Norba National
Brian Head, UT
Aug 6-7, 2005

This weekend we headed down to the far southwest corner of Utah to the small ski resort of Brian Head. In the past few years Brian Head has become a popular mountain bike destination so it was only fitting that the Norba series make an appearance. To get to Brian Head we had to first fly to Las Vegas. Since I don’t gamble or smoke or eat really greasy deep friend food I don’t enjoy being anywhere near Las Vegas. Even an hour in the airport was too much. From Las Vegas we drove almost four hours north east, back into Utah and up into the mountains. The base of Brian Head was at 9500 ft. Very similar to Breckenridge.

The ski resort was small and basically undeveloped. It’s nice to see a place that wasn’t overrun with expensive condos and trophy homes. The downside to this nondevelopment is that the condos that are there are run down and quite antiquated. Definitely a throw back to the 1970’s. Katerina and I shared the upstairs loft. I was on a futon and she was on a bunk bed. But it worked.

The course was unusual in that it was one giant loop of twenty-five miles. I’d say 99% of the courses we race on are anywhere from two to six laps, depending on the length of each lap. Way back before I started racing mountain bikes, a lot of the courses were either point to point or one big loop. I think everyone was excited to get back to our roots and ride this epic style course. The tricky part is that pre riding a loop that big would have taken almost three hours. Not what you want to do the day before a race. Katerina and I figured out how to ride half of the course, getting to see most of the downhill and the finish. And the other interesting part was the first four miles climbed up a paved road and then onto a dirt road, topping out at 11,300ft. That’s almost treeline. On top of figuring out ways to cut the course for our training lap, we also negotiated a shuttle to the top of the climb, thanks to some local guys and their van. We were psyched!

The sections of the course we did see were fantastic! Lots of rugged singletrack, hard climbs, and super fun descents. Everyone had nothing but great things to say about the course. The thing I liked best was that as soon as you finished riding a difficult climb or descent you knew you’d never have to see it again thanks to only doing one lap.

Once again our cross country start time was 3pm. I spent some quality time sleeping in till 9:30am, having a large breakfast of cereal and blueberries, enjoying some couch time in front of the TV, emails, an early lunch of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, more time on the couch, some stretching on the floor, and a phone call to my coach for some pre-race instructions. It’s amazing I had any energy left to race. Haha!

Being at 9500 ft the altitude becomes a major factor in each rider’s race strategy. Those of us that live at altitude are able to go harder at the beginning without blowing up. Those that live at sea level have to carefully monitor their efforts to keep from over extending at the start. When you go into the “red zone”, or near your max heart rate, your body doesn’t recover from such an extreme effort at altitude. Riders that start slowly usually come on strong by the finish.

The first four miles were all uphill. The pace was hard but not the usual lung busting surge off the start line. I sat out of the wind and stayed in the moderate to considerably uncomfortable zone. We hit the dirt road and Heather Irmiger, feeling a bit feisty, went to the front and upped the pace. Before long it was her, my teammate Shonny, and me. I knew I wasn’t going to last long because I was now in the extremely uncomfortable zone. And also knowing we were approaching 11,000 ft made me hesitant to stay with Heather. I dropped off a quarter mile from the top. Went into the single track and started my chase. I was caught by Dara Marks Marino after the first big descent and she and I rode together trying to catch the two leaders. We dangled about thirty seconds behind them for the first hour.

Once past the feed zone we hit some steep climbs. My legs decided they had had enough and lost their umpf. I fell behind Dara and rode the rest of the race alone in 4 th place. The last half hour was a struggle because my legs were exhausted, yet Willow Korber was gaining from behind and I had to up my pace to keep from getting passed. I made it to the finish line only four seconds in front of her. There is nothing more stressful than getting down to the last two miles of a long cross country race, feeling confident about maintaining your position, only to look behind and see another rider. Usually you can surge up the next climb and that rider disappears. Not Willow. Found out later she was behind chased by Sue Haywood. So all three of us were in a drag race for the last two podium spots. Your body wants desperately to quit, but the mind takes over and somehow keeps you going. The riders that consistently do well are not necessarily the strongest physically. It usually comes down to who can mentally handle the pain and suffering and has the strongest desire to win. I was having some very strong desires those last two miles; “Get me the heck off this bike!”

I finished in a very satisfying fourth place. Heather Irmiger won, Shonny was second, Dara third, I was fourth and Willow Korber hung on for fifth. Our race lasted just over two hours. Doesn’t sound like much, but most of it was above 10,000ft. Riding hard at that altitude really takes it out of you.

After the race I cooled down on the trainer for twenty minutes before slowly dragging, I mean walking, myself back up to our condo. Being on the fourth floor with no elevators didn’t help either. My body was so exhausted that I had no appetite. My stomach was churning from all the energy drink. Clif Shot, and recovery drinks I had ingested in the last three hours. I had a headache from being dehydrated. And my legs were so sore I could hardly get up to go to the kitchen. My most favorite thing at every race, eating that is, wasn’t even appealing. What a hard day it had been. Luckily the appetite always comes back. A huge dinner and good nights sleep does wonders for the body.

On Sunday we were ready to go again. This time in the short track. The course wound around the ski lodge and tech area, climbing up and down the ski slope, traversing on some really bumpy grass, and then onto the paved finishing stretch. My efforts from the day before were too much for my legs to recover from and I had a pretty dismal race. I wish I could tell you about all the excitement up front but I wasn’t there to see any of it. I got dropped after the fourth lap and struggled to stay in the top ten. Seems to be the trend in the short track races this year. I don’t believe in dropping out, no matter how far back you are. So I finished just outside the top ten. My teammate Katerina scored her first win, out sprinting Shonny at the finish. I was happy for both of them. One of these days I’ll be up there to help them.

After watching the men’s race I made my way back to the condo to finish packing. had to get ourselves back to Las Vegas for an early flight the next morning. Waldek wasn’t coming with us so I got elected to drive the rental car. Something about being mature and responsible. Haha! It was a long 3 1/2hrs back to the desert. Checked into our hotel, showered, and went out to a Thai restaurant. No late night on the strip for me. I fell asleep exhausted.

In the morning I had breakfast with a long lost friend that I hadn’t seen in eighteen years. We played soccer together in high school. It was great catching up and seeing her again. It’s fun to reconnect after all these years. The flight home was easy and by lunch I was home with my sweetie.

In two weeks we head back east for the first time this summer to Snowshoe, WV. Should be a good and muddy weekend of racing. Lots of man eating roots. Always makes for a great race report. Until then.... Cheers!

Alison