2010 MTB Nationals update from Adam Craig
I’m never racing a LeMans start, dusty singletrack Super D again. Or at least until I can run properly, which will be never. Other than that Nationals went pretty darn well for the Giant Team.
Putting the finishing touches on the warmup during call-up… Cool Arctic Heat Ice vest, eh?
Carl and I got bikes set up and rolled out to check on the XC course Friday morning as usual. After picking us up at the airport in Denver, Kelli had given a less than glowing review of the track so we were curious to see what was in store. Turns out it was better than nothing. Sol Vista is a bike park catering to the gravity set with a few XC trails off the backside. Unfortunately, a Pro XC Olympic course is supposed to be pretty short, around 20 minutes per lap. So, they machine cut in some false flat climbs a few weeks before the race around the base area, stuck some jumps in a wooded descent, ran us up the old climb (which was perfect) then back down next to a work road and to the finish. Not especially inspiring to ride and definitely a great course for the Anthem X full-suspension. That said, it was still a bike race and the best rider would still win. That rider was Todd Wells. Despite some mechanical issues with a brand-new bike he rode convincingly away from 2009 champ JHK over the course of six laps to win his first proper Cross Country National title. I know this because most of the course was out in the open and I got to watch it play out while riding around in 4th place. I could also keep tabs on Ryan Trebron, who was exactly 42 seconds ahead of me for the first four laps. I knew that if his aggressive, out of the saddle riding style hadn't tired him out by then it wouldn't so I turned my focus behind me where Carl had been riding in a group of three earlier in the race. He was no longer there, replaced by fellow Northwesterner Spencer Paxson, who was dangling in seventh behind Bishop and Jay Henry. Turns out Jay was actually another guy in a Tokyo Joe's kit, pro roadie Peter Stetina. Stetina would take the battle for the final podium spot and I would keep a comfortable gap over them while not spending too much energy on the same position. Energy is a bit low these days and I've got two World Cups coming right up...
Sunday morning dawned cool and crisp, giving Carl, Ethan and I a pleasant climb to the top of Sol Vista for a pre-lift opening run on the Super D track. It was a pretty darn fun hacked out singletrack through the aspens for the first half, then a short traversing climb, then some rocky berms and ski-slope bombing to the finish. Pretty sweet Super D track for a ski hill with only 1000 feet of vertical. Good trail-riding fun. Unfortunately, we had to join 57 other dudes for our race down it, each running 150m or so to our bikes before all hell broke loose. Somebody undoubtedly got the holeshot with some hard-earned mosh-pit techniques but I certainly couldn't see them, or the 30 guys behind them. I could only see the 20 guys in front of me, the one immediately in front was last years Super D champ, Aaron Bradford. Oops. The guy in front of him was all fired up "On your left, COME ON!" "Let's GO!" until Aaron and I pointed out to him that we had nowhere to go, other than down one of the other trails. We stuck to the course though, riding slower than I would with my mom, for the next fifteen or so minutes of choking on dust. Super cool. Maybe a Time Trial format would be good? Or maybe I just suck at punching and should take up a new hobby, like knitting. Good thing Kelli had less competitors to deal with and took the win... It was at least worth her while to get up at 5. I suppose it was the beginning of me getting on "European Time"... yeah, super beneficial.
Fortunately, we had a few hours to watch videos on The Internet and sleep to get ready for the afternoon Short Track. I was really feeling the pressure to defend my title from last year and a serious percentage of the crowd was making sure I knew it. Pretty solid heckling going on out there. Unfortunately, I was called up first, which gave me the line off the start and I turned that into second place immediately. Not the way I start a winning short track. I need to be outside the top 10 at the very best to stand a chance at winning. Instead Todd Wells accelerated around leader Sam Schultz on lap two and was never seen again. I again rode around in fourth, feeling pretty good and keeping tabs on the Subaru/Trek duo ahead of me while making sure Carl stayed 5 seconds behind since we're on different teams now. Eventually one of the hecklers informed me that Sam was "BONKED" and I started to reel him in. Mostly on the downhill. On the final lap he rode the lemming line in the only corner and I nipped him with the old outside-inside trick, figuring that would sort him out. Instead of giving up he held on up the climb, forcing us to both ride at least as hard as we'll need to ride up the start climb in Champerey next weekend. So, thanks, Sam, for the good top-end workout, and third place... Carl got 5th. Good job, Carl.
Anyway, that's about it from Nationals, we finished off the Kozy Shack on the porch and watched the sunset before another 5am wakeup call for the drive to Denver Airport. Totally worth it as we'll be back in Bend at Noon and both have plenty of stuff to do. I'm working on buying a house with a "backyard" and "view" in between packing for Europe and lifting weights. Carl has some new Ohlins suspension for the Rally Car and an appointment at the tuning shop Tuesday in Portland to turn E85 Ethanol blend into enough power to be competitive at the X Games in two weeks.
Thanks for reading, we'll try to keep good news coming...
AC
