Museum of Bicycling The Marin Museum of Bicycling is a bicycle museum located in Fairfax, California, dedicated to the history, culture, and innovation of bicycles. It serves as both an educational center and a tribute to cycling's evolution, with exhibits showca ...

. In his last two seasons as a professional athlete, 1999 and 2000, Rockwell raced for

Giant Bicycles Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (commonly known as Giant) is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer, recognized as the world's largest bicycle designer and manufacturer. Giant has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Netherlands, China and Hungary. Th ...

. He was the first World Champion after 5 consecutive victories of

Nicolas Vouilloz Nicolas Vouilloz (born 8 February 1976) is a French professional mountain biker and former professional Rallying, rally driver. Biography He won the downhill cycling, Downhill Mountain Bike World Championships ten times, starting as a junior i ...

, a ten times downhill world champion and one of the most successful professional mountain bikers in history. Rockwell is the last male U.S. American winner of a Downhill World Championships. In 2005, Rockwell won the first edition of the

Red Bull Road Rage The Red Bull Road Rage is an extreme downhill road cycling race promoted by Red Bull GmbH. The competition was first held in 2005 as a pro-invite only event, but since 2008 is open to amateur and professional racers. Red Bull Road Rage has seen ...

Personal life

Rockwell is married to Willow Rockwell (née Koerber), a retired professional cross-country mountain bike racer and world championships bronze medalist. In 2019, the couple created ''The Rockwell Ridewell Foundation'', a

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

for youth development. Rockwell is co-founder of a biking school in

Boulder, CO Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

References

External links

* Living people Downhill mountain bikers 1972 births American male cyclists American mountain bikers Sportspeople from Durango, Colorado UCI Mountain Bike World Champions (men) 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-cycling-bio-1970s-stub