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MTB News & racing round-up for August 18, 2005, part 2Edited by Steve Medcroft Welcome to our regular round-up of what's happening in the dirt. Feel free to send feedback, news and gossip to mtb@cyclingnews.com TransRockies Challenge wrap-up
By Steve Medcroft
The seven-day epic mountain-bike race, the TransRockies Challenge, wrapped up Saturday in Canmore, Alberta. After more than 600 kilometers of racing, Rocky Mountain Business Objects teammates Andreas Hestler and Marty Lazarski won six of the seven stages to claim the overall win in the open category. “I have ridden this race three times now and it is a different experience every time,” said Hestler after the finish. “This is honestly the best, most fun thing I have ever done on a bike. Endless singletrack, great people and the experience of working with a partner are so different from regular one-day racing. Right now, I am not sure if I can commit to the suffering needed to come back and try for a third win, but I’ll be back whether I am riding a course motorbike or just supporting other riders. This race rocks.” Second-time participant Keith Bontrager agrees that the race is an ideal challenge and thinks serious cross-country endurance pros should give it a shot. “Pros from North America and Europe should adopt this race as part of their calendar,” he wrote in the diary he contributed daily to CyclingNews during the race. “Ten elite-level pro teams, men and women, duking it out in a situation that is as wide open as this would be a great race… They've got the support and resources to do it as long as there are no big scheduling conflicts, and there is enough prize money at the end to make the payday worth their effort if they are successful.” But TransRockies is not purely a professional racers' opportunity to score a decent purse. Most of the participants were there for personal challenge and for the rewards that epic mountain-bike rides can give all of us: companionship of other riders, the pleasure of pushing the body to and beyond its limits and the chance to be in the spectacular outdoors. In the case of one team though, the rewards go even further than that. British Columbian father and son team Eric and James Crowe finished sixth in the open category. ”We won an entry from Race Face,” explained Eric by telephone two days after the event. “We submitted a video and people from the cycling community voted online for who they wanted to win the trip. Race Face paid our fees, provided transportation and fitted our bikes with a bunch of components; the even sent a mechanic on the trip with us” Nineteen year old James was Canadian Junior Champion at 15 and forty-five year old Eric is a strong masters expert racer - both have B.C. Cup Championships to their credit - but the 2005 TransRockies was the first time father and son had raced together. “I’ve been racing since 85 - doing BC races and one world cup,” says the elder Crowe. “My son was doing races when he was nine years old.” One dynamic to TransRockies racing is the team concept; the two riders must stay within two minutes of each other throughout the entire race or be penalized. Which usually means the stronger rider at the moment is helping the weaker rider. In the beginning of the race, Eric seemed better prepared. “That race is so unique in that it’s seven long days,” he says. “You can’t duplicate that in training. I made sure we put some long four to five hour rides on weekends and backed them up with intense rides during the week. But my son had a lot of things going at the time; graduation (high-school), jobs, girlfriends and so on – he didn’t get as much riding as he could have and only had a month of intense training in before the race.” Eric carried his concern into the opening of the race. “For the first three days, he held on for dear life. After that, I faded and he got stronger. He has youth on his side, which was what we needed after that.” Eric says he and his son worked well together throughout the tough seven days race. “I think we communicated well. Every once in a while he’d say ‘come on come on’ and I’d have to say ‘shut up’ - but we really were good together.” The only true challenge for the Crowes, besides the grueling physical work of the race itself of course, was the occasional mechanical. “We had breakdowns - spokes, shocks, components - but we were pretty efficient about putting things back together. And my son was great; we were in a long section where it was important to stay in the pack and use the draft and I broke a spoke. We had to stop and wind it up. He gave me his bike, would the spoke himself, then caught us both back onto the group.” So what was the highlight of the race for Eric? “Finishing. I busted my chain two kilometers from the finish. The motorcycle guy told us we were only two kilometers out and it was mostly downhill so I held on to James’ Camelback and rode chainless. It was the easiest two kilometers I’ve ever done.” Asked if he thought he and James would repeat the race next year, Eric said, “My son’s off to school so it’s out. But it’s a totally awesome event, and I’d like to do it again.” Results, race reports and photos:
Day 2 - August 8: Sparwood - Elkford Day 3 - August 9: Elkford - Etherington Day 4 - August 10: Etherington - Sandy McNabb Day 5 - August 11: Sandy McNabb - Bragg Creek Day 6 - August 12: Bragg Creek - Rafter Six Resort Day 7 - August 13: Rafter Six Resort - Canmore Keith Bontrager's diaries
August 8: Bears, recovery and staying in the running August 9: Riding the sawtooth August 10: A testing day - for riders and tyres August 11: Team strategies & a tough call August 12: Repairs and recovery August 13: A call to action for the pros August 14: Coulda woulda shoulda
Marathon World Championships previewThe second UCI Marathon World Championships is being held in Lillehammer, Norway August 20 in conjunction with the world’s largest mountain-bike race; Birkebeinerrittet. 12,500 racers have signed up for 89-kilometer Birkebeinerrittet. There are almost 300 World Championship participants. The courses for the two races are essentially the same with the exception that the 116-kilometer point-to-point World Championships course includes a longer and more technical section off the start to Skramstadsætra, site of the course’s first major climbing prize, and an extra more technical course in the Lillehammer finishing area. Gunn Rita Dahle (Norway), Paola Pezzo (Italy), Daniela Louis (Switzerland), Anna Enocsson (Sweden), Esther Suss (Switzerland) are the favorites in the Women’s World Championship class. In the men’s class there are a number of favorites – but race organizers expect Bart Brentjens (Netherlands), Thomas Diestch (France), Thomas Frischknecht (Switzerland), Ralf Näuf (Switzerland) and a number of Italian riders (Massimo DeBertolis, Dario Acquaroli and Mauro Bettin) to be among the best. Massimo DeBertolis won the UCI World Marathon Series at Birkebeinerrittet. Roel Paulissen is on top of the 2005 UCI Mountain Bike Rankings pr. August 9th. National Teams are limited to 7 riders in the Men and Women category. The Marathon outgoing World Champions and Continental Champions may take part in addition to the number of 7 starters. Technical assistance during the race will only be permitted in designated zones although riders from the same team may assist each other on the open course. The race offers cash prizes from €2,400 for first to €125 for sixth in the men’s race and €2,400 to €700 first though third in the women’s race for the winners and a series of three climbing prizes worth €300 each. Falun World Cup Marathon wrap upSwedes Fredrik Kessiakoff (Siemens Cannondale) and Anna Enocsson (Ghost Team) took the honors in last weekend’s World Cup marathon in Falun, Sweden. Kessiakoff won a five-way sprint to take his win while Enocsson put a comfortable nine–minute gap on second place for hers. Enocsson pulls herself within 85 points of Marathon World Cup Series leader and countrywoman Daniela Louis with only the marathons in Saint-Wendel (Germany) and Roc d'Azur (France) left in the season. Kessiakoff has only contested two World Cup marathons so far in 2005 so his win does nothing to affect the overall standings in the men’s series. Italians Mauro Bettin and Dario Acquaroli sit at the top of the standings separated by almost ninety points. Michael Prokop and Jill Kintner win Jeep KOMBy Steve Medcroft
Michael Prokop of the Czech Republic and Jill Kintner of Seattle, Wash. won the final Jeep King of the Mountains race at Jack Frost Resort in Pennsylvania's Poconos Mountains on Sunday. Entering the race as points leaders in the series, both Kintner and Prokop sealed their overall victories by winning the day's race and took home a rich prize package which included a $5,000 cash bonus from Paul Mitchell Systems and a matching 2006 Jeep Commander Sports Utility Vehicles. Click here for the full report, photos and results
Global MTB racing round-upEven with World Cup and NORBA cross-country on a weekend break, there were plenty of interesting competitions around the world. Take a look at other MTB reports, results and photos from this week. Jeep King of the Mountain, USA(NE), August 14: Results,
report & photos (All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2005) |
