Rlx Polo Sport World Cup Mountain Bike Team Review

By Chris Firth

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THURSDAY…..
Th was a pretty laid back day unless y'all were racing expert slalom and downhill. Besides a long downhill do session, the Ams had their slalom qualifiers and finals inside hours of each other. Despite being on a workday the turnout looked stiff. I guess that mount bikers across the country were calling in sick with mystery influenza or something.

There wasn?t anything going on for the pros Th. Most of the downhillers walked the slalom and downhill courses. The downhill is probably the least technical we?ve seen here in years. Squad Big Bear continues to struggle with the Forest Service to proceeds access to any single track for their downhill runs. On the bottom of the course there'south a fast set of three doubles that's certain to be the spectators favorite section. The slalom course is hands the all-time we?ve always had here at Snow Summit. I?grand non sure who designed it merely it would be hard to believe that it was the same people who?ve done it in the by. There isn?t a directly on the track. Riders jump right out of the gate over a double so a series of tight berms. And so there are a couple of fairly large jumps, more than tight berms and the finish line table. It'due south a fitting farewell to the dual slalom-racing format at NORBA nationals.

I?ve been hanging out in the Intense pits for an article on what'south it really like to ride for a factory team at the nationals that should be in the September consequence along with more Large Bear coverage. Jeff Steber, the Intense staff and the squad accept been great. I?chiliad riding an M1 for the downhill and a Tazer for slalom. I spent a few hours getting the bikes dialed in and getting some tire advice from Derrin Stockton and Jeff Holt. I took the Tazer down to some trivial jumps by the venue to become a feel for the bike and I felt instantly at home on the bike. Ordinarily but the longer stroke M1s get a Progressive Fifth Chemical element stupor, but my bike was fitted with a new brusk stroke model. I?ll have more news for everyone tomorrow.

Fri….
Fri was the first day on the downhill grade for the pros. Information technology'southward actually a lot more fun than anyone originally idea. I ditched my clipless after the kickoff practice run because all of the open sections that looked similar they were going to be killer pedaling parts were actually downhill plenty to non make clips an accented necessity. With platforms I tin can really lean the bike into the upper berms and the tight rutty sections. They also arrive possible for make some final minute saves when you slide out in the slick-as-ice Large Behave dirt. There'south nothing to hard anywhere on the run. Almost every pro and semi-pro nailed the lesser jumps on their start practice run. Overclearing them at race speed is a much bigger issue than casing. I take a feeling that the course is going to get a bit blown out. The stutter bumps are already getting noticeable and the berms are getting pushed further dorsum every run.

Pro slalom qualifiers were today. This may be the fastest field we?ve seen at a NORBA race in a long time. Saturdays race is going to be amazing. Bootes was on burn. His leg speed seems perfectly suited for him to take the win. He concluded upwardly the peak seed. Kirt Voreis is back with a vengeance taking the second fastest spot. I?d say it's going to be a brutally tight race between the superlative six qualifying men (1.Wade Bootes, ii.Kirt Voreis, 3.Nathan Rennie, 4.Eric Carter, 5.Cedric Gracia, six.Brian Lopes).

Unfortunately I wasn?t able to encounter the finish of the men's cross-country because I was busy doing my best to authorize for the slalom (I ended up around 90th ,off the back with a kickoff run crash). From listening to the oversupply there were a couple finishes that came down to stop line sprints. Roland Greenish took the win fifty-fifty after his cleat came loose at the bottom of a hike-a-cycle section. Luckily he ?institute? a tool from some other rider so he could tighten it up (he did accept to take off his shoe). His cleat put him behind a couple of minutes but he charged back to the front end for the win. Ziranda Madrigal-Alvarez from Mexico had a spectacular second place finish. Expect to see a lot more from him this twelvemonth.

SATURDAY??.

(Ryder Hesjedal leading out the men's curt track)

It'southward been a day or two since the last 24-hour interval of racing at the Big Comport National, but additional photograph shoots and magazine deadlines tin can slow down the Internet editorial procedure (not to mention utter exhaustion from a calendar week of dominicus and racing at distance). Saturday features the fastest pace racing of the week with the pro short rail and dual slalom finals. World Champion Alison Dunlap took the women's brusk track win with Jimena Florit closely in tow. Susy Pryde from New Zealand hung upwards her skinny tired bike for a race to give the world of knobby tired racing a effort. She finished in third. I recall we could accept a mount bike convert hither.

(Roland Greenish sporting his World Champion jersey)

For the first half of the men'due south brusk track, the fizz was all nearly Roland Green. He lurked in the near the front end and pb for a bit. All of the photographers, crowd and riders were waiting for Roland to make his move for the lead, when he of a sudden pulled out. We?ll give him a break because he won the 90, but his DNF should take him out of the short rails championship chase. Ryder Hesjedal took advantage of Roland'due south absence to take the win from the hard charging pack. The biggest surprise of the day was Adrian Bonilla from Costa Rica who threw downwards an astonishing effort for a close second place finish. Information technology'south actually smashing to see a rider get then ecstatic over such a strong podium end. Anyone who can even end a pro short track is an astonishing racer. The pace these guys keep up is something every mountain bike enthusiast should run across.

(Wade Bootes keeping it low and fast in the dual)

The slalom class is one of the all-time e'er built for a NORBA race and definitely the best one at Big Bear. The tight berms and technical jumps made for tight, super fast racing. Lopes tripled upward the double-double in practice. That line put him around fifteen feet in the air, but he never hit it in the final rounds. Everyone in the round of eight looked similar they had the ability to take the win. Both Kovarik and Rennie were gaining time in the flat corners with their Australian, belatedly breaking, sliding styles. Lopes and Bootes had their typically ridiculous leg speed and ultra low jumping manner dialed for the one-24-hour interval National Championship. Kirt Voreis is dorsum! While he never really left, Kirt seemed to have constitute that something actress that information technology takes to win. His gate snaps were getting him a one-half of a bike length ahead, fifty-fifty confronting seasoned BMX vets like Bootes and Lopes.

(Wade Bootes vs. Kirt Voreis)

The National Championship was going to be betwixt Lopes and Voreis. It was all decided when Brian slid out in i of the top apartment corners, giving it to Kirt. Our new National Champion still had to face Wade Bootes in the final circular for Saturday'southward overall win. Kirt used his amazing gate snap to get an early atomic number 82 on Wade, and earned a minuscule advantage on the first run. Anybody in the crowd was on their toes trying to come across every foot of the grade for the winning round. Kirt had another great outset, merely Wade fought back coming up expressionless even with Voreis afterward the double-double. Unless you had a adept atomic number 82 on Bootes by the beginning of the flat finish turns, similar Voreis did in the start round, there's no 1 on the planet who was going to keep up with Wade'due south ridiculous leg speed. Bootes threw on the turbo, making upward the differential and taking the win by a thing of feet over Kirt Voreis. Wade may accept won the overall, but Kirt Voreis is yet NORBA's concluding dual slalom National Champion.

(Kirt Voreis riding his mode to a national championship)

Lord's day???

Pro qualifying for Dominicus's downhill had faster times than any of the riders had expected, despite the speedily deteriorating grade conditions. Berms were blowing out, the braking bumps were getting bigger and rocks were magically actualization where they weren?t in do. Chris Kovarik posted a 3:10 for the fastest qualifying time but there were a host of riders who looked like they could have the win (Gracia, Rennie, Rockwell, Kirkcaldie, Bailey, Hannah, etc.). Socal local, David Klassenvanoorschot, was flight and qualified 8th.

(MBA'southward Chris Firth works a berm on the top of the DH for all it's worth)

After pro qualifying the Semi-pros get to do their 1 run. I was riding the mill Intense M-1 that Jeff Steber had set me up with. My suspension was dialed, I had the perfect tires and felt neat on the bike. I wasn?t going to take any mechanical excuses here. I had a good solid run simply could have pedaled a fleck harder in the flats. I ran a 3:40.iv to finish 54th out of 98 riders. It's hard to get excited about a mid-pack finish, but the level of competition in my grade is vicious (everyone in the superlative 40 would had times that would have qualified them in pro). I did beat out my long time friend and rival, Ken Avery (Maxxis R&D guy), past seven seconds.

(AC had this department downward better than nigh of the men)

Watching the slower pro women in the bottom section that featured three high-speed doubles had to exist one of the scariest things I?ve seen in a long fourth dimension. If you take to roll those jumps you lot should really reconsider if you should be in the pro class. Almost every Skilful man had that section dialed. It just takes away from the prestige of the class to see Women riding like sport form racers. On the other end of the skill spectrum was Anne-Caroline Chausson. She predictably won by over six seconds with a 3:27.8. If yous haven?t seen Air-conditioning ride in person it's worth a long bulldoze. Whatever aspiring female racer should await to her to prove that women tin can rip with the fastest of men. Local favorite Apr Lawyer had a mishap on the peak of the grade, but still had a fast enough time to take sixth. I was stoked to see one of my favorite racers, Lisa Cher, back on the podium. Her fifth identify proves that she notwithstanding has what it takes to school the new crop of younger female racers. My Intense teammates, (for the week at least) Sabrina Jonnier and Vanessa Quinn finished 2d and 9th respectively.

(Chris Kovarik showing that you lot can still win on platform pedals)

The men'south finals were amazing. The speed they were taking the lesser jumps at was unfathomable. Because of the basically i-lined class and the number of podium contenders, the elevation men had to push themselves everywhere in their run for valuable hundredths of seconds. The times of Cedric Gracia and Nathan Rennie were ridiculous considering that Gracia hit the ground twice in his run and Rennie spent a skillful x seconds tangled up in the barriers at the bottom of the form (add in lost momentum also). Cedric still had a iii:16 (13th) and Nathan had iii:15 (11th). The biggest surprise of the day was Giant'due south Canadian rider, Dustin Adams, who finished tertiary with a blazingly fast 3:eleven. Maxxis passenger, John Kirkcaldie, bettered his qualifying time by half dozen seconds to take 2nd. I gauge having me under the Intense tent didn?t tiresome downward Chris Kovarik because he ripped the course with a 3:08.08 winning the downhill. About people had no idea that he clipped his pedal on a rock at the height of the run, nigh causing a DNF. He finished the rest of the race with simply two pedal threads barely keeping his badly dinged Easton Pedal in his XTR cranks. It was a great finish to a fun weekend of racing. I?d really like to run across pro downhill become dorsum to Saturday though. All of the cantankerous-country teams were already packed upwards or gone by the fourth dimension the race was over. The downhill teams were scrambling to become everything packed and beginning their long trips domicile. NORBA should re-recollect their scheduling a bit. If you lot go a chance to head out to one of the remaining NORBA nationals, attendance may be down a little from past years just the vibe is better than I?ve felt in a long fourth dimension. Forget the politics, poor scheduling and become out there and race against the clock, your friends and peers.

PRO MEN'S Cross State
1 Light-green, ROLAND (Tin) Expedition/VOLKSWAGEN
2 MADRIGAL, ALVAREZ- ZIRANDA (MEX) TURBO
3 HESJEDAL, RYDER (CAN) SUBARU-GARY FISHER
4 KABUSH, GEOFF (Tin can) KONA
5 HORGAN-KOBELSKI, JEREMY (Us) RLX-POLO SPORT
6 BONILLA, JOSE ADRIAN CRC CAF?DE Costa rica
7 SWENSON, CARL (USA) RLX-POLO SPORT
8 BROWN, TRAVIS (USA) Trek/VOLKSWAGEN
nine SHEPPARD, CHRIS (Can) HARO LEE DUNGAREES
10 BARRIGA, SALVADOR (MEX) TURBO BIKE

PRO WOMEN'Due south CROSS State
1 FLORIT, JIMENA (The states) RLX-POLO SPORT
2 DUNLAP, ALISON (United states of america) LUNA WOMEN
iii GRIGSON, MARY (AUS) SUBARU-GARY FISHER
four VANLANDINGHAM, SHONNY (USA) SOBE-CANNONDALE
5 PRYDE, SUSY (NZ) VELO BELLA
6 MASON, LANIE (Usa) (CAN)Due east CREEK
7 HAYWOOD, SUSAN (USA) TREK-VOLKSWAGEN
8 MCCONNELOUG, MARY (United states of america)
9 MARKS, DARA (Usa) TITUS
10 KOERBER, WILLOW (USA) CANE CREEK

MEN'Due south DUAL SLALOM
1. Wade Bootes (Aus), Trek-Volkswagen
2. Kirt Voreis, Haro-Lee Dungarees
iii. Brian Lopes, GT-Fox
4. Chris Kovarik (Aus), Intense
5. Nathan Rennie (Aus), Yeti-Pearl Izumi

WOMEN'Due south DUAL SLALOM
ane. Anne-Caroline Chausson (F), Volvo-Cannondale
ii. Sabrina Jonnier (F), Intense
3. Tara Llanes, Yeti-Pearl Izumi
iv. Melissa Buhl
five. Katrin Miller (Aus), Jamis

WOMEN'S Brusk Rail
1. Alison Dunlap, Luna
2. Jimena Florit (Arg), RLX-Polo Sport
3. Susy Pryde (NZ), Velo Bella
iv. Shonny Vanlandingham, SoBe-Cannondale
5. Dara Marks, Titus
half dozen. Mary McConneloug, unattached
7. Kerry Barnholt, SoBe-Cannondale
8. Chrissy Redden (Can), Subaru-Gary Fisher
ix. Jamie Whitmore-Cardenas, K2-Michelin
10. Mary Grigson (Aus), Subaru-Gary Fisher

MEN'S Brusk Track
ane. Ryder Hesjedal (Can), Subaru-Gary Fisher
2. Adrian Bonilla (CR), Caf?e Costa Rica-Pizza Hut
iii. Chris Sheppard (Can), Haro-Lee Dungarees
4. Seamus McGrath (Can), Haro-Lee Dungarees
5. Todd Wells, Mongoose-Hyundai
6. Geoff Kabush (Tin), Kona
7. Carl Swenson, RLX-Polo Sport
8. Marc Gullickson, Mongoose-Hyundai
9. Salvador Barriga (Mex), Turbo
10. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, RLX-Polo Sport

DOWNHILL RESULTS–MEN
1. Chris Kovarik (Aus)…Intense
two. John Kirkcaldie (NZ)…Maxxis
3. Dustin Adams (Tin can)…Giant
4. Jared Rando (Aus)…Foes-Azonic
v. Mick Hannah (Aus)…Haro-Lee Dungarees
6. Colin Bailey…Maxxis
7. Myles Rockwell…Giant
eight. Eric Carter…Mongoose-Hyundai
9. Joel Panozzo (Aus)…SunRace/Santa Cruz
10. Nathan Rankin (NZ)…Foes-Azonic

DOWNHILL RESULTS–WOMEN
one. Anne-Caroline Chausson (France), Volvo-Cannondale
two. Sabrina Jonnier (France)…Intense
iii. Marla Streb…Luna
iv. Tracey Moseley (GB)…Kona
5. Lisa Sher…Chumba Wumba
6. April Lawyer…Maxxis
7. Tara Llanes…Yeti-Pearl Izumi
8. Vanessa Quinn (NZ)…Intense
9. Kathy Pruitt…Real Eyes
x. Tai-Lee Muxlow (Aus)…Dirtworks

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Source: https://mbaction.com/big-bear-wrap-upmay-15/

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