DEER VALLEY -- The short-track cross country was added to the NORBA national bike races for the fans. Or, so the story goes.
Consensus among many of the winners of Saturday's first-time-race was, with a wink, more for them. To keep them in line and on track was the way men's winner Roland Green put it.Looking for something to hold fans' attention, bike officials came up with a shorter cross country race . . . up, down and around the course in three minutes instead of the 30 minutes it takes for the long-distance cross country.
Group starts, lots of viewing and closer races was what officials were looking for said Patrice Quintero, NORBA communication coordinator.
But would the racers go for a hard-pounding, upbeat race just one day after riding in one of the most demanding events on the NORBA circuit?
Alison Dunlap of Colorado Springs, Colo., winner of the women's event, said, "I like it a lot. The way my body works. I always do and feel better on the second day."
Green, who lives in Victoria, British Columbia, said, "I like it a lot, especially having it the day after the long cross country. You find you take better care of yourself. Instead of staying up all night partying, you go to bed early and get up ready to ride. I'll be in much better shape come the world finals."
Chris Sheppard of Kamloops, British Columbia, runner-up in the men's event, said, "It's a great format. It's going to pay back big dividends when the World Championships come along."
Not everyone, however, liked the all-out, start-to-finish event.
Ruthie Matthes, of Durango, Colo., runner-up in the women's event, said, "It's OK. I do it mainly for training. It's not much fun. It's more intense, more painful than the regular cross country because you're going hard all the time."
One thing is certain: It's a spectator's event. For the women, 60 riders gathered in a tightly packed group and wait for the start gun. It then became a dash to the biggest challenge on the loop, a half-mile uphill climb at full speed. From the peak it's a gradual descent back to the start/finish. In the men's race there were 74 racers packed into the start. The women made the loop in just over three minutes; the men finished the first loop in two minutes, 25 seconds, and then settled into 2:50 loops.
Under the short-track format, racers make as many loops as they can in 20 minutes. At this point, the signal goes out that three laps remain.
In the women's race, Dunlap, who won the women's cross country on Friday, was in fourth after the first loop, took the lead on the second and had the race clinched by the sixth. Going into the final three legs, she held a 23-second lead.
Ann Trombley of Golden, Colo., was fourth, and Rene Marshman of Lafayette, Colo., was fifth. The women completed nine loops.
In the men's race, Green was sixth after the first lap but moved into the lead on the second climb. From that point on it was a two-person race until the eighth lap when Tinker Juarez of Downey, Calif., made his move and joined the twosome for the final three laps. With one lap to go it was Green, Juarez and Sheppard, but on the final climb Juarez fell back.
Fourth was Carl Swenson of Boulder, Colo., and fifth was Kashi Leuchs of New Zealand, winner of the men's cross country on Friday.
Dunlap, who has won two short-track events and finished second in the third, said her strategy was to "attack, pull back, attack and pull back. You play around a little in this race. Every time you attack you take something out of the other racers. You make them jump to the anaerobic level, and it wears them down."
Apparently it worked because Matthes admitted running out of energy, "and I simply couldn't stay with Alison."
Green said he worked with Sheppard, a longtime friend, from about the fifth loop on, "drafting when I could, then changing leads and letting Chris rest a little. You always work with the others in the lead or nothing happens."
Then with a loop to go he made his move and, as Sheppard admitted, "I couldn't stay with him."
The national event, sponsored by Chevy Truck, finishes today with the men's and women's downhill. The pros start at 1 p.m.