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Deer Valley NMBS #5 |
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Written by Adam Craig
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Tuesday, 19 June 2007 |
Here’s a quick synopsis of how to go from finally riding strong to being a groveling, sniffling weakling in three short days. Step 1: Race fast enough at a world cup to actually make yourself tired. Step 2: Sleep six hours, then travel 30 hours to get home. Step 3: Get two poor nights of jet-lagged sleep. Step 4: Get tipped off that the high country singletrack is open, then take the singlespeed out on a nice five-hour ride in the hills, have a really good time. Step 5: As if you’ve never trained before and know nothing, stay dehydrated for the rest of the day while trying to catch up on things around the house. Viola, you’ve got a cold. And feel terrible. Shocking.
To preserve these terrible feelings, fly to Deer Valley at 7500 feet, your body will be so embattled with sickness and acclimatization that you’ll be sure to stay guttered for a goodly while. Amazing, that after eight years as a professional, I’m still making these kinds of rookie moves… Good thing we’re a group of professionals here on the Giant Mountain Bike Team. Everyone else can hold it down for Emmett (who has a fractured humerous, making her the toughest chick I know, and making her sit out for at least a weekend…) and myself while we grovel…
And hold it down they did. Of our three active racers, DH’ers Amiel Cavalier and Jared Rando, plus a very skinny and fit Carl Decker, there were no less than eight podium finishes over the weekend. In fact, none of the boys finished off the box all weekend.
Amiel got the party started in grand style with a (not really) surprising win in the mostly downhill Super D on Friday night. He made quite the entrance to the finish straight, hucking to flat big enough to flatten both his tires, and one of his rims (Tom is going to make him build a new wheel) before sprinting to the line with the telltale, and classy, pssssst, from both wheels. Awesome. Decker got schooled by some other DH boys but still held on for 5th and the series lead….
Next up was the XC, where we would find out two very important things. First, Carl is skinny, fit, and rested. Therefore, he’s fast. Second, I’m sick and tired. Not fast, dropped out after one lap, something I haven’t done in years, and don’t condone, but was definitely the right thing to do in the name of getting rested up for the World Cup showdown in Quebexico the next two weekends. Carl is really in shape though, after politely asking me to get out of the way he rode solidly through the field to finish fourth, his best XC result in quite some time. Well played. Carl retired to the condo to cook steak and sweet potatoes and I flew home to lick my wounds, and rub mucous on them…
Gravity boys had a strong showing in the Dual Slalom, taking the fourth and fifth spots for Rando and Sammish, respectively. I kind of wanted to go watch them roost some turns and try to learn a thing or two but couldn’t muster the strength to get up the hill…
Sunday is DH and STXC day at NMBS, and the last day for the boys to keep the streak alive. Which they did by the skin of their teeth. First off, Carl was the aggressor in the chase group for the Short Track, a sure-fire way to get pipped on the last lap and end up last in the group, which was still 5th, strong. DH’ers had solid runs with no flats or breaking stuff, thanks to some shiny new ’08 Shmano XT parts keeping their bikes slim and nimble, specifically the Shadow rear deraiuler. Same result as the slalom, the elder Rando 4th and the youngster 5th.
Although mountain biking is an individual sport, sometimes it’s good to remember the team aspect, between watching tv and making dinner or just sitting around working on our respective aussie or mainah accents, it’s good to have a good crew to cruise around with, even better when they pick up the slack for the slackers… |
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