Saalfelden XC Team Relay - UCI World Championships 2012
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Ahhh, where would we be without our lycra-clad brothers and sisters? No disrespect intended—XC racing is damn hard business. But if I recall my Mountain Bike History 101, Mountain Bike competition in its earliest, rawest form was “Klunking” downhill on fireroads. So primitive DH racing, if you will. However, before you break out the pitchforks and torches and hunt me down as a heretic, I will say that the straight up chutzpah required to race a bike that has damn near zero effective suspension through the rock gardens of courses like Mt St Anne, the fitness to bury oneself in the pain cave on tracks like Houffalize (the old one, not the new POS), and the sheer panache to go balls to the wall for two straight hours of knock down, drag-out battle on any XC track anywhere has my respect.
So… World Champs. We got our elites. And we got our scrubs. It’s a strange mix, unlike any other world-class XC race anywhere else on the yearly calendar of top-tier mountain bike races. On the one hand, you have people destined to crush 99.9% of the other people pinning on a number anywhere else on the globe. And on the other hand, you have the .005% remainder who will crush anyone in their local area. Think Jamaican bobsled team vs. the rest of the world and you’ll understand where I’m going.
For these uber underdogs, it’s amazing to race against their heroes—because for these people, racing at the Worlds is not a right that they’ve earned on the field of the World Cup battle, but rather a dubious position of honor they’ve earned by being the toughest mountain bike racer, or the only mountain bike racer, in a place far from the traditional mountain bike racing strong holds of the planet. And as such, they are, unfortunately, cannon fodder. But the sheer spirit with which they race—never mind the fact that they know they’re gonna get their butts kicked—is nothing, but inspiring.
So for these people, these hardy racers toeing the line for no other reason than pride in representing their country, and a chance to measure their strength against their heroes—no matter how hopeless that task is—we here at Pinkbike salute you. It’s your spirit that makes mountain bike racing at the World Champs something special. And it’s what makes a berth in the World Champs something to be treasured.
Now then, to the nitty-gritty: Pinkbike’s picks for placing (Say that five times fast and you win… nothing):
• Women’s U23: Annie Last. Last has been racing in the elites all season and kicking some ass; none of the U23 Women have her horsepower. She should crush them all. Unless she succumbs to “Olympics malaise”—the condition that will make selecting the elites so difficult. If that happens, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will come out on top for the U23 women.
• Men’s U23: Alexander Gehbauer. I cheated and quizzed Rob Jones from Canadian Cyclist for this one…Gehbauer’s been smashing the rest of the U23 men all season long. But only when he shows up to race at a World Cup. Which isn’t every World Cup.
• Women’s Elite: Fricking close your eyes and toss a dart the board. It’s an Olympic season. Most of the ladies were representing their respective nations in pursuit of a gold. The level of training required has most of them crispy fried better than a chicken mcnugget pulled out of the deep fryer filter at your local McDonalds. Take your top 15 elite women, put their names in hat, and pull one out.
• Men’s elite: see the women’s elite analysis. Yes, it really is that kind of a race. Any year but an Olympic year and you could point a finger at someone to be favored. This year? To pick one rider to win it all would be a wild ass guess of epic proportions.
XC Eliminator. Um, how to put this civilly? I don’t really care. Send out the mobs waving pitchforks and torches and howling for my blood; I still won’t care. XC Eliminator is a contrived event that bores me to tears. Yes, the riders are athletes of the highest tier. But it’s nothing more than a slow motion, one lap 4X race without the fun jumps. End of story.
Stay “tuned” here at Pinkbike for race results and bitchin’ pics...
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 The golden bike...Jaroslav Kulhavy's new hot rod. No idea how much it weighs other than silly light. He will be racing this golden chariot on Saturday in pursuit of another set of rainbow stripes. |
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| The track's pretty greasy. Jose Hermida's taking a page from the DH handbook and cutting his tires. Or rather, his mechanic is cutting his tires. |
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| Team Relay action: In the team relay, teams of 4 take to the track, handing off at the start/finish. Teams must consist of one Elite or U23 Woman, one Elite Male, one U23 Male, and one Junior Male. Heavy rains the night before the event turned the steeper sections of the track into treacherous slip 'n slides. Italian Elite male rider Marco Fontana wanted nothing to do with the 'brown ice' below this wood ramp during his lap for the Italian relay team. Most of the riders ran this or took the "B" line. |
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| Jose Hermida anchors the Spanish team during the relay. He will be one to watch during the big race on Saturday. |
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| Todd Wells confessed to being in a bit of a post Olympic funk at the team relay race. The Olympics require so much hard training and commitment... most riders are beyond crispy fried at this point. |
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| Marc-Anton Nadon pushing through the pain for Team Canada during his leg of the Team Relay. |
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| Kulhavy on his old bike for one last ride during the relay-that gold machine will come out to play Saturday. |
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| Catharine Pendrel seemed to be having a rough go of it in the relay. Form-wise she looked good, but power-wise, she seemed to be a bit sub par. However, it is more than a one lap race for the worlds title and Pendrel tends to be a "lap three or four surger" vs. a "from the gun" kind of rider. |
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| Olympic gold on the track: Julie Bresset is in the house. |
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| Another slick spot on the track during the relay race with team Australia exercising the double tripod to get through it in one piece. |
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| DFL. Not sure what happened to the South African team during the relay, but Burry Stander was less than psyched to be anchoring the DFL position on the track. |
Stay “tuned” here at Pinkbike for race results and bitchin’ pics...
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However for this particular photo, i understand. When you have been pushing your body to its limits for what feels like an infinite amount of time, sometimes risking a good result isn't worth clearing sections. You have to remember that Fontana is a world class athlete, if hes walking a section, its because it will further him towards his goal not because hes "being a pussy"