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Written by Adam Craig
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Monday, 03 October 2005 |
 Somehow it's October already. I guess that means the Mountain Bike season proper is over with for the winter. Seems very strange, it all happened pretty fast this year, being all action packed and such. Here's a brief synopsis of how things wrapped for us over here at "Adam and Carl's fun Giant team" (with Frank and Tom keeping things running and Rando and Tara providing entertainment).
Mountain Bike Nationals- Mammoth, CA
I'll preface this by saying flying home from a world cup in europe and having to race for the National five days later is not sweet. (driving home after a couple days of fun racing, and then a couple days of fun dirt bike riding, with your dirt bike strapped to the roof of your ford escort, is quite sweet) On that note, the racing at mammoth was solid, once we got our groove on.
The cross country was a bit of a struggle. I was racing on the good ole' NRS for the last time, so I figured the call was to charge the first lap descent and come through leading (mostly because I was riding like a hooligan) after the first lap. After that the reality of my weakened body set in pretty solidly and I rode around pretty slow in second through fourth place, wondering how Carl was doing and eventually finishing third. Pretty disappointing considering I was close to finishing that place at both Worlds and World Cup finals, also pretty amusing what 8500 feet and jet lag can do to good form. Carl, on the other hand, simply rode steadily and conservatively, not wanting to crack himself for the rest of the weekend, we had a short track to win afterall, and ended up seventh on the day.
Saturday was alternative (but quickly becoming mainstream) race day for us with Super D for me and Singlespeed for Carl. We both had titles to defend from last year so the pressure was on, or as much as it can ever be on for the two of us, which is not at all... Carl fired off the singlespeed race at 9am wearing full fall riding attire, legs, longsleeve skinnie and vest. He pushed his "I always come to the table with one tooth above two to one" 32-15 up the main climb on the first lap and settled in with Travis Brown and Barry Wicks for some tomfoolery and coasting. Turns out carl's big gear required less coasting than the competition and he was soon alone, turning lap times that would have put him in the top ten in the Pro XC, including his last lap, which was only a minute off Jeremy H-K's winning XC lap time. Those singlespeeds sure are fast... Title #1 Defended.
Super D was a damn good time, that's all I've got to say. Taking my custom red/white/blue painted Reign (which happens to be a mind bogglingly good bike) and railing it down some proper, top to bottom, descent trails was just what the doctor ordered. This infectious enthusiasm almost was my undoing though. Starting high atop mammoth mountain with a mile of the Kamakazie fire road ahead of me and the legend of John Tomac fifteen seconds behind me I sprinted over the horizon line and charged into the first turn with WAAAAAY too much speed, totally blowing it and heading off onto the surface of the moon with much conviction. After some horrifying jumping over huge rain ruts and rocks, I stopped my machine and got it pointed back to the race line just as Tomac was coming into view. I slid on in front of him and hung it out the rest of the way to keep him at bay, it was an honor, and a bit terrifying... After that incident I figured I! could hang it out and nothing that terrifying would happen so that's just what I did. Getting away with murder turn after blown out sandy turn is an amazingly good time that tends to compound itself as you get lower and lower on the hill. I was pretty fired up by the time I got onto the XC course and had some famailir jumps to hit before he sprint to the line. Turns out fun and scary is also fast, I came in at twenty minutes in change, a minute or so ahead of my main concern on the day, Mike West. Title #2 Defended and Morale back up to proper levels. 250 people contested the super-D and were fired up on it. I recieved more congradulations for my ride down the hill than I have for pretty much anything else I've ever accomplished, good to see.
Sunday was operation win the short track. Decker and I had figured that since we were on the podium together at the last couple NORBA short tracks we should be able to play it smart and safe with only Americans around and win the thing. We just needed a plan. That plan was to pretty much have one of us cover any attacks and the other sit on and ensure a set of fresh legs for the finishing kick. We'd probably end up improvising a bit too. The plan was immediately on the ropes when carl got balled up in the first turn and finished lap one off the back of the lead group. I controlled things till he got back on and the group whittled down to five or six, including Ross Schnell and Alan Obye, it was good to see those guys up there. JHK flatted out soon after, which gapped Carl and I off each other and the suddenly leading Todd Wells. I bridged back to Todd and proceeded to sit on and wait for carl to catch up. Despite his! best efforts and my attempts to slow things down, he never got on. I was able to sit on todd until the last climb up the fourcross course where I pinned it and got around todd. I knew if I got around there I could hold it to the finish. Title #3 created, now we've gotta defend it next year. Carl held on for third.
Pretty solid weekend of nationals for us, good times and race wins are always the best way to cap off the season.
Next up was a trip to Interbike in Las Vegas to attend the Anthem press launch, sign some posters and make the rounds thanking all those who supported us this year and will support us next year. The Anthem, our new XC race bike that I've been working on developing since Sea Otter, was amazingly well recieved by all who checked it out. This is because the thing is frickin' amazing. It's just what we made it, steep, short stays, low and light. It's a razor's edge race bike, just like it should be. I'm fired up to start racing on one, maybe at Iceman, the November Michigan classic. After the launch we did some good riding at dirt demo, then spent two days inside the show making the rounds. Evenings were fun too, taking in some Vegas culture, and, the highlight for me, thursday evening's Maverick Pool Party. Giant needs to start renting houses with pools and having partys at interbike!
Decker flew straight to Seattle from Vegas (I flew home to have another week off and go to a Blackalicious concert) to defend his Star Crossed title. Star Crossed, if you're not familiar with the event, has become the official 'Cross season kickoff. Contested under the lights at the Marymoor Velodrome on a serpentine grass course centered around the beer garden, it's a thouroughly good time. The seattle crowd turns out in hordes and it's a true party atmosphere. Carl likes to keep the masses on their toes with his come from behind shenanigans (last year he passed Todd Wells on the velodrome banking on the last lap to take the cake). He figured he'd let the uber early race agressor, Barry Wicks, take the show for a while before he closed down the thirty second gap with three to go and dropped our fellow Oregonian for his second victory in two years.
The fall should be a good one for us. Some good USGP series 'cross racing, a trip to Cape Town, South Africa for me to contest the Red Bull Cape Town Man adventure relay and do some kayaking on the Zambezi river, a bunch of dirt bike/supermotard riding now that Steve White over at Michelin helped us get some motard tires, a bunch of boating for me on both coasts as I've just secured a new creek boat for my month and a half in new england after haloween for 'cross racing and general new england fall appreciation. It's definately going to be solid.
Thanks to everyone who's not only made this season a possibility, but a success. We're looking forward to doing it next year.
Giant Bicycles
Michelin, Easton, Shimano, Lazer Helmets, Fox Racing Shox, Verge Sport
ODI, Scary Fast, Cytomax, Smith Optics, Lights in Motion, Red Bull, Stan's NoTubes, THULE
Adam Craig |
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