John Tomac
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | John Tomac | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "Johnny T", "Farmer John" "Tomac Attack" |
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| Born |
November 3, 1967 Owosso, Michigan, United States |
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| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 175 lb (79 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Retired | ||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | BMX, MTB, Road | ||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider/Manufacturer | ||||||||||||||||||
| Professional team(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1985-1989 | Mongoose | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1990-1991 | Yeti Cycles (MTB) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1989-1991 | 7-11 Pro team (Road) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Motorola (Road) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1991-1997 | Tioga/Raleigh Cycles (MTB) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1997 | Giant Bicycles/Answer Manitou (MTB) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1998-2005 | Tomac Racing (MTB) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial team(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 onwards | Tomac Racing (MTB) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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John Tomac (born November 3, 1967, in Owosso, Michigan) is an American retired professional cyclist who competed in multiple disciplines in road racing and mountain biking during a successful senior career that spanned twenty years. He is regarded as a mountain biking icon and was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1991. He is a true all-rounder, having won major national and international titles in four disciplines.
John Tomac first participated in cycle racing at the age of seven. He began to enter BMX events in and around Michigan in 1975 and continued competing in this discipline into his teenage years racing against Michigan bmx legends Tony Carnes,Mike Chapman ,and Tim Root . In 1984, at the age of sixteen, Tomac won the National Cruiser Class title with the factory Mongoose team. He turned professional in 1985 and spent his last year of BMX competition contesting events as a privateer.
In 1986, Tomac made two significant decisions: he relocated to Southern California, and left BMX competition in favour of mountain bike racing. He continued to ride for Mongoose. By the autumn of that year, he had won his first two major mountain bike events: the Ross Fat Tire Stage Race in Massachusetts and the Supercross Mountain Bike Exhibition race held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mongoose marketed a Tomac Signature Edition model in 1987, which reflected his increasing profile within mountain biking culture. Tomac achieved a few more notable wins during that year, including a second win in the Fat Tire Stage Race and three National XC Series rounds.
In 1987, John Tomac appeared in one of the first instructional mountain biking videos ever produced, entitled The Great Mountain Biking Video produced by New & Unique Videos of San Diego, California.
1988 brought Tomac national title-winning success. By achieving the highest combined points total from the National Off-Road Bicycle Association's (NORBA) Cross-country, Downhill and Dual Slalom championships, Tomac won the overall title of NORBA World Champion. He was ranked in first place in the Cross-country and Dual Slalom disciplines. The "World" status was a misnomer, however, as the NORBA championships were held only in the United States. The first true World Championships for XC and DH, sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale, were held in Durango, Colorado, in 1990 where John placed 4th in the downhill. John is well remembered for riding road style drop bars on his Yeti mountain bike at this race which was a noticeable deviation from the other riders. This equipment decision was influenced by his recent experience riding for the 7-11 road cycling team in Europe where he was under contract. Tomac's results and rapid rise to prominence earned recognition from U.S. cycling magazine Velo News, which voted him the world's best all-round rider of 1988.
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