In the early/mid ‘80s mountain bike racing was just starting in the Midwest, for me that was northern Illinois and Wisconsin. It was casual, people riding Raleigh 3 speeds, and unmodified road bikes , and of course the unsuspended mountain bikes of the day. People would pass joints waiting for the starting gun, and would hang out afterward tossing back a few. Then one race a group of shaved leg roadies showed up on expensive new mountain bikes and the fun went away.