Mountain

The World Cup mountain-biking circus makes its return to North America Saturday, as the world’s best gravity riders take on the steep vertical of Grouse Mountain just outside Vancouver, British Columbia. Action commences at 11 a.m. PST with the downhill semifinals. The downhill finals follow at 2 p.m., then it’s the dual finals at 6 p.m. The downhill course, which was designed by North Vancouver native and Ford-Devinci rider Andrew Shandro, is short by World Cup standards at just 1.5 kilometers, but that doesn’t mean it will be an easy ride. Already the twisty, tree-lined track has claimed

Right about now Steve Peat may be wondering if he really wants the UCI’s No. 1 downhill ranking. For the second time in his career Peat has been taken down by injury following an ascent to the No. 1 spot. This time Peat separated his shoulder during a practice run at Grouse Mountain on Thursday. The resort is 20 minutes outside Vancouver, British Columbia, and is the site of his weekend’s World Cup stop. According to fellow GT downhiller Katja Repo, Peat’s hand came off his bars heading into one of the course’s wooded sections, and he was tossed off his bike and into a tree. The injury will

When the sun set on the towering ski jumps and half-finished condominiums in Park City, Utah, Thursday evening, the ever-present Olympic anticipation had been replaced, temporarily, by a more immediate buzz. The Chevy Trucks National Championship Series is in town, and the hot topic in the pits is the upcoming battle between Steve Peat and Nicolas Vouilloz, the world’s No. 1- and No. 2-ranked downhillers. GT’s Peat recently took something from Vouilloz, something the Frenchman feels is his: the UCI No. 1. Vouilloz, who owned the top ranking for nearly two years straight, is out to get it

British cross-country champion Caroline Alexander has recovered quite nicely from the tough HP Women's Challenge road race in Idaho that she finished last Sunday. Alexander won the Chevy Trucks NORBA cross-country race at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, Friday. To earn her first NORBA win, the Specialized rider had to stop the winning machine that is Mary Grigson. The Australian Gary Fisher-Subaru rider had won five in a row, a streak dating back to last season, and was attempting to tie the record of six set by Juli Furtado in 1993. "I'm really, really surprised," said Alexander

A couple of years ago Ryder Hesjedal was a surprising young talent, a quiet kid from Canada with the physique of a high school basketball player, not a professional mountain biker. When interviewed, he didn’t say much. Now Hesjedal’s 21, and he’s won some big races. When he speaks, as he did after winning his first NORBA cross-country race at Deer Valley, Utah, Friday afternoon, you can’t believe the bravado. Even more surprising, however, is the aggression with which Hesjedal rides. Sometimes that has hurt the 21-year-old Subaru-Gary Fisher rider, but sometimes it can be crushing to the

Trek-Volkswagen rider Roland Green continued his dominance of the second leg of the NORBA National series by adding a short track title to Friday’s cross-country victory, while Chrissy Redden (Subaru-Gary Fisher) took the women’s race. The highly tactical men’s race began with Green sitting on the front of the fast-moving group in the early laps, challenged strongly by Snow Summit short track champ Ryder Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and his teammate Pavel Tcherkassov. In those first several laps, Hesjedal fell victim to trouble with his single-chainring setup. He was forced to dismount

World champion Wade Bootes (Trek-Volkswagen) proved why he wears the rainbow stripes Saturday, topping a strong field to win the dual slalom at NORBA National No. 2 at Snowshoe, West Virginia, while Leigh Donovan (Schwinn) continued her storming farewell tour with a split-heat victory over Tara Llanes (Yeti-Pearl Izumi). The slalom got off to a shaky start when qualifying was postponed Friday evening. The same line of thunderstorms that nearly drowned cross-country competitors fed foot-deep pools in some sections of the slalom course and reduced the rest to oil-like slickness. As a

Steve Peat (GT) followed through on the promise he showed in the morning downhill practice session at the NORBA National in Snowshoe, West Virginia, where he recorded the course record of 4:55. On the money run, the British World Cup contender shattered that mark by 13 seconds and took the downhill victory in sloppy conditions on Sunday. After a hard winter of training, Peat seems on his way to a dream season. "I just feel like I’m riding so well, the bike’s just perfect, and the team is just one big family." Unfortunately, it was a scattered family this weekend, as many of the GT

Aussie rider Mary Grigson (Subaru-Gary Fisher) upped her tally to five straight NORBA National victories Friday morning, showing her versatility as a rider who can excel in the tight, rooty West Virginia singletrack as well as the open and dusty western courses. If Grigson can hold her outstanding form to take the next National at Deer Park, Utah, she would tie the seemingly unassailable record of six straight NORBA victories set by Juli Furtado in the early 90s. "It’s something that’s been put in my mind, and I feel the pressure. It’s just one of those things, even though it might be

Round two of the Tissot-UCI World Cup dual series in Vars, France, was cancelled Saturday due to inclement weather and a rider protest of conditions. Severe thunderstorms and hail forced officials to cancel the event, making it the first time in the World Cup’s 11-year history that a finals event was cancelled. The weather wasn’t expected to affect Sunday’s downhill race.

GT’s Steve Peat and Volvo-Cannondale’s Anne-Caroline Chausson repeated their round one World Cup downhill victories with wins at Vars, France, Sunday. After Saturday’s dual round was cancelled due to weather, conditions were still challenging for round two of the eight-race downhill series on Sunday. Temperatures were near freezing, with occasional rain and even snow falling on the muddy course. Peat’s win, which came on his birthday, gives the British rider the upper hand on defending World Cup champion Nicolas Vouilloz of France. Vouilloz crashed near the end of his run and ended up

At the opening World Cup downhill of the 2001 season at Maribor, Slovenia, GT’s Steve Peat finally beat France’s Nicolas Vouilloz on this high-speed course, while Anne-Caroline Chausson (Volvo-Cannondale) did what she usually does — win. Vouilloz won at Maribor the first two years races had been held here, but Peat was fast enough to edge Vouilloz to win the year’s season opener. "I had a clean run; you have to, to beat Nico," said Peat, who won in 2 minutes, 54.30 seconds. Vouilloz was just 0.44 seconds slower. "I knew I had to go fast. I was clean through most of the run, just made one

Defending World Cup dual champions Brian Lopes and Anne-Caroline Chausson picked up where they left off last year, winning the opening round races of the 2001 season in Maribor, Slovenia. More than 10,000 fans lined the course under the lights in Maribor to cheer on racers in the World Cup season opener for dual downhill. Lopes didn’t put down his customary fastest time in the qualifier, so the Californian had tougher than usual competition, including a hard crash with Mickael Deldycke in the semis, to reach the finals against former Volvo-Cannondale teammate Cedric Gracia. Gracia crashed

Canada’s hockey teams may not have fared very well in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, but America’s neighbors to the north are having quite a spring when it comes to racing mountain bikes. Two weeks after Roland Green became the first Canadian male to win a World Cup cross-country race, countryman Ryder Hesjedal led a Maple-Leaf sweep of the short track cross country at NORBA national No. 1 at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, California. Hesjedal got his win by making a gutsy pass to overtake Seamus McGrath at the top of the climb on the race’s last lap. The 20-year-old Subaru-Gary

The dual slalom at NORBA national No. 1 will likely go down as the beginning of a youth movement. After years of seeing names like Brian Lopes and Wade Bootes at the top of the results sheet, it was a trio of under-21 kids who ruled the day at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, California. The winner was the youngest of them all, 17-year-old Mick Hannah of the Global Racing team. The Australian teenager was part of an all Global final where he squared off with Greg Minnaar, a 19-year-old from South Africa. Minnaar reached the final by knocking off Lopes (GT-Fox) and Bootes

Mick Hannah might not have known it, but he made a little history on Sunday. In winning the downhill at NORBA national No. 1 at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, California, he became just the second man to ever capture both the dual slalom and downhill on the same weekend. The other guy on that list: Brian Lopes, who did it once in 1995 and once in 1996. Throw in the fact that Hannah is just 17 years old, and he probably deserves a record all his own. In the downhill Hannah (Global Racing) started far back of the favorites because he lacked a NORBA ranking, but when the youngster stormed

Day 1 of the 2001 NORBA national championship series looked a lot like the 2000 season opener. But anybody who said they weren’t surprised was probably lying. That’s because mountain biking’s No. 1 enigma, Californian Kirk Molday, went from having no team in January to winning the season opening cross-country race at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, California. Molday’s win, along with Mary Grigson’s victory earlier in the day, meant there was a pair of repeat winners at Big Bear. In the men’s race Molday was part of a four-rider break that pulled away from the field during the first of

Finally, after what seems like half a lifetime, the 2001 mountain biking season resumes in North America. Stop No. 1 of the NORBA national championship series commences Friday at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, California. It’s the 13th time the NORBA series has touched down in these tree-topped mountains just 90 miles from the sprawl of Los Angeles. Day 1 will feature the men’s and women’s cross country races. The ladies kick things off at 11 a.m. pacific time. The men follow at 2 p.m. The 8.47-mile course at Big Bear is a lung-buster, with a base elevation of 7200 feet and 1200 feet

Favorites reigned in the pro men and pro women cross country races at the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in Durango, Colorado on Sunday. In the men’s race 1999 NORBA national champion and 2000 Olympian Travis Brown (Trek-Volkswagen) had an easy go of it, winning the three-lap, 20.4-mile race with a time of 1:40:48. Costa Rican José Adrian Bonilla (Café Costa Rica) came across second, 1:46 behind Brown. Jay Henry was third, at 3:09. "I was going pretty hard from the start because José was really pushing the pace," said Brown, who grew up in Durango. "I was getting small gaps on almost every

Marco Bui (Marin-Helly Hansen) and Marga Fullana (Specialized) showed their form for the third round of the 2001 Tissot-UCI mountain bike World Cup on Saturday by winning their respective time trial heats. Bui blazed the one-lap, 7km over the technical, hilly Houffalize course in 21minutes, 50 seconds, 16.1 seconds faster than Canadian Roland Green of the Trek-Volkswagen team. Dane Michael Rasmussen (Haro-Lee Dungarees), the 1999 world cross-country champion, finished third, 17.62 seconds back. In the women’s race, Fullana ripped the course, finishing 33.75 seconds ahead of Italian

Canadian Roland Green (Trek-Volkswagen) did what no Canadian man has ever done and what a North American hasn’t done in a long time -- win a men’s World Cup mountain bike race. In the women’s race, Marga Fullana (Specialized) won her second World Cup race of the 2001 season. Trivia question de jour: Name the last American male to win a World Cup cross-country race: Answer: Tinker Juarez in 1994. Green proved you can speak English as your native tongue and still win at mountain biking. After years slowly building confidence and form, Green stormed away from Bas Van Dooren in the five-lap,

World champion Marga Fullana led from the first climb of four laps around the tough Sarentino World Cup course. The gap over her Specialized teammate and reigning World Cup champion Barbara Blatter grew steadily from a handful of seconds to over a minute by the end. American Alison Dunlap (GT) rode a steady race, maintaining third place throughout and keeping Blatter within 20-30 seconds until the final lap, when she fell over a minute behind the Swiss wearing the World Cup leader’s jersey. The other North American, Alison Sydor (Trek-Volkswagen), fell steadily back from the top five to

Miguel Martinez followed the script of fellow world champion Marga Fullana in the Sarentino, Italy World Cup, but in more gripping fashion. The 115-pound Full Dynamix rider closed a 23-second gap on 162-pound Roland Green (Trek-Volkswagen) on the last lap and then outsprinted the Canadian after playing cat and mouse for the last kilometer. Like Fullana, Martinez swept the time trial and the cross country, while Green and Specialized’s Barbara Blatter finished second in both races. A lead group of seven had stayed together throughout most of the race, but when Bas Van Dooren (Specialized)

World champions Marga Fullana and Miguel Martinez started the European World Cup season right where they left off last year. Fullana beat her Specialized teammate and reigning World Cup champion Barbara Blatter by 22 seconds in the qualifying time trial in Sarentino, Italy, while Martinez (Full Dynamix) finished ten seconds up on Roland Green (Trek-Volkswagen). The time trial was held in order to seed the riders for tomorrow’s cross country. The course in Sarentino has changed for this year, and 10th-placed Thomas Frischknecht (Ritchey-Yahoo!) called it "the toughest World Cup course in

Specialized continued its roll on Saturday as defending World Cup champion Barbara Blatter won the opening race of the 2001 Tissot-UCI World Cup series at the Domaine Chandon winery, near Napa, California. Blatter took control of the 22-mile race midway through the third of five laps. She never really attacked, but on one of the steep climbs, Blatter left Alison Dunlap (GT) and Alison Sydor (Trek-Volkswagen) behind, and quickly gained a 30-second lead. "I just [sped] it up a little from lap to lap, and that was enough," said the 30-year-old Swiss, who has been living with her sister in

You couldn’t ask for a more exciting start to the men’s World Cup cross-country season. Spectators at the Domaine Chandon winery in Yountville, California, were treated to a thrilling opener Sunday that featured seesaw battles for the lead, a touch of weather drama and a first-time winner in Spanish sensation Jose Antonio Hermida. The 22-year-old Hermida, riding for Bianchi Motorex, experienced a career high last year in Spain when he won the world title in the under-23 category. But even that, said an emotional Hermida after completing the 25.2-mile course in 2:02:06, doesn’t compare to

Everyone knows that in World Cup cross-country racing, nothing is more important than the start. On Saturday, for the first time since 1993, a time trial was held to determine starting positions for the Tissot-UCI World Cup opener, scheduled for Sunday at Domaine Chandon winery near Napa, California. There were winners and there were losers, and at the end of the day Italian Marco Bui and Canadian Chrissy Redden had earned the pole positions. Bui, riding for AS Marin-Helly Hansen, is best known for being the rider who collided with Cadel Evans before the final descent at the 1999 world

Continuing their tour of the Golden State, Specialized teammates Barbara Blatter and Bas Van Dooren dominated the 13th Annual Sizzler Mountain Bike Classic, April 1, in San Jose, California. After finishing second in the overall at Sea Otter in Monterey a week earlier, Blatter dominated the Sizzler, winning by 3:05. "It was like a fast training session," said Blatter, who is now getting ready for the World Cup opener this weekend at Napa. "I had a flat tire, but it was good practice. My coach said I shouldn’t go 100 percent." Mary McConneloug was second, while Willow Koerber (Cane Creek)

As far as gravity disciplines go, dual slalom and the new mountain cross disciplines get more play than the course-challenged downhill race at the Sea Otter Classic. Nonetheless, some of the world’s best gravity racers gathered on a sunny Sunday morning for the season’s first taste of real competition at Monterey. World champion Anne-Caroline Chausson broke out the new Cannondale downhill bike; Missy Giove was sporting the nuclear green-and-blue of the new Global team (with matching blue hair); and Steve Peat was up to his old tricks with GT. Peat won the short jaunt through a series of

The final day of the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, saw a shake-up in the women’s cross-country stage-race standings, but no change at the top of the men’s leaderboard. Specialized’s Caroline Alexander came from 17 seconds back to win the women’s overall. Alexander supplanted teammate Barbara Blatter, who entered Sunday’s race wearing the leader’s jersey. In the final stage, the 36-mile cross country, Alexander was second to GT’s Alison Dunlap, who won a sprint finish. Blatter held on for third, despite a problem with her fork that left her without front suspension for most of

It’s called the Sea Otter Classic, and Saturday the event lived up to its name, providing a pair of classic match-ups in the finals of the dual slalom. On the men’s side it was defending world champion Wade Bootes taking on reigning World Cup champ Brian Lopes. The women’s final saw American Missy Giove taking on her nemesis, Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson. Give round one to Lopes and Chausson. Each drank in the first taste of victory in 2001, after picking up wins on a warm, sunny day in the hills outside Monterey, California. For Lopes, the road to the final proved tougher than the

For the second day in a row the gang from Specialized dominated the mountain-bike stage race at the Sea Otter Classic. On the men’s side it was Fillip Meirhaeghe who was first across the line in the 8-lap short-track race on a sunny Saturday, outside Monterey, California. Meirhaeghe’s teammates, Barbara Blatter and Caroline Alexander, went 1-2 in the women’s race, a 7-lap affair, duplicating a feat they accomplished a day earlier in the time trial. The Belgium Meirhaeghe finished in a time of 20 minutes, 22.30 seconds, beating out Giant’s Bart Brentjens by 13.10. Third place went to

There was a time when Barbara Blatter resided in the quiet corner of obscurity. This one-time kindergarten teacher didn’t even start racing mountain bikes full time until 1998. And before last year most of her competitors viewed her as a strong rider, but not a serious podium threat. But in 2000, Blatter changed those perceptions, picking up three World Cup wins on her way to the overall title. A year later, Blatter has picked up right where she left off. The 30-year-old Specialized rider made a sparkling debut in the colors of her new team, finishing first in stage 1 of the Seagate

Despite racing conditions that were better suited for wrestling than riding, Brian Lopes made a triumphant return to serious BMX racing with a win at the mud-marred ABA SoCal Nationals on Febraury 24. Lopes won the AA Pro class race in Ontario, California, then finished second in the Pro Open event. "That was my first real BMX race in two or three years," Lopes said, "It felt good to let everyone know that could still do well in BMX if I want to." In the days leading up to the race, rain had turned the track into a muddy mess, and at one point it looked like the event would be postponed

The story of Italy's most famous and most tortured cyclist Marco Pantani might take another unexpected turn in the not-so-distant future as his team considers putting its top rider into mountain-bike races next year. In a report in Sunday’s Corriere dello Sport Felice Gimondi, the president of Pantani’s Mercatone Uno team was quoted as saying that the “Pirate” might even compete in next year’s world mountain-bike championships. Gimondi, himself a former cycling great, said he believed that the future of the sport lay in mountain biking and said the team was actively considering

After receiving more than 14,000 comments in 30 days, the Bureau of Land Management chose not to group mountain bikes with motorized vehicles in a controversial management plan known as the National Off-Highway Vehicle Strategy. On December 4, the Bureau of Land Management released a draft of the plan that would ultimately rouse the cycling community to take action against a legislative act that threatened the future of the mountain-biking experience itself. At the heart of the issue was the BLM’s coupling of mountain bikes with other off-highway vehicles, all of which were

Round one of the 2001 New Zealand Mountain Biking national championship series got going January 6-7, in Levin. Downhill opened the competition, as riders tackled a steep 2km course that was smooth, fast, and very dusty. In the women’s race Sheryl MacLeod (Haro) came down in a flurry, posting a time of 3:30.70 to claim her first win of the season. Current European champion Tracy Mosely (Kona-Ford Focus) finished second, four seconds back, while Vanessa Quin (Giant) was third. On the men’s side, 2000 series’ winner Glenn Sisarich wasn’t around, meaning the race was wide open. Nathan Rankin