CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. (BRAIN) — Don Cook, a mountain bike pioneer, racer, retailer, trail builder and early proponent of 29-inch mountain bikes, died this week after suffering an apparent heart attack while riding the 409 Trail above Crested Butte. He was 66.
Cook started Paradise Bikes with his brother Steve. It was one of the first shops in Colorado to sell mountain bikes. He helped organize the Fat Tire Stage Race and won its first edition, and scouted and mapped many of the best known singletrack trails in the Crested Butte area.
He was a co-director of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame with his wife Kay Peterson Cook. Steve Cook and Kay Peterson Cook are also members of the Hall of Fame.
More on Cook's history on the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.
