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Mr. Congeniality: The Geoff Kabush diary 2006
Popular Canadian mountain bike racer had his best ever season in 2004, winning the NORBA final and overall series, continuing that success through 2005. For 2006, Geoff will once again be bringing us his unique slant on the racing scene in his diary as he campaigns the NORBA circuit for Team Maxxis. He'll also be riding on the road this year with Jittery Joe's-Kalahari.
USA, June 16, 2006
Back from Europe
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Europe schmuurup! I tried to go get a result in Europe at the world cups again and it didn't really happen; maybe next year. Madrid I was pretty happy with after starting row 11 and moving my way up to 37th.
So Belgium was next and it ended up being more about bike running instead of bike riding; I would say they probably should think about the possibility of rain in Belgium and maybe, just maybe, design a course that can handle it. I definitely like it when I can ride my bike a bit more; I ended up slogging away to scrape into the top 50 or something.
The best thing about Belgium is always the beer; they like their beer so much they sell "table beer" instead of "table wine" at the grocery store. The "frites" are pretty good too but it was kind of ridiculous that they didn't have drug testing for the second time this year at a world cup; what's up with that?
After Belgium it was off towards the North Pole where it was mixed rain and snow in Fort William, Scotland. After eating too much dirt and the near freezing temperatures it was hard to get motivated to get on the bike again. I did get to the start line in a full sleeve windproof undershirt and long-sleeve skinsuit and barely managed to stay warm; I think some people had cracked before the gun even went off. I had a few small issues, rode pretty average and was looking forward to getting back home after another barely top 50 finish. Once again we failed to catch a glimpse through the fog and clouds of the top of Ben Nevis; maybe next year.
I was hurting from the travel home but certainly wasn't complaining when I got back to Albuquerque and it was in the 90's; I had to drink around 7-8 Litres of water on a bike ride to avoid turning into a prune. My other problem is I am too lazy to get up to do the smart desert thing and ride early in the morning before the sun starts to get scorching hot. On another note, it was pretty sweet that Keri had pretty much got Tallulah, our new Weim pup, trained to pee and poo outside the house when I returned.
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It was a short break before I was off to the races again and headed to Sugar Mountain, NC, for NORBA #2. A new location for the series had some serious climbing. Pretty boring and five miles of different kinds of road; steep ski run road, access road, paved road, logging road, paved road again, and then finally a pretty wicked singletrack descent to the finish. Probably one of the most technical descents on the NORBA circuit but not enough for me to catch back up to JHK who was flying up the climbs fresh off a podium finish in Scotland. I had a pretty good battle with Mr. Bishop who was riding great but I was a little frustrated when traffic kind of put the kibosh on our last lap battle and he slipped away.
I was hurting when I woke up for day two STXC action, but I had the pressure on me as everyone from Maxxis HQ was up from Georgia to watch me go for a record 10th victory. I was hanging on for most of the race and saving it for what was to be an epic last lap battle. It came down to JHK and I going toe to toe up the last climb and I snuck through the top corner with the lead. JHK wasn't going to give up easy and surprised me with a downhill pass; luckily I had one last chance to sneak by and held on through the last corners, foot out, and took win number ten. Keri wasn't there to watch it but the guys from Maxxis got me some special Pink Champagne to soak myself with on the podium (they seem to have cut the champagne at the NORBA's too).
I still really want to perform in Europe but it's not easy; I would probably trade all my STXC wins in for a world cup result in Europe; well, maybe half my wins. I will keep trying to do things the proper way and see what happens next time over. At least world's is down in New Zealand this year which kind of evens out the travel disadvantage. Next up is Mt. Snow NORBA and Mt. St. Anne World Cup. Over and out,
gk
