Friday Flashback
Here’s a picture of Roland Green on his way to winning the Men’s XC title at the UCI World Championships in Vail, Colorado, on September 16th of 2001. It was an amazing event. The World Trade Center in New York City was destroyed on 9/11, just two days before the start of the World Championships, but most of the riders from overseas had already arrived in Vail, so the World Championships were able to take place as planned.
All commercial airline flights in the U.S. were immediately suspended after the 9/11 attacks, so MBA’s John Ker (who shot the above photo) had to drive from Southern California to Vail to cover the event and shoot the photos for the magazine.
Here’s a photo of Roland Green on the podium after his win.
Roland now works as a welder in Canada. He is married with three kids.
Our January 2026 issue of Mountain Bike Action is on the newsstands now, so pick up a copy if you can find one and check out our “Down the Trail” feature in the back of the magazine to see another photo of Roland from that race and learn more about his life.