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Honor where honor is due – Tarek Rasouli inducted in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame

This past weekend, the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame of Marin Museum of Bicycling in Fairfax, California inducted their 2022 new inductees into the prestigious and honored group of the best in sport. Furthermore, the inductees of 2020 and 2021 have been honored as well, making the ceremony a huge gathering of the legends of the sport. Among this year’s honorees is the German freeride legend Tarek Rasouli, who earned his spot through a long and illustrious career in the sport as both a rider and a great advocate.

As only the fourth German after Regina Stiefl, Wolfgang Renner, and Uli Stanciu, Tarek Rasouli has the honor of being inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. A decision probably not difficult for the jury, it’s nevertheless worth taking another look at the career of the Munich mountain bike jack-of-all-trades that ultimately has led him to the Marin Museum of Bicycling.

Rasouli’s affection for bicycles was already evident in his early youth in various National and International BMX competitions, culminating in winning the German championship in 1991 and a fourth place at the 1992 World Championships in Brazil. During this time, Tarek discovered mountain biking, and he worked as a rider for the German BIKE Magazine. Tarek made an international name for himself as one of the best European freeriders and became the only non-Canadian member of the legendary Rocky Mountain Frorider team in 2000 alongside Wade Simmons, Richie Schley, and Brett Tippie. At the latest after his appearance in several segments in Bjoern Enga’s Kranked IV film “Search of the Holey Trail”, which launched in 2001, Rasouli belonged to the big names in the freeride world across the Atlantic. During this time he also took part in the first freeride contests and won the Red Bull Build & Ride in Switzerland, for example.

Tarek’s passion for the sport was particularly evident after a serious accident at Sun Peaks resort in Canada in 2002 while shooting for Kranked 5 left him paralyzed. This injury would leave him with lifelong injuries and confine him to a wheelchair. While others may have blamed the sport, Tarek was certain of one thing despite all the possible uncertainties: he would stay true to mountain biking!

Over the past 20 years, Tarek has become one of the most important and influential personalities of mountain bike freeriding. After initially taking care of the freeride pages of BIKE magazine as a freelance journalist, he started setting up internationally renowned urban freeride events, beginning with an event called Ride to the Lake.

In 2005 Tarek founded RASOULUTION, an agency that has since organized events, such as the Red Bull District Ride, the Nissan Qashqai Challenge, and the X Games mountain bike slopestyle contest in Munich. All of these events brought in massive crowds and showcased mountain biking to hundreds of thousands – the Red Bull District Ride 2022 alone attracted over 120,000 spectators.

On top of event organization, RASOULUTION is also an athlete management agency and disoccered and has worked with the biggest names in the sport, such as Danny MacAskill, Fabio Wibmer, Thomas Genon, Emil Johansson, Andreu Lacondeguy, Martin Söderström, Tomas Lemoine or Erik Fedko to name only a some. In addition, Rasouli and RASOULUTION provide advice and active support to numerous brands and tourism destinations. Rasouli was also significantly involved in the professionalization of slopestyle mountain biking by founding the Freeride Mountain Bike Association in 2010.

With this year’s induction into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame – together with Gunn-Rita Dahle, Ot Pi, and Jim Busby – the Munich resident is honored to be recognized for his tireless commitment to mountain biking and is proud to be in there with fellow teammates Simmons, Schley, and Tippie, who as Rocky Mountain Frorider have been honorees since 2010.

“I am extremely honored to be inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Mountain biking has shaped my life and even after my accident I was just happy to stay part of the scene. I wanted to make the sport grow, which I definitely succeeded, thanks to many colleagues at RASOULUTION and especially my sister Nathalie, as well as many partners. This year the inductees of three years came to Fairfax, California and were officially inducted into the Hall of Fame. Being honored together with legends like Pinkbike’s founder Radek Burkat, freeride legend Darren Berrecloth, Bikepark Whistler founder Rob McSkimming, BMX and MTB pro Dave Cullinan – who was one of my idols in the 80’s & 90’s – MTB racing legends like Rachel Atherton and Gunn-Rita Dahle, MBUK founder Tym Manley & UK photo icon Steve Behr and bike developer Jim Busby is an absolute career highlight. Congratulations to everyone mentioned! Also, special thanks to Otis Guy and Joe Breeze, who blasted the first mountain bikes down the mountain at Fairfax in 1973. It was a special honor for me to meet both of them. If you make it to San Francisco, you should definitely visit the Marin Museum of Bicycling in Fairfax. Long live the mountain bike, let’s keep sending it!” – Tarek Rasouli

Follow Tarek Rasouli online:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/tarekrasouli
Facebook: facebook.com/tarekrasouli.page
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tarekrasouli

For further information about the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame of the Marin Museum of Bicycling and the 2022 inductees please visit:

https://mmbhof.org/mtn-bike-hall-of-fame/inductees/

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