dirty sundays

Katrin was mainly a road racer, she was the 1986 US National Road Champion.

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This bike was build for her to ride at Mammoth, CA in 1989 and she also raced it at the first UCI MTB World Championships 1990 in Durango, CO, where she finished in 21st.

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The bike remained unchanged since it was sold by Katrin, although not all parts are original from the time when she raced it.

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Dave McLaughlin who was the Ritchey Team Manager at the time, painted her name on the top tube and put the stickers on the frame. During that period, he also brought Thomas Frischknecht (CH) and Henrik Djernis (DEN) over to the US and convinced Ruthie Matthes (USA) to race MTB.

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Nowadays, Katrin lives in the Santa Cruz, CA area and works as a real estate agent.

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Here's what Katrin had to say about the bike and her MTB days:

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Nice! Unfortunately, I've never been much a gear-gal and pretty much just rode what I was given : )

Ruthie Matthes actually came as a package with Sally Zack and me in 1989/1990. Lowrey's dropped our sponsorship after the '88 Olympics & 1989 road season.

As I remember it, the Ritchey crew was looking for a female presence at the first unified Worlds in Durango and figured good Roadies would do well. I was the poster child for that NOT being the case (HA! I was terrified by the roots & rocks!). But Ruthie made their gamble pay off by getting 3rd at Worlds that year.

As I recall, our sponsorship deal included road & Mt bikes, expenses/entries to a couple races (one qualifier and the Worlds) plus $3000. Was awesome to be there with Dave M and the Ritchey crew and watch Ruthie & Thomas F's careers blast off. I finished 21st! Just out of the money such as it was : ) There literally is video of me pushing my bike and an announcer making the point that this is not road racing. My claim to Mt Biking fame (other than getting Ruthie started w TR).

I figured then this could be a good time to retire and get a real job.