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Norba #4, Idaho |
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Written by Adam Craig
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Sunday, 17 July 2005 |
The NORBA at Schweitzer, Idaho the last couple of years has been a ninety degree dustfest. Nothing wrong with that, but I figured it would be the same and neglected (for the first time all year) to pack the longsleeve skinsuit, warm(er) gloves, a rainjacket, spare (dry) shoes, and all of the things you bring places like Colorado in the summer when you expect the weather to hit the proverbial fan. Well, it did, and it was good, and bad...
Friday night we had the pleasure of dismantling our obliterated team awning at midnight after biblical winds flipped it ov! er the top of the trailer like a popsicle stick house. Saturday dawned (at about 10am for Carl and I) with threatening skies and the promise of some substantial thunderstorms. It didn’t disappoint. Just as I was lying down for the pre-race nap all hell broke loose. Lightning, pea sized hail and torrential rain greeted poor Tom and Frank as they tried to keep our lone 10x10 replacement tent from blowing away. Definitely not going to be dusty anymore.
We undertook the three lap XC race at 3pm under grim skies, Geoff Kabush checked the radar and promised more abuse from above over the duration of our race. Carl lined up just behind me and we got a solid start, settling in at the front for the first five minute fireroad climb. I immediately noticed that I had the uncanny ability to shift into a harder gear and pedal faster whenever I liked. I immediately capitalized on this observation and drove the pace for the first ten minutes to string things out for the singletrack and went into the descent first so I could focus on making all the sweet jumps on the moist loamy singletrack flow together. This self-entertainment of ripping the downhills on the NRS and shifting into a harder gear whenever I was pedaling gave me about a thirty second lead at the end of lap one. Decker was riding damn strong in the fairly elite chase group at the end of lap one around fifth position. Lap two saw a hard charging Liam Killeen bridge up to me on the climb, we settled in together, me railing the singletrack and him setting climbing tempo, it was a good gig for a while. Then the sky opened for the third time that day and gave us a solid ten minutes of 40 degree rain, sweet. Things didn’t get muddy, but my body immediately reminded me that I’d been fight a cold for a good while and I would have to go ahead and ride about 30% slower for the rest of the race or risk dea! th. Liam pedaled smoothly away, along with a couple other guys and I limped home in fifth, happy to keep the NORBA XC podium streak alive. (I think it’s up to ten races now?) While the rain was coming down and he couldn’t see anything, Decker had a mild puncture and stopped at the tech zone to change his wheel, losing contact with the chase group, as well as valuable core temperature and associated strength. He would hang on for twelfth position on the day.
After a good hot shower and long cooldown on the trainer, and good local creek ice bath, I figured Sunday’s STXC would be a good time, or at least a time. The morning brought sunny skies over valley fog and a rapidly drying short course. The out and back course was mostly flat with two turns and a small rough hill, very spectator friendly, which works out well because there were a lot of them. Lap times hovered around a minute, meaning we did about twenty of them… Both of us got solid starts and a selection of about ten riders was made about three laps in and we were both in it. I was getting rolling while Deck tried a couple surges, which he would immediately pay for as the group split again down to six just after he had a go. I made the group and Carl settled into no mans land to finish 8th. The group was a good, yet frustrating place to be. The flat straight nature of the course made it impossible for any solo (my style) moves to stick, even though I made a couple solid efforts I always got reeled in. It was coming down to a drag race on the last lap so I decided to bide my time at the tail end of the lead group, minimizing accelerations and their associated ills (mostly labored breathing and burning legs). Unfortunately, the front three split off with two to go and I was stuck behind Shep and Trebron, so t! hat was that. I felt strong and got around them to finish fourth, just a couple seconds off the win.
Overall a solid weekend for Decker and I, form is still there for both of us and I’m sure we’ll put together some decent races in the coming weeks. We both have some random sponsor obligations early this week, then a day or two at home, then it’s off to Snowmass, CO for the next NORBA round, back to 8000 feet plus…. Yay
Adam Craig, Team Giant |
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