In the early days of downhill, one of the biggest names to cross over to mountain biking from another sport was American Shaun 'Palm Daddy' Palmer. Already famous as a snowboarder and an early extreme sports star, Palmer announced his intention to become a Downhiller in 1995, and joined the UCI World Cup circuit in 1996.Despite his lack of experience and race fitness, Palmer immediately began placing in the top-10 in World Cups, and rocked the downhill world by finishing second at the 1996 UCI World Championships to legendary French downhiller Nicolas Vouilloz, only 0.15 seconds off the gold medal.
Palmer's larger-than-life presence thrust the sport of downhill into the spotlight, and he quickly became the highest paid mountain bike athlete in the world, riding for the Mountain Dew Specialized team.While he did not ever win the world title or World Cups in mountain biking, he was a six time X Games Champion in Boardercross and Ski Cross, a Gravity Games Ski Cross Champion, and Halfpipe Champion.Rob Warner, a downhill World Cup winner and now Redbull mountain bike commentator, competed against Palmer, and says: "He changed the sport forever, really ... brought in baggy gear and an attitude that no one could match. When he came in, it was just a bunch of people in lycra racing downhill. He changed it for the better, because he made the sport cool. He didn't win on fitness - although he could definitely ride a bike - he won on desire, want, fury ... there'll never be another mountain biker with his attitude."
Follow Shaun on Instagram.