Mountain

The 2006 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series kicks off today at Southridge Park in Fontana, a small city just west of San Bernadino in Southern California’s Inland Empire. Unlike the previous two NMBS openers, which featured solely cross-country racing, the Fontana NMBS hosts the full spectrum of endurance and gravity events: marathon cross-country, cross-country, short-track cross-country, downhill, mountain-cross and super D. This is the first time the NMBS series will grace the dry, dusty California town, which is also home to the California motor speedway. Fontana has hosted its own

Due to massive snowfall on Mammoth Mountain this winter, USA Cycling will be relocating its 2006 Mountain Bike National Championships, scheduled for July 20-23. After a record 664 inches of snow fell this season, Mammoth Mountain has reported a base depth of nearly 20 feet as of May 1 – a figure that ultimately put the resort’s ability to host a national-championship-caliber event in jeopardy.

The domestic Cannondale mountain-bike team has inked a three-year sponsorship deal with Bear Naked Granola, a natural-food company out of Darien, Connecticut. The cash sponsorship begins in mid-season for the Cannondale team, which sponsors more than 40 professional and amateur racers. "This deal is going to allow us to run the team at a greater level than we have the past two years," said team director Matt Jewett. "We already have a team that brings a lot to domestic racing. This will allow us to bring the personalities and performance of our team outside of the bike industry." The deal

It’s a rainy morning at San Jose International airport, and more thana few skinny, tan-lined travelers are sporting the Sea Otter hangover look.It’s an easy look to spot — the sunspots under the eyes, chapped lips andthat familiar blank bicycle-overload stare are dead giveaways. But thisyear an additional telltale sign is there — huge rings of dried, chunkymud still clinging to pants, shirts and shoes. Yep, the month of rain thatbattered NorCal in March turned every inch of the Otter into a muddy, shoe-eating quagmire. The slop was darn thick too. It found its way intomy pockets, pant legs,

Great Britain’s Liam Killeen (Specialized) has spent the first months of 2006 proving that, when he’s on form, few athletes can stand in his way. In March, he scored a big win at the March Commonwealth Games in New Zealand. Last week, he finished third at the World Cup opener in Curaçao, And on Sunday, Killeen scored a decisive victory in the Sea Otter Classic cross-country. "I never really felt that in trouble during the race," said the muddy Brit after finishing. "I’m really happy with my early season form at the moment. It’s all coming together." It was another Commonwealth rider —Chris

American Olympian Mary McConneloug (Seven-Kenda) and Swiss star Ralph Naef (Multivan-Merida) won Friday’s second stage of the Sea Otter Classic pro mountain-bike race, a two-mile time trial. While warm temperatures and sunshine brought a bit of relief to the waterlogged Laguna Seca staging area, they did little to dry out the hilly, two-mile time-trial circuit around the mountain-cross and dual-slalom courses. Standing water concealed many large, muddy holes that sent even seasoned veterans tumbling into the goo. The surprise of the day came in the women’s time trial, where two-time world

European riders dominated the first day of racing at the 2006 Sea Otter Classic as Frenchman Jean-Christoph Peraud (Orbea) and Norway’s Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesja easily won Thursday’s super cross-country event. Held on the Laguna Seca speedway’s tarmac and on soggy double-track on the surrounding hillsides, the super-XC proved to be a sloppy kickoff to the four-stage cross-country competition. Heavy rain helped transform the course’s off-road sections into impassable quagmires midway through the women’s event. Large holes and hub-deep mud stopped racers dead in their tracks, forcing men and

A gang of fat gray clouds loitered above Laguna Seca Raceway on Wednesday as vendors, team managers and riders prepared for Thursday’s opening of the 2006 Sea Otter Classic. Like clockwork, the skies burst at 4 p.m., pelting the saturated Central Coast hill country with yet another driving rain. Nobody was surprised. Why? Because Northern California has endured its second-wettest March since 1850. Nary a day has passed without rain for more than three weeks. The hills around Laguna Seca display a deep greenish hue overlaying a soggy, muddy base. The dirt infield sports a thick layer of mud.

On the Caribbean island of Curacao the cross-country World Cup started the 2006 season today, with Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) continuing her winning ways in the women's field, and Bart Brentjens (Giant) taking a popular win in the men's race, both in front of a swimsuit-clad crowd on the beach. Both Dahle and Brentjens don the leader's jerseys for the World Cup series. Top North American performers were Canadians Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) in 4th for the women, and Seamus McGrath (Canadian National) 9th in the men. Mary McConneloug (Seven

Canada's Marie-Helene Premont dodged a kangaroo then bounded away with her country's first cycling gold medal in the cross-country mountain-bike event at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday. Meanwhile, English riders grabbed the gold and silver medals as Liam Killeen emerged the winner in a three-way tussle for victory in the men's race. Premont, the pre-race favorite and a silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, led for all but the first few hundred meters to finish 1:27 clear of New Zealander Rosara Joseph and 2:55 in front of fellow Canadian Kiara

It’s a clear spring day in the green hills of Marin County, California, and a gaggle of Spandexed, helmeted Luna Bar Ambassadors — women’s sports advocates from throughout the nation — listen to Alison Dunlap lecture on climbing techniques. One by one, the women mount their knobby-tired rigs, aim themselves at the "climb," which is a sharp, stair-step incline, and attempt to clear the obstacle. At the other end of the parking lot, a second group of women gathers around the other members of the Luna pro women’s mountain-bike team: Shonny Vanlandingham, Katerina Hanusova and newcomers Georgia

Recently crowned NORBA U-23 national champ Lea Davison has joined the Trek-VW racing team. The 22-year-old rider recently graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont and is looking forward to her first season as a full-time professional racer. "I am absolutely ecstatic about joining the Trek-VW squad for the 2006 season," said Lea. "The Trek-VW team offers the best support on the circuit and does everything possible to help a rider perform at the best of their ability. The team is extremely talented and experienced. Under the tutelage of Sue Haywood, one of the best female mountain bikers

Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower) has ended a 12-year Costa Rican winning streak at La Ruta de los Conquistadores, becoming the first foreign rider to win the three-day event. The Marathon World Champion bounced back from a disastrous second stage, when three flats on the final descent caused him to lose 15 minutes to Costa Rican Marvin Campos (IBP), and drop to second in the standings - more then seven minutes back.

After day one of La Ruta de los Conquistadores, Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower) was up over six minutes. The next day, he was down by seven. But that's La Ruta for you. After suffering three flats in the final run to the finish, Frischknecht finished fifth on stage two, while the stage winner, Marvin Campos of the powerful host Costa Rican squad IBP (an investment bank) avoided punctures and took both the stage win and the leader's jersey. The stage profile was simple - climb for about 45km, up to 3010 meters, and then descend for 34km. Starting from the outskirts of San Jose, the

Prior to the start of this year's La Ruta de los Conquistadores, some wondered whether Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower), despite being marathon world champion, would be able to overcome the home-ground advantage of the Costa Ricans. He answered that question decisively on the first stage. Frischknecht crushed the competition by nearly seven minutes, finishing ahead of local challengers Deiber Esquivel (IBP) and Marvin Campos (BP), with Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-VW) crossing fifth after overextending himself on the longest climb of the day and dropping from second place. The first stage of

The 2000 racers that flock to Northern Michigan's 27-mile Iceman Cometh Challenge each year never know what kind of weather to expect. Seven of the past 14 years, the Iceman has been held in cold and snowy conditions. However, in recent years, racers have enjoyed unseasonably balmy weather. This year's weather continued that trend, with a mid-day temperature in the mid-50s, leaving race promoter Steve Brown to suggest that perhaps the race should be renamed the "Niceman." And the weather wasn't the only thing heating up at the Iceman. The pro men's class had some of the

American gravity racing’s reigning matron Marla Streb (Luna) is ready to make that more than just a title. She’s pregnant with her first child. Streb, 40 and husband Mark Fitzgerald are expecting their new arrival sometime in April of 2006. “We didn’t really expect it,” Streb said in a phone interview. “We’ve been playing the lottery for a long time and didn’t expect to hit the jackpot. We’ve both really happy.” Streb, who has nine NORBA downhill victories, two single-speed cross-country world titles and a World Cup downhill win under her belt, says she ducked out of racing the 2005

The U.S. National Mountain Bike Team collected seven medals over the weekend - two of them gold - at the Pan American Mountain Bike Championships outside Mexico City. Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Massachusetts) rode to a Pan American Championship in the elite women's race to lead an all-American podium that included a silver medal performance from Kelli Emmett (Colorado Springs, Colorado) and a bronze medal effort from Willow Koerber (Ashville, North Carolina). McConneloug clocked a time of one hour, 55 minutes over the 30km course to finish with a 51-second advantage over Emmett and a

NORBA stars Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) and Shonny Vanlandingham scored impressive finishes at the Xterra off-road triathlon World Championships October 22 on Maui, Hawaii. Kabush, the reigning NORBA cross-country and short-track champion finished 16th in the men’s pro category with a time of 2:51:29. Vanlandingham, who won the women’s cross-country overall and finished second in the short-track finished seventh in the professional women’s field in 3:20:01. Not surprisingly, both Kabush and Vanlandingham struggled a bit in the swim. Kabush’s 26:18 for the 1-mile swim placed him in 195th place

The 11th annual 24 Hours of Moab saw a few upsets to pre-race predictions and witnessed the emergence of new contenders in the men's and women's solo category. Usually a bridesmaid at the 24 Hours of Moab, Keith Bontrager's Masters' team has routinely placed second, with the exception of a win five years ago. After two victories at Granny Gear races earlier this year in California and West Virginia, Bontrager stood in position to sweep all three races. This time team Bontrager Wheelworks succeeded in steadily building a lead until this morning when the team received

During her 10-year career as a professional mountain biker, Jimena Florit twice won the NORBA cross-country overall title, as well as a pair of overall short-track championships, a Pan American Games gold medal and represented her home country of Argentina at two Olympic games. But after the 2004 season, the 33-year old was suffering from a case of burnout and decided to turn her attention elsewhere. Florit spent 2005 living the multi-sport lifestyle, training for and competing in adventure races and Xterra triathlons. While swimming and running don’t exactly come easy for Florit, her

Mammoth Mountain, California. - The final day of competition at the 2005 national mountain bike championships saw professional riders contest the short-track cross-country and the downhill events. Finishing atop the podium in the STXC were Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna) and Adam Craig (Giant), while Cody Warren (Haro) and Melissa Buhl (KHS) claimed their victories in the downhill.

Recently crowned world four-cross champion Jill Kintner (Yeti) and 2004 world titlist Eric Carter (Mongoose-Hyundai) both put together near-flawless performances to win the 2005 national mountain-cross championships on Saturday at Mammoth Mountain, California. The swooping course used the towering walls of Mammoth’s snowboard half-pipe, a steep pitch with long straightaways and a loose, gravelly surface. Speeds were high, and scores of riders hit the deck in its slippery corners. One of the first favorites to go down was Cody Warren (Haro), the top American finisher in the 2005 NORBA

Mammoth Mountain, California - For the second-consecutive year, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) stormed to the men’s professional cross-country national championship. After riding two laps at the front of the field alongside Adam Craig (Giant) and Walker Ferguson (Scott USA), on Friday, the 27-year old Horgan-Kobelski launched his decisive attack near the summit of the day’s long climb. “My plan coming into this race was to put in a huge effort on the second or third lap,” Horgan-Kobelski said. “I wanted to get a gap and hoped to demoralize some people. I think I stuck to the

Travis Brown (Trek-Volkswagen) and Gretchen Reeves (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) rode to national-championship titles in the 100km marathon Thursday at Mammoth Mountain, California. Held on a fast 22-mile loop that spun its way around Mammoth Mountain, the marathon featured single-track and fire roads so loose and dusty that all racers sported dirt-smeared faces after only one of three laps. Defending champ Reeves made winning look easy, opening a big gap from the gun. After one lap, she sat comfortably ahead of second-place Monique Sawicki (Team Mata), the recently crowned 2005 NORBA

It’s been a long racing season for America’s mountain bikers. The NORBA National Championship Series is over, as is the UCI World Cup; the world titles were decided last week. But it’s not time to hang the bike in the garage - not with the 2005 U.S. mountain-bike national championships scheduled September 15-18 at the Mammoth Mountain ski resort in California. Though other national championships are long since in the books, the U.S. national championship remains, the last major fat-tire race of the year.

Britannia ruled on Sunday at the World Cup downhill finals in Fort William, Scotland, with Steve Peat (Orange) and Tracy Moseley (Kona-Les Gets) delivering a pair of wins to the partisan crowd of over 10,000. Greg Minnaar (G-Cross Honda) and Sabrina Jonnier (Intense) had already won their respective overall titles, and the top three were pretty much set. But riders still had a lot of desire to win in front of the fanatical downhill fans that Fort William attracts. The 2.46km course runs in an almost straight line down the side of one of the mountains that makes up the Ben Nevis range. With

The 2005 mountain-bike World Cup is drawing to a conclusion. Saturday brought the final races in the cross-country and four-cross events at Fort William, Scotland, and while all four events proved anti-climactic, in that the series winners were already known, that did not mean poor racing, with two first-time World Cup winners crowned. Women's cross-country This was the easiest race to pick. World champion and World Cup leader Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) came into the final race with an insurmountable lead - plus she had won the Fort William race the previous two years. The real

While it might not make for thrilling storytelling, defending world champions Julien Absalon and Gunn-Rita Dahle confirmed on Sunday that when the stakes are highest, they are, respectively, the top cross-country racers in the world. Both riders took Olympic and world championship titles last year, and both crossed the finish line in Livigno, Italy, alone to repeat as world champs. It was the third world title for the 32-year-old Dahle (Norway), who also won in 2002 and lost her lead in 2003 after a pair of punctures, and the fifth title for the 24-year-old Absalon (France), who was the

No 24-hour mountain bike race is ever easy. Yet somehow in most of his five previous 24 Hours of Adrenaline Solo World Championship victories, Trek’s Chris Eatough has made it seem so. In most years he’s crossed under the finish banner looking like someone who’s just finished a training ride, and his post-race comments have been enthusiastic. That certainly wasn’t the case as Eatough earned his sixth title on Sunday. True, while wrapping up his last lap at 12:08 p.m., he smiled and held his arms up in triumph as he broke the finish-line tape. But that jubilant moment soon gave way to

French downhill racers Fabian Barel and Anne Caroline Chausson won their respective world elite downhill championships in Livigno, Italy, on Saturday. Both contests were decided by less than one second, with Barel getting the best of Aussie Sam Hill by only 0.77, and Chausson beating compatriot Sabrina Jonnier by less than four-tenths of a second. It was the second consecutive rainbow jersey for Barel, the 2004 champion. “Last year I rode well but I made mistakes,” Barel said. “I won because Steve Peat [Great Britain] crashed in the end. Of course, that’s the sport, you have to ride from

The United States jumped up to second place in the medal count at the world mountain-bike championships Saturday night on the successes of Americans Brian Lopes and Jill Kintner, both of whom swept every round of their respective four-cross heats on the way to a pair of gold medals. The rainbow jerseys awarded in Livigno, Italy, were the first and second for the U.S. over the past four days of racing, with Tara Llanes’s bronze in the four-cross the nation’s only other medal thus far. With elite cross-country racing remaining on Sunday, France leads the nation rankings with seven

Say what you will about the kind of lunatics who ride their bikes nearly non-stop from noon to noon. And gripe all you want about the 24 Hours of Adrenaline Solo World Championships lacking an official rainbow-striped blessing from the UCI. For the 150-plus riders vying for glory in Whistler, British Columbia, this is their world and their world’s. Most racers awakened to the sound of rain on Saturday. Fingers crossed in hope when the rain subsided by 8 a.m., but that hope was short-lived. By the noon start all riders had at least donned rain jackets, and many had mounted fenders. After the

There’s a name on the international cross-country circuit that race fans will to want to familiarize themselves with. Only 19 years old, Swiss rider Nino Schurter spent 2005 as the reigning world junior world XC champion and was unquestionably the strongest man in the world under-23 cross-country championship Friday in Livingo, Italy. Unfortunately, the best man didn’t win in Livingo. Schurter took off from the start of the 3.5-lap, 43km contest, opening a gap of two minutes and riding comfortably in control of the race. But after losing tire pressure - first in his front tire, and then

Only 18 years old, Czech rider Tereza Hurikova has already begun to amass quite an impressive collection of UCI rainbow jerseys. The winner of the world junior time-trial championship in Verona last September, Hurikova added another rainbow jersey to her wardrobe Thursday by winning the world junior women’s cross-country championship in style, leading the race from beginning to end. Considering that Hurikova also led the junior XC race at world’s last year in Les Gets, France, before puncturing on the final descent, it’s clear the cycling world is looking at a rider with a very bright

The half-dozen favorites for Sunday’s elite men’s world cross-country championship had best take notice: Spain’s Jose Antonio Hermida has come to Italy to take home the rainbow jersey. Indeed, the Spaniard earned rainbow jerseys of a sort for himself and his three relay teammates on Wednesday in Livigno, erasing a gap of nearly four four minutes as the team’s anchor man to cross the line alone, 19 seconds ahead of the home team’s elite woman, Joahnnes Schweiggl. France finished third, 30 seconds back. A world-championship staple since 1999, the team relay consists of four racers from the

Deep in the Alps of northern Italy, the village of Livigno is draped in orange. Orange ribbons hang from businesses and residences, orange posters adorn shop windows — a local bike shop’s employees have even dyed their hair orange. The chosen color of the 2005 UCI mountain-bike world championships will be visible everywhere in Livigno from the team relay on Wednesday through the elite men’s cross-country on Sunday. A small village of just 5000 residents situated between Milan, Munich and Zürich, Livigno has enthusiastically embraced the world championships it was awarded back in 2002. The

In a fitting bit of things coming full circle, Adam Craig (Giant), winner of the rain-soaked opening race of the 2005 NORBA cross-country series way back in March, closed out the series with a similarly damp victory in the Mt. Snow pro men’s short track, the final event of the season-long competition. And just as he did back in Texas almost seven months ago, Craig raced most of the day in Vermont with Geoff Kabush (Maxxis), the year’s most prolific winner on the cross-country circuit. Craig and Kabush made the decisive break in the short track, getting away on the fourth lap with Carl Decker

In the last NORBA series race of her illustrious career, 2001 World Champion Alison Dunlap (Luna) pulled the best result of her 2005 season, winning the Mt. Snow cross country in non-Vermonty hot, dry, and dusty conditions. While Dunlap’s win marked a highpoint for her year, Geoff Kabush’s victory in the pro men’s race marked business as usual for the Team Maxxis leader. Kabush swept to his fifth NORBA win of the year and cemented the overall series title, while Dunlap’s Luna teammate Shonny Vanlandingham took second in the race and the overall title. Last year’s Mt Snow winner, Willow

The short track cross-country closed out the XC program Sunday afternoon at the NORBA National Series event Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia, with Seamus McGrath (Haro) and Katerina Hanusova (Luna) netting the wins. With Hanusova leading the series over Sue Haywood (Trek-VW) coming into the Snowshoe round of the NORBA series, the Czech rider never strayed far from the front on a course well-suited to her powerful style. Her solo move just six laps into the race drew out Dara Marks-Marino (Ford-Specialized) and Haywood to form a three strong group at the front, while Hanusova’s Luna teammate

The seventh round of the 2005 Shimano NORBA National Mountain Bike Series is under way at Snowshoe Mountain Resort in central West Virginia, where Australian gravity riders Mick Hannah and Katrina Miller rode to wins in the mountain cross and Chris Eatough (Ellicott City, Maryland) and Monique Sawicki (Calimesa, California) officially closed out the ’05 marathon season with overall NORBA National Series titles. On Friday, Brian Schmith (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) came within a whisker of his first pro NORBA national win after taking an early lead in the final heat ahead of the top-seeded

NORBA cross-country racing continued Saturday at the seventh round of the series at Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia. Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) repeated his 2004 win here to take over the series lead from Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Gary Fisher-Subaru), who withdrew following a severe crash on the first of three laps. In the women’s race, Luna’s Shonny Vanlandingham continued her tear through the series by taking her fourth cross-country victory of the year. Horgan-Kobelski crashed just minutes into the men’s race while negotiating the slippery, root-strewn bottom half of the course, ending his

Blakeslee, Pennsylvania – August 14, 2005 – Mountain bike racing’snew guard, Michael Prokop of the Czech Republic and Jill Kintner of Seattle,Wash., placed an exclamation point on their amazing racing seasons by earningthe title of World Professional Champion at today’s grand finale of theJeep King of the Mountain 2005 Professional Mountain Biking World Championshipsin the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. The pair, who have sat at or near the top of the world rankings allyear, maintained top form throughout the entire series, each winning twoof the three competitions and never finishing

At the fourth NORBA National Mountain Bike Series stop in Sandpoint, Idaho, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski predicted that he and fiancée Heather Irmiger would eventually stand atop a NORBA podium together. Both had scored podium finishes this season, and simultaneous wins didn’t seem out of the realm of possibility. But The Subaru-Gary Fisher rider didn’t know that he’d only have to wait three weeks for his forecast to become reality. Horgan-Kobelski and Irmiger both held onto early leads over the 26-mile cross-country course to win their respective cross-country races on Saturday as the NORBA

Baggy shorts, mountain-cross helmets and downhill goggles were the garb of choice for some at the pro men’s short track on Sunday at the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series. Following the lead of downhill winner Jared Graves (Yeti), a score of the NORBA circuit’s most talented gravity racers entered the pro men’s short track at Brian Head Resort, Utah, racing for little more than first-lap bragging rights. And the fastest man – for one lap, anyway - was South African downhiller Andrew Neethling (Honda-Turner), who blew by everyone to “win” the first lap with flat pedals and sneakers. “I

Sitting a stone’s throw away from the beautiful Cedar Breaks National Monument in the heart of Utah’s canyon country, Brian Head Resort plays host to the sixth NORBA national mountain-bike race of the season this weekend. The racing will once again include the full spectrum of events, with athletes competing in cross-country, short-track, marathon, downhill, Super-D and - for only the second time this season - dual slalom. Although Brian Head has hosted a handful of smaller mountain-bike races, this is the resort’s first NORBA national. To showcase the area’s stunning terrain and beautiful

To the throngs of cycling fans who spent July glued to the tube during OLN’s coverage of the Tour de France, I offer a warm, “Welcome back.” As usual, the Tour provided us with three weeks of drama, emotion and hoopla. But, my friends, it’s time to start caring about mountain-bike racing again. While we struggled to decipher Phil Liggett’s arcane cycling commentary along the road from Fromentine to Paris, a battle royal was unfolding back home as two national cross-country champions – American Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and Canadian Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) – fought for the

A weekend sweep, two first time winners, and another tough day for mountain cross, highlighted a full slate of racing at the Snowmass NORBA on Sunday in central Colorado. Canadian Geoff Kabush made it 2-for-2 in Snowmass, taking a convincing short track victory a day after winning the cross-country by more than a minute. Kabush (Maxxis) is now the series leader in both disciplines, and is well on his way to duplicating his two-title effort of a year ago. In the women’s STXC race, Dara Mark-Marino finally broke through with her first NORBA win. The former third-grade teacher has been

Standing under an overhanging roof 40 minutes after the completion of the men’s cross-country at the NORBA national stop in Snowmass on Saturday, Geoff Kabush couldn’t help but feel a little lucky. Not only had he just grabbed a come-from-behind victory on the steep slopes of this Colorado ski resort, but he’d done so just minutes before a wicked summer squall rolled across the valley, dumping so much rain that the mountain cross had to be postponed until Sunday. “It would have sucked to be out in this,” said Kabush, turning a leery eye towards the hard-falling rain that according to race

After four races spread out over three and a half months, the battle for the men’s overall cross-country title on the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series couldn’t be any closer. Coming off last weekend’s event at Schweitzer Mountain Resort, Idaho, American Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and Canadian Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) are dead even with 642 points apiece. That will make Saturday’s men’s cross-country event at stop No. 5 in Snowmass, Colorado, the featured event on a day that will also include the women’s cross-country, plus a full slate of evening mountain-cross action. The

Before the NORBA National short-track contest at Idaho’s Schweitzer Mountain Resort on Sunday, Susan Haywood and Trek-VW team manager Jon Posner discussed race tactics based on conservative riding and proper pacing. “We talked about making the front group and then attacking with maybe three laps to go,” said Posner. So naturally, at the gun, Haywood tosses the playbook and leads the 33-woman field around the relatively flat, half-mile course, snagging the race’s only prime - $50 offered up by announcer Larry Longo – and quickly gapping the field. Haywood’s solo effort gave her a

The trouble with mountain-bike racing is that it often takes place in the mountains, where the weather can be, shall we say, less than hospitable. Just ask the 800 or so racers at the NORBA NCS race at Idaho’s Schweitzer Mountain resort, who awakened Saturday to face mucky courses and a start-finish area that was in a complete shambles, thanks to a late-night hailstorm driven by 60-mph winds. Still, the show must go on, and after a Le Mans-style running start, Super-D racers were plummeting from the Schweitzer ski village to the town of Sandpoint, nine miles below. Jennifer Whalen (WTB)

As the Tour de France soars high into the Pyrénées this weekend, an equally exciting high-country battle will be fought in northern Idaho as the NORBA National mountain-bike series returns to the Schweitzer Mountain resort. The Schweitzer stop is the first this season to feature all six NORBA disciplines: marathon, cross-country, short track, downhill, super-descent and mountain cross. It’s the NORBA series’ third consecutive visit to the resort, and race organizers have spent the past two weeks cutting new single-track, roping off the marathon course and building the four-cross track. They

Dry, dusty winds and a rocky, technical cross-country course, coupled with the formidable altitude of New Mexico's Angel Fire Resort couldn’t derail the efforts of Swiss Christoph Sauser (Siemens-Cannondale) and Norway’s Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan-Merida) to repeat their titles as overall World Cup cross-country champions as they won the first World Cup cross-country race on American soil in three years on Sunday. “It was a very hard race, I had a hard time breathing at some points. Lots of suffering,” said Dahle. “I was still very tired from the Brazil race.” Despite her fatigue, Dahle

The scene during the men’s World Cup downhill finals at Angel Fire, New Mexico, was vaguely reminiscent of the men’s finals at the Deer Valley NORBA on June 19. Having set the early fastest split, Aussie strongman Chris Kovarik (Intense) sat in the hot seat with only two riders left on course – 2003 world champion Greg Minnaar (G-Cross Honda) and 2005 downhill revelation Jared Graves (Yeti). Before Minaar and Graves finished, Kovarik was not optimistic about his chances. “Obviously I hope I can win it, but Greg is so fast right now,” he said. At Deer Valley, Minnaar dethroned Kovarik and

The Taos Valley, a picturesque network of canyons and grassy plains in northern New Mexico, has attracted its share of tourists over the centuries. By the time the first Europeans dropped by in 1540, under the command of Spanish conquistador Hernando de Alvarado, the area was already a bustling center of commerce and culture. But in the small realm of elite mountain-bike racing, northern New Mexico has a less impressive résumé. Although the tiny town of Angel Fire (population 1007) has seen several Mountain States Cup races over the years, it has never even hosted a NORBA National. But all

The crew from Kona dominated the downhill at Mont-Sainte-Anne Sunday, with Tracy Moseley winning the fourth round of the World Cup for the women and Fabien Barel the men's for the Kona Les Gets Team. Competitors were nearly universal in their praise for the course. The reason for their positive comments was simple – it was a long course. "Real mountain biking" was often mentioned. The return of the start at the top of the mountain after three years was clearly a crowd-pleaser. WomenThe favorite going into this round of the World Cup was the series points leader Sabrina Jonnier of

There was quite a contrast on the final day of festivities at the Crested Butte Fat Tire Bike Week on Sunday afternoon. While a mix of amateur and pro downhillers competed in the final event of the fifth annual Wildflower Rush up on the tacky slopes of Mount Crested Butte, a band of 63 riders were contesting the final hours of the first annual Bridges of the Butte 24 Hour Townie Tour. The downhill event was preceded by a Super D race held on a cloudy morning here in the cradle of the Elk Mountains. Rain rolled through on and off, delaying the downhill several times, and delaying final

Going into the Mont-Ste-Anne round of the UCI World Cup mountain-bike series, the weather in Québec has gone through a substantial change. Friday morning's rain proved to be the leading edge of hot, hot air that has been hanging around the Great Lakes, and Saturday’s high temperature is expected to reach 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 Fahrenheit), with the humidity making it feel even warmer. Even at 9 a.m. Saturday the conditions were hot and sticky. With the heat in mind, the officials have decided the number of laps: six for pro men and five for pro women, plus a start loop for each. Most

It was easy to track where Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) was on the cross-country course at the Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup - just follow the thunderous applause from the partisan crowd. People came streaming out of the woods in droves, trying to get a spot along the finish chute to welcome Premont to the winner's circle, after she dropped World Cup leader Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) late in the fourth lap to take the lead. Wearing her traditional ear-to-ear smile, Premont came across the line with arms in the air. She then stopped and lifted her bike in the

With the festival portion of the Crested Butte’s Fat Tire Bike Week winding down, attention turned to racing up at the ski area on Saturday. On the day’s slate was the Wildflower Rush cross-country, stop No. 5 in the Mountain States Cup. Competition commenced on an 8-mile loop that cut a figure eight across the front side of Crested Butte Mountain Resort. The bad news was that with the race starting at 9375 feet, any climb was painful. The good news was that nearly all the descents were on the windy single-track for which this mountain-biking Mecca is famous. In the pro races the women’s

Christoph Sauser (Siemens Cannondale) solidified his lead atop the men's cross-country World Cup standings with a strong ride in the fifth round Saturday in Mont-Ste-Anne, Québec. In the women's race, the field shredded early on, with Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) and Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) swapping the lead back and forth. But the men's race became a two-man team time trial, with Sauser and teammate Fredrik Kessiakoff of Sweden building a strong lead together until Sauser pulled away on the large climb on the final lap. Sauser, the World Cup

While there’s plenty of debate about the true origins of mountain biking, Crested Butte can stake a solid claim to one piece of fat tire history. For a quarter century now this Colorado mountain town nestled in the heart of the Rockies has hosted one of the sport’s best — and longest running — festivals. This year’s incarnation, dubbed the 25th Anniversary of Fat Tire Bike Week, kicked off in earnest on Thursday with the infamous Chainless Race. Competitors aboard every thing from legitimate 21st-century mountain bikes to Sixties-era clunkers convened on the top of Kebler Pass, then made

Deer Valley, Utah –The final day of competition at the 2005 NORBA No. 3 came to a close Sunday, with both the cross-country and gravity events finishing in dramatic fashion. After riding away from a stacked men’s field in Saturday’s cross-country race, Kiwi Kashi Leuchs (Bianchi-Agos) looked prepared to defend his slim lead in GC over reigning American champion Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) But as the racers left the gate and started spinning around the twisty .5-mile long course, Leuchs, more accustomed to the longer European races, was blown off the back. American Olympian

Deer Valley –The 2005 NORBA No. 3 cross-country course crisscrossing Utah’s Deer Valley ski resort cuts a seemingly uncountable number of switchbacks into the hill as it skates 8.2-miles from start to finish. The trail is predominantly rolling single-track cut through brushy aspen groves. Unlike the muddy NORBA No. 1 course in Boerne, Texas, the Deer Valley course is dusty, non-technical and very fast. That equation proved extremely beneficial for Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna), who rode away with the win, finishing over two minutes ahead of second-place Heather Irmiger (Tokyo Joes-Go Lite).

It’s the eve of the third 2005 NORBA national mountain-bike race at Deer Valley, Utah, but it feels like the first race of the year. Cross-country pros shake hands and hug like they haven’t seen each other in months. Gravity racers roll out brand-new unscratched machines for their first taste of mud and rocks. Excitement is in the air – no one is sure who will have the biggest performance of the weekend. The antsy attitudes and uncertainty are well warranted for both cross-country riders and gravity racers. Although it’s mid-June, this is the first national gravity race of the season. Last

In just his second year as a professional rider, Cody Warren (Haro) grabbed his first NORBA National victory by winning Friday’s dual slalom, beating Kiwi John Kirkcaldie (Maxxis) by less than half a second. With his mother and girlfriend in attendance, Warren rode almost a completely flawless five rounds on a turn-filled, gravelly slalom course described by guest announcer John Tomac as “very old school.” The label was repeated throughout the day, as the course featured a mellower incline, fewer berm turns and closer gates than most modern dual-slalom courses. “It reminds me of something

More than 3000 spectators came out in sweltering heat and humidity of Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, to watch Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) of nearby Chateau Richer, and Victoria's Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) win the2005 Canadian National Mountain Bike titles on Sunday against some of thestrongest fields ever assembled for a national championships. In past years, the national championships have often been missing key Canadian stars. Usually, it is because they have been pre-selected for international events (including last year’s Olympics), and the program they have put

Unfortunately, the Willingen World Cup weekend ended on a sour note when the men refused to race the 4-Cross, and only 8 women did – doing so under duress. Anneke Beerten (Specialized) was the winner, but all riders on the podium turned their backs to the cameras. The downhill, on the other hand, was a complete success. Anne-Caroline Chausson (COX) made her return to World Cup competition after recovering from a broken shoulder at the World Championships last fall, with a convincing win, while Greg Minnaar (Honda) took the leader's jersey in the men's category with his victory.

Round four of the cross-country World Cup takes place tomorrow in Willingen, Germany, followed on Sunday by the second stop on the downhill/4-cross circuit. Willingen is a new host to the World Cup; however, the ski village at the foot of the Ettelsberg is home to the BIKE-Festival, now in its eighth year. The festival attracts some 3000 participants for the marathon event, and boasts that it is one of Europe's biggest bike expos. So far, reviews of the courses have been mixed. The downhill and 4-cross runs are drawing rave reviews for their big-air jumps, although there is a concern

Gunn-Rita Dahle wasn't about to lose again. After all, the reigning mountain-bike queen hadn´t lost a World Cup since 2002 until Canadian phenom Marie-Helene Premont ended the streak two weeks ago in Spa. The Norwegian blasted away on the first of five laps and Premont simply didn´t have the legs to follow under a hot Iberian sun on a fast, dusty course in Madrid´s Casa de Campo in front a rowdy, cheering crowd. "I'm a sore loser," Dahle said after crossing the line with bike in hand. "After Spa, I really wanted to win again and I really like this course, so I came here extra

It’s not that Julien Absalon and Jose Antonio Hermida don’t like each other. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, they are very good friends. But come crunch time in a big mountain-bike race, there’s no room for feel-good hugs when the victory is prime for the picking. So, with less than one lap to go in the seven-lap battle of attrition in Madrid’s balmy Casa de Campo, the knives came out. “It was like a war out there without borders,” Hermida said after finishing second again to his French nemesis. “Everyone was attacking each other and it was really vicious there in the end, but that’s the

As top road racers were taking on the ProTour’s edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, just down the road, the mountain bike World Cup season opened at the Formula One circuit in Spa Francochamps, Belgium. The rain that had been threatening all Saturday night was replaced by bright sunshine, and under that blue sky, Canada’s Marie-Hélène Prémont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) and Frenchman Julien Absalon (Bianchi-Agos) became the first in the 2005 season to don the blue leader's jerseys for the World Cup. The organizers made some modifications overnight to the 6.1-kilometer course,

The cross-country mountain bike World Cup season begins Sunday at the Spa Francochamps Formula One circuit. Spa, 30 minutes south of Liège , is a new stop for the World Cup, and the event is scheduled head to head against the road classic Liège -Bastogne-Liège. The 6.1km circuit is still muddy after a week of near-perfect conditions, so tomorrow's predicted rain is likely to turn it into a treacherous mess. The race begins on the paved race circuit, with the riders immediately heading up a steep climb. At the top they head off-road, into a steep, rooty drop-off, and then begin a

Consistency has never been a problem for Australian gravity racer Jared Graves, but until Sunday morning the Yeti-sponsored rider was lacking the standout win to add to the national titles and string of downhill podiums he has accumulated the past few seasons. On Sunday Graves edged out British downhill star Steve Peat (Team Orange) and world champion Fabian Barel (Kona-Les Gets) to take the downhill race at the Sea Otter Classic. Barel’s Kona-Les Gets teammate, three-time British downhill champion Tracy Moseley, won the women’s downhill race. Power, pacing and the right choice of gear were

On Saturday, Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) followed up his pre-race promise to ignite a mid-race afterburner by flaming out feet from the finish line of the short track. Sunday, few thought the 28-year old Canadian would be brash enough to make a another pre-race promise, but before the 36-mile long cross country, Kabush announced that he had a similar battle plan. “I’ve come in third and second this week. I’m going to take risks and either win it or go down trying,” said Kabush, who decided to run an unconventionally skinny pair of tires, weighing only110 grams, on the course. “It’s a risk, but

After an ambitious off-season spent training and racing down under in the Australian summer, Aussie Trent Lowe (Subaru-Gary Fisher) entered the 2005 season expecting early victories. After a slew of podium finishes and near-wins at the two opening NORBA nationals, Lowe finally snagged his first win of the season at Saturday’s Sea Otter Classic short track. “This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole year. I came over here in really good form and I came so close to Geoff (Kabush) so many times,” he said. “I think this is showing that my form is starting to come back. The work of the summer

Chains rarely left the big ring during the 2005 Sea Otter Classic’s off-road time trial on Friday as riders powered through the short, technical course around Laguna Seca Speedway. Friday’s course was trimmed to two miles from last year’s six to keep the general classification closer going into Saturday’s short-track cross country, said Jeff Frost, part of the management team that runs the NORBA schedule. “We wanted a tighter, faster course this year,” he said. “Last year the time gaps were a little too big on the course, which went all over the place.” Last year’s course spun riders out

Former Olympic and world champion Bart Brentjens isn’t showing any signs of slowing down after soloing to victory in the men’s Super Cross-Country to open the 2005 Sea Otter Classic. At 36, the Dutchman is more than fifteen years older than some of his competitors, including 20-year old Trent Lowe of Subaru/Gary Fisher, who was in the lead group that tried in vain to chase Brentjens down for three of the race’s six laps. The five-mile laps were divided evenly between dirt and pavement, with a tough climb up asphalt to the top of the famed “corkscrew” of the Laguna Seca raceway. At the top,

The second stage of The Cape Epic from Saasveld to Herbertsdale was by far the longest and toughest of the Epic ride. 144.6 grueling kilometers with a total ascent of 2720 meters drained everyone, even the pros. Due to the length of the stage the leading Men teams decided not to ride attacks today – in contrast to the leading women who did the exact opposite.Hannele Steyn-Kotze (RSA) of team Fiat/ Bianchi/ adidas 2 loves the heat. And she loves hills. So today’s weather condition and route were the perfect match for the multiple SA MTB champion, who pushed her team partner Zoe Frost (RSA) to