Juli Furtado had raced mountain bikes for only a few months before her runaway victory at the 1990 World Championships at Durango. After the season, she was highly sought after by nearly every mountain bike team in the country.
John Parker, the founder of Yeti Cycles tells the story, "When Juli won the World Championships, the week after was the Interbike Trade Show. We rushed her to the trade show and there was every bicycle company owner waiting in line in the Yeti booth to get a autographed poster from Juli and then steal her away from me...and they all made her some pretty damn good offers and at the end of the show, Linda and I went out to dinner with Juli and we were prepared to hear which offer she was going to accept and what was going to shakedown. We knew going into the trade show we were going to lose Juli, and nothing could be farther from the truth. What Juli said to us is, 'Hey, John and Linda, Chris and Frank, you guys were the only guys that called me back, you were the only guys that gave me a chance. I called GT, I called Specialized, I called these people, none of them called me back, none of them gave me a chance, youz guys gave me a chance'...What Juli did was, she negotiated with us in good faith and showed what an incredibly honorable person she is."
It was Juli's loyalty that kept her riding a Yeti for a second year, and this is the bike she was given. Parker ended the discussion with, "Among all the greats, Jimmy Deaton, Myles, Missy, Tomac; Juli Furtado, pound for pound is the ultimate mountain bike racer."
