Descending skills net Taberlay victory

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On a magnificent day in the Cleveland National Forest, Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air/Specialized) used his free ride skills on the descents to motor away from Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale) and take the victory. Bishop rode a strong race to take second place, finishing several minutes ahead of the rest of the field. Costa Rican champion Manuel Prado (Sho-Air/Specialized) finished third, followed by Vincent Lombardi (Sho-Air) in fourth, and Dana Weber (Trek/World) in fifth.

The mountainous course was saturated with rain over the past several days but drained exceptionally well to make the racing far less muddy than expected. Riders were treated to a grueling, four-mile road climb through Morena County Park before tackling two difficult loops in the mountains.

Total climbing on the 24-mile course was nearly 3,500 feet. The rocky terrain proved to be a challenging due to downhill drop-offs and steep fire road climbs. Following the mountain loops, the racers were rewarded with nearly four miles of downhill singletrack to the finish.

Most of the main contenders were content to stay together up the initial climb so that they would not blow themselves up before hitting the singletrack. Sid Taberlay said "On the first climb I was happy to sit in and ride tempo with everyone else but wanted to get to the singletrack first."

Bishop arrived at the singletrack behind Taberlay, followed by Prado. That positioning would not change for the whole race as the three essentially rode individual time trials.

"Today was a rude awakening having been playing in the snow last week," said Bishop. "It was a tough one but I still felt good about it." He added, "Sid was killing the downhills and riding the drop-offs so I decided to back it off a little."

Bishop is planning to compete in somewhat more cross country events this year including the new Triple Crown Series and the World Cup race at Windham, New York.

"I was content to have a clean run and not have someone else's mud flying in my face," said Taberlay. "The (Specialized) Epic was doing its thing on the descents. I just let the bike go and I was just having fun. The second lap I was a bit more conservative…once I couldn't see him (Bishop) I was content with just riding my own pace."

Behind the leaders, two chase groups formed. The first included La Ruta Champion Manny Prado, Vincent Lombardi, and Dana Weber. Prado finally wore the other down and was able to claim third place.

"I'm a good endurance rider so usually the last thirty minutes of a two hour race is where I start feeling good," said Prado. "The guy riding fourth was strong on the climbs so every time I would hit a descent I would just pin it. I'm happy with third."

The second chase group was led by Jamis factory rider Adam Snyder. He put in some impressive moves to distance himself from the group and take sixth place.

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