By now, you’ve surely seen Klunkerz — the recent film documenting the birth of our beloved sport of mountain biking. If you haven’t seen this instantly classic Billy Savage flick…here comes the shameless plug…you can go right to our own Merch are and order the DVD!

Charlie Kelly, one of THE forefathers of mountain biking and one of the film’s main characters, recently found a couple YouTube clips from the 1980 Crested Butte to Aspen Klunker Classic race, and posted them in the Dirt Rag Forums. It’s only about 15 minutes worth of footage, but they are well-done windows into an amazingly unique event, and a great glimpse into the early history of mountain biking.

In addition to Kelly, you’ll see some other young, and barely recognizable, faces that are still on the scene today, like Gary Fisher and Chuck Ibis. You’ll also meet a whole other level of interesting characters who opted to tackle this tough race.

I could go on to explain the event in more detail, but it’s best that you take 15 minutes and watch these clips for yourself. It’s worth the time.

Part 1

Part 2