Bicycles Etc was opened in Crested Butte in 1976 and is hailed by the ‘Mountain Bike Hall of Fame’ as the first dedicated mountain bike shop. The owner of this shop, Neil Murdoch, also organised the early ‘Fat Tyre Bike Weeks’ which were the breeding pool for early mountain bike life. However, ABC television have revealed that all is not what it seems….

Bicycleretailer.com report that in the ABC programme “Vanished” which aired on Friday, ‘Neil Murdoch’ was revealed as Richard Bannister. Bannister jumped bail in 1973 after being caught smuggling 26lbs of cocaine into New Mexico. Detectives managed to track him down in 1998 but he managed to escape – on what else but a mountain bike – before being finally captured last year.

Bicycleretailer.com said the ‘Hall of Fame’ were “unavailable for comment” but the Crested Butte Theatre have erected a statue of Bannister in recognition of his lifetime achievement in successfully playing Murdoch for 25 years!