The first National level US Cup started this weekend at Bonelli. Being the first race of the year

there is always a little bit of nervousness as to how everyone else’s form is. I had a good

start, taking the lead around the first corner, not intentionally, I just wanted to stay out of

trouble. Having the lead allowed me to soft pedal the start loop, I was a little unsure about

pushing the pace without knowing how everyone else was going. JB then attacked off the front on the first lap; however, he was quickly caught on the fire road. Kabush then launched a massive attack on the other side of bunny hopping the log. I could actually see it coming and had it covered, though he quickly opened up a gap on the rest of the field. We were however caught by the end of the lap. At this stage I think there were only 6 of us left in the front group. I was

feeling pretty comfortable and decided to go off the front on the second lap, somewhat half

heartedly. I just wanted to make sure the pace was solid enough to put some sting in Kabush¡’s

legs after his attack/effort and take the pressure off Team Mate, Max. I was caught on the fire

road and the cat and mouse tactics started again. With the slowing of the pace, this allowed JHK

to get back on and the Fisher boys started pushing the pace, followed by Kabush using the

advantage of his super skinny, super light tires to counter attack and put the hurt on all of us.

I managed to cover everything until everyone sat up towards the end of the third lap and looked at each other. Max then played it perfectly, carrying his speed off the back of the group, throwing down an awesome attack. Everyone looked at each other - I certainly wasn’t going to respond! Kabush then started throwing down attack after attack to try and lose all the guys on his wheel. I just made sure I was glued his wheel, watching Max’s gap go from 10 to 30 to 10 seconds each time Kabush threw down the power. It all come undone when those skinny tires Kabush was running saw a rock and burst open with fright at the end of the 5th lap. Thinking that has now changed the game, I too noticed I had a soft tire - karma! (I grazed the sidewall somewhere earlier in the lap). Coming into the pits I put my hand up, a somewhat natural reaction when in a road peloton to signal a wheel change. I found out that doesn’t translate in the MTB pits but actually causes confusion, ending in a slow wheel change. I left the pits 5 seconds off the back of JB and another 15 seconds off Kabush (who also did a wheel change) and with Todd/Sam Schultz long gone. I took JB at the base of the climb, then Kabush at the top of the climb. On cresting the climb I could just see Todd and Schultz coming to the top of the next climb. I figured that couldn’t be much more that 30 seconds. Had it pinned on the DH, then the next uphill pinch and almost came undone on the next downhill, losing my front end on the uphill lip over the bridge, throwing me diagonally sideways in the air. How I missed the hand railing and landed it, I don’t know? I then punched it up the biggest climb in the course to get onto Todd and Sam before the fire road. Once on the back I was happy to sit back and recover from the effort and wait till the end of the lap to make my move for 2nd, which came off perfectly on the final climb of the day. Nice way to finish the XC with a Team 1, 2!

Short track was a little different or interesting, with a new format: 15 minutes plus one lap.

Start was going to be super important, which went perfectly- 2nd wheel for me. A quick look at the clock at the end of the first lap was 1 min 30 something. Some quick math, translated that into 10 more laps. After the first lap it was pretty clear that there was only one real

passing/attacking spot on the course = off the road onto the grass, as the back of the course/park was basically too fast to overtake. To break that down, it meant 10 times, 20 second efforts off the road/up the speed bump hill, roll across the back off the park, 10 second effort across the grass, recovery through the start/finish line while everyone looks at each other to see who was going to attack next into the grass. My game plan quickly became to back myself on the last lap and keep it together with 9 efforts of 20 seconds to cover every attack, which was all going to plan until I got boxed in and no one reacted to Kabush¡’s attack. I had to create some room and squeeze out the smallest of gaps to give chase. Luckily for me he was running a one chainring set up and didn’t have a big enough gear to stay away. JB then went with 3 laps to go and was caught at the line with one lap remaining. On catching JB everyone paused, sensing the danger of being swamped I went to the front and set the pace just fast enough that no one would be tempted to attack and then wound it up at the end of the road to make sure I was onto the grass first. Then it was just a matter of making sure I kicked hard enough across the grass that no one could come past before the series of corners leading into the finish to take the win over Specialized rider Todd Wells.

Nothing really to report with my Super D, after the first climb I realized I had left my legs on

the short track course and simply got into a tuck on the DH and tempo’ed the next few climbs. Max took it out for a clean sweep of all 3 events for Team Sho-Air/Specialized.

Big thank you to Scott, Ty, all my teammates and everyone else who were out there supporting us!

Sid Taberlay