By Eddie Arnet
After the Deer Valley NORBA, a few mountain bikers stuck around Utah for a chance at more gold and national honor. It was all part of the Park City Cycling Festival, which consists of two solid weeks of racing to decide the National Road Champions for 2005.
It was U.S. National Single Speed Champ Carl Decker who really lit things up in the road race. Decker covered all attacks and breaks throughout the 126 mile distance. Half a mile from the finish Decker went around rodie Ben Raby (Bianchi-Grand Performance) and took the stars-and-stripes. His winning time of 4:50:31 was earned through a 26 mph average. The field was 122 riders strong.
Normally racing for Giant Pearl Izumi in the dirt, Decker raced for Broadmark Capital at Park City. The U.S. Road Nationals were open only to amateur riders not on UCI-registered trade teams.
Even 50-year old Ned Overend was there. The Specialized star placed an amazing 11th at 0:10.00. In the 78 mile women's event, U.S. National number 3 Sue Haywood (Trek-VW) placed 20th. She finished 55 seconds behind Webcor rider Katheryn Curi's 3:26:03. It took an average of 22.7 mph for Curi to finish ahead of the 56 other women. While Carl Decker did not compete the Deer Valley NORBA National, Sue Haywood was coming off two 3rd place finishes in both the cross-country and short track.
While no big name off-road stars entered the National Time Trail, there were a couple of SoCal hot shots. Cal State XC Champion Cameron Brenneman placed 43rd at 6:00.88 behind the winning time. It was Navigator Insurance's Chris Baldwin who won in a time of 42:44.43, and at an average speed of 29.6 mph. Cameron rides for Steven K in the dirt, but on the road in Utah he rode for Kahala-LaGrange. The distance was 34 kilometers, or 21.1 miles. In total 49 riders competed for the title.
Then in the shorter 20k Junior 17-18 National TT event, Scary Fast Racing rider Chance Noble placed 63rd at 2:59.64. Chance is a top five National Cyclocross Junior and winning SoCal junior expert. Christopher Stockburger (Team Rio Grande) maintained a 26.8 mph average to earn the winning time of 27:47.47. In total 112 riders took on the 12.4 mile distance.
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