By Chris Firth
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THURSDAY.....
Thursday was a pretty laid back day unless you were racing expert slalom and downhill. Besides a long downhill practice session, the Ams had their slalom qualifiers and finals within hours of each other. Despite being on a workday the turnout looked strong. I guess that mountain bikers across the country were calling in sick with mystery flu or something.
There wasn?t anything going on for the pros Thursday. Most of the downhillers walked the slalom and downhill courses. The downhill is probably the least technical we?ve seen here in years. Team Big Bear continues to struggle with the Forest Service to gain access to any single track for their downhill runs. On the bottom of the course there?s a fast set of three doubles that?s sure to be the spectators favorite section. The slalom course is easily the best we?ve ever had here at Snow Summit. I?m not sure who designed it but it would be hard to believe that it was the same people who?ve done it in the past. There isn?t a straight on the track. Riders jump right out of the gate over a double then a series of tight berms. Then there are a couple of fairly big jumps, more tight berms and the finish line table. It?s a fitting farewell to the dual slalom-racing format at NORBA nationals.
I?ve been hanging out in the Intense pits for an article on what?s it really like to ride for a factory team at the nationals that should be in the September issue along with more Big Bear coverage. Jeff Steber, the Intense staff and the team have been great. I?m riding an M1 for the downhill and a Tazer for slalom. I spent a few hours getting the bikes dialed in and getting some tire advice from Derrin Stockton and Jeff Holt. I took the Tazer down to some little jumps by the venue to get a feel for the bike and I felt instantly at home on the bike. Usually only the longer stroke M1s get a Progressive Fifth Element shock, but my bike was fitted with a new short stroke model. I?ll have more news for everyone tomorrow.
FRIDAY....
Friday was the first day on the downhill course for the pros. It?s actually a lot more fun than anyone originally thought. I ditched my clipless after the first practice run because all of the open sections that looked like they were going to be killer pedaling parts were actually downhill enough to not make clips an absolute necessity. With platforms I can really lean the bike into the upper berms and the tight rutty sections. They also make it possible for make some last minute saves when you slide out in the slick-as-ice Big Bear dirt. There?s nothing to hard anywhere on the run. Almost every pro and semi-pro nailed the bottom jumps on their first practice run. Overclearing them at race speed is a much bigger issue than casing. I have a feeling that the course is going to get a bit blown out. The stutter bumps are already getting noticeable and the berms are getting pushed further back every run.
Pro slalom qualifiers were today. This may be the fastest field we?ve seen at a NORBA race in a long time. Saturdays race is going to be amazing. Bootes was on fire. His leg speed seems perfectly suited for him to take the win. He ended up the top seed. Kirt Voreis is back with a vengeance taking the second fastest spot. I?d say it?s going to be a brutally tight race between the top six qualifying men (1.Wade Bootes, 2.Kirt Voreis, 3.Nathan Rennie, 4.Eric Carter, 5.Cedric Gracia, 6.Brian Lopes).
Unfortunately I wasn?t able to see the finish of the men?s cross-country because I was busy doing my best to qualify for the slalom (I ended up around 90th ,off the back with a first run crash). From listening to the crowd there were a couple finishes that came down to finish line sprints. Roland Green took the win even after his cleat came loose at the bottom of a hike-a-bike section. Luckily he ?found? a tool from another rider so he could tighten it up (he did have to take off his shoe). His cleat put him behind a couple of minutes but he charged back to the front for the win. Ziranda Madrigal-Alvarez from Mexico had a spectacular second place finish. Expect to see a lot more from him this year.
SATURDAY??.
 (Ryder Hesjedal leading out the men?s short track)
It?s been a day or two since the last day of racing at the Big Bear National, but additional photo shoots and magazine deadlines can slow down the Internet editorial process (not to mention utter exhaustion from a week of sun and racing at altitude). Saturday features the fastest pace racing of the week with the pro short track and dual slalom finals. World Champion Alison Dunlap took the women?s short track win with Jimena Florit closely in tow. Susy Pryde from New Zealand hung up her skinny tired bike for a race to give the world of knobby tired racing a try. She finished in third. I think we could have a mountain bike convert here.
 (Roland Green sporting his World Champion jersey)
For the first half of the men?s short track, the buzz was all about Roland Green. He lurked in the near the front and lead for a bit. All of the photographers, crowd and riders were waiting for Roland to make his move for the lead, when he suddenly pulled out. We?ll give him a break because he won the XC, but his DNF should take him out of the short track title chase. Ryder Hesjedal took advantage of Roland?s absence to take the win from the hard charging pack. The biggest surprise of the day was Adrian Bonilla from Costa Rica who threw down an amazing effort for a close second place finish. It?s really great to see a rider get so ecstatic over such a strong podium finish. Anyone who can even finish a pro short track is an amazing racer. The pace these guys keep up is something every mountain bike enthusiast should see.
 (Wade Bootes keeping it low and fast in the dual)
The slalom course is one of the best ever built for a NORBA race and definitely the best one at Big Bear. The tight berms and technical jumps made for tight, super fast racing. Lopes tripled up the double-double in practice. That line put him around fifteen feet in the air, but he never hit it in the final rounds. Everyone in the round of eight looked like they had the ability to take the win. Both Kovarik and Rennie were gaining time in the flat corners with their Australian, late breaking, sliding styles. Lopes and Bootes had their typically ridiculous leg speed and ultra low jumping style dialed for the one-day National Championship. Kirt Voreis is back! While he never really left, Kirt seemed to have found that something extra that it takes to win. His gate snaps were getting him a half of a bike length ahead, even against seasoned BMX vets like Bootes and Lopes.
 (Wade Bootes vs. Kirt Voreis)
The National Championship was going to be between Lopes and Voreis. It was all decided when Brian slid out in one of the top flat corners, giving it to Kirt. Our new National Champion still had to face Wade Bootes in the final round for Saturday?s overall win. Kirt used his amazing gate snap to get an early lead on Wade, and earned a minuscule advantage on the first run. Everyone in the crowd was on their toes trying to see every foot of the course for the winning round. Kirt had another great start, but Wade fought back coming up dead even with Voreis after the double-double. Unless you had a good lead on Bootes by the beginning of the flat finish turns, like Voreis did in the first round, there?s no one on the planet who was going to keep up with Wade?s ridiculous leg speed. Bootes threw on the turbo, making up the differential and taking the win by a matter of feet over Kirt Voreis. Wade may have won the overall, but Kirt Voreis is still NORBA?s last dual slalom National Champion.
 (Kirt Voreis riding his way to a national championship)
SUNDAY???
Pro qualifying for Sunday?s downhill had faster times than any of the riders had expected, despite the rapidly deteriorating course conditions. Berms were blowing out, the braking bumps were getting bigger and rocks were magically appearing where they weren?t in practice. Chris Kovarik posted a 3:10 for the fastest qualifying time but there were a host of riders who looked like they could take the win (Gracia, Rennie, Rockwell, Kirkcaldie, Bailey, Hannah, etc.). Socal local, David Klassenvanoorschot, was flying and qualified 8th.
 (MBA?s Chris Firth works a berm on the top of the DH for all it?s worth)
After pro qualifying the Semi-pros get to do their one run. I was riding the factory Intense M-1 that Jeff Steber had set me up with. My suspension was dialed, I had the perfect tires and felt great on the bike. I wasn?t going to have any mechanical excuses here. I had a good solid run but could have pedaled a bit harder in the flats. I ran a 3:40.4 to finish 54th out of 98 riders. It?s hard to get excited about a mid-pack finish, but the level of competition in my class is brutal (everyone in the top 40 would had times that would have qualified them in pro). I did beat my long time friend and rival, Ken Avery (Maxxis R&D guy), by 7 seconds.
 (AC had this section down better than most of the men)
Watching the slower pro women in the bottom section that featured three high-speed doubles had to be one of the scariest things I?ve seen in a long time. If you have to roll those jumps you should really reconsider if you should be in the pro class. Almost every Expert man had that section dialed. It just takes away from the prestige of the class to see Women riding like sport class racers. On the other end of the skill spectrum was Anne-Caroline Chausson. She predictably won by over six seconds with a 3:27.8. If you haven?t seen AC ride in person it?s worth a long drive. Any aspiring female racer should look to her to prove that women can rip with the fastest of men. Local favorite April Lawyer had a mishap on the top of the course, but still had a fast enough time to take sixth. I was stoked to see one of my favorite racers, Lisa Cher, back on the podium. Her fifth place proves that she still has what it takes to school the new crop of younger female racers. My Intense teammates, (for the week at least) Sabrina Jonnier and Vanessa Quinn finished 2nd and 9th respectively.
 (Chris Kovarik showing that you can still win on platform pedals)
The men?s finals were amazing. The speed they were taking the bottom jumps at was unfathomable. Because of the basically one-lined course and the number of podium contenders, the top men had to push themselves everywhere in their run for valuable hundredths of seconds. The times of Cedric Gracia and Nathan Rennie were ridiculous considering that Gracia hit the ground twice in his run and Rennie spent a good ten seconds tangled up in the barriers at the bottom of the course (add in lost momentum too). Cedric still had a 3:16 (13th) and Nathan had 3:15 (11th). The biggest surprise of the day was Giant?s Canadian rider, Dustin Adams, who finished third with a blazingly fast 3:11. Maxxis rider, John Kirkcaldie, bettered his qualifying time by six seconds to take 2nd. I guess having me under the Intense tent didn?t slow down Chris Kovarik because he ripped the course with a 3:08.08 winning the downhill. Most people had no idea that he clipped his pedal on a rock at the top of the run, almost causing a DNF. He finished the rest of the race with only two pedal threads barely keeping his badly dinged Easton Pedal in his XTR cranks. It was a great end to a fun weekend of racing. I?d really like to see pro downhill go back to Saturday though. All of the cross-country teams were already packed up or gone by the time the race was over. The downhill teams were scrambling to get everything packed and start their long trips home. NORBA should re-think their scheduling a bit. If you get a chance to head out to one of the remaining NORBA nationals, attendance may be down a little from past years but the vibe is better than I?ve felt in a long time. Forget the politics, poor scheduling and get out there and race against the clock, your friends and peers.
PRO MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
1 GREEN, ROLAND (CAN) TREK/VOLKSWAGEN
2 MADRIGAL, ALVAREZ- ZIRANDA (MEX) TURBO
3 HESJEDAL, RYDER (CAN) SUBARU-GARY FISHER
4 KABUSH, GEOFF (CAN) KONA
5 HORGAN-KOBELSKI, JEREMY (USA) RLX-POLO SPORT
6 BONILLA, JOSE ADRIAN CRC CAF?DE COSTA RICA
7 SWENSON, CARL (USA) RLX-POLO SPORT
8 BROWN, TRAVIS (USA) TREK/VOLKSWAGEN
9 SHEPPARD, CHRIS (CAN) HARO LEE DUNGAREES
10 BARRIGA, SALVADOR (MEX) TURBO BIKE
PRO WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
1 FLORIT, JIMENA (USA) RLX-POLO SPORT
2 DUNLAP, ALISON (USA) LUNA WOMEN
3 GRIGSON, MARY (AUS) SUBARU-GARY FISHER
4 VANLANDINGHAM, SHONNY (USA) SOBE-CANNONDALE
5 PRYDE, SUSY (NZ) VELO BELLA
6 MASON, LANIE (USA) (CAN)E CREEK
7 HAYWOOD, SUSAN (USA) TREK-VOLKSWAGEN
8 MCCONNELOUG, MARY (USA)
9 MARKS, DARA (USA) TITUS
10 KOERBER, WILLOW (USA) CANE CREEK
MEN'S DUAL SLALOM
1. Wade Bootes (Aus), Trek-Volkswagen
2. Kirt Voreis, Haro-Lee Dungarees
3. Brian Lopes, GT-Fox
4. Chris Kovarik (Aus), Intense
5. Nathan Rennie (Aus), Yeti-Pearl Izumi
WOMEN'S DUAL SLALOM
1. Anne-Caroline Chausson (F), Volvo-Cannondale
2. Sabrina Jonnier (F), Intense
3. Tara Llanes, Yeti-Pearl Izumi
4. Melissa Buhl
5. Katrin Miller (Aus), Jamis
WOMEN'S SHORT TRACK
1. Alison Dunlap, Luna
2. Jimena Florit (Arg), RLX-Polo Sport
3. Susy Pryde (NZ), Velo Bella
4. Shonny Vanlandingham, SoBe-Cannondale
5. Dara Marks, Titus
6. Mary McConneloug, unattached
7. Kerry Barnholt, SoBe-Cannondale
8. Chrissy Redden (Can), Subaru-Gary Fisher
9. Jamie Whitmore-Cardenas, K2-Michelin
10. Mary Grigson (Aus), Subaru-Gary Fisher
MEN'S SHORT TRACK
1. Ryder Hesjedal (Can), Subaru-Gary Fisher
2. Adrian Bonilla (CR), Caf?e Costa Rica-Pizza Hut
3. Chris Sheppard (Can), Haro-Lee Dungarees
4. Seamus McGrath (Can), Haro-Lee Dungarees
5. Todd Wells, Mongoose-Hyundai
6. Geoff Kabush (Can), Kona
7. Carl Swenson, RLX-Polo Sport
8. Marc Gullickson, Mongoose-Hyundai
9. Salvador Barriga (Mex), Turbo
10. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, RLX-Polo Sport
DOWNHILL RESULTS--MEN
1. Chris Kovarik (Aus)...Intense
2. John Kirkcaldie (NZ)...Maxxis
3. Dustin Adams (Can)...Giant
4. Jared Rando (Aus)...Foes-Azonic
5. Mick Hannah (Aus)...Haro-Lee Dungarees
6. Colin Bailey...Maxxis
7. Myles Rockwell...Giant
8. Eric Carter...Mongoose-Hyundai
9. Joel Panozzo (Aus)...SunRace/Santa Cruz
10. Nathan Rankin (NZ)...Foes-Azonic
DOWNHILL RESULTS--WOMEN
1. Anne-Caroline Chausson (France), Volvo-Cannondale
2. Sabrina Jonnier (France)...Intense
3. Marla Streb...Luna
4. Tracey Moseley (GB)...Kona
5. Lisa Sher...Chumba Wumba
6. April Lawyer...Maxxis
7. Tara Llanes...Yeti-Pearl Izumi
8. Vanessa Quinn (NZ)...Intense
9. Kathy Pruitt...Real Optics
10. Tai-Lee Muxlow (Aus)...Dirtworks
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