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Trebon, Gould claim national XC crowns

by VeloNews.com

• July 15, 2006
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By Fred Dreier

Trebon on his own

Photo: Fred Dreier

Ryan Trebon has made a name for himself as one of the fastest starters on the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series circuit — the 6-foot, 7-inch rider likes to fire his afterburners early, and then try to hold on.

Sometimes the tactic pays off — Trebon took the NMBS No. 3 short track at Mount Snow, Vermont, by soloing off the front early. However, more often than not, Trebon’s early suicide attacks have fizzled out long before the finish line.

So when Trebon took a flyer on the first of four 7.9-mile laps during Friday’s national mountain-bike championships at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, most expected to see him come back in familiar fashion.

But he didn’t.

Trebon stretched his lead out to a minute by the end of that first lap, then nearly doubled it by mid-race. The chase group — containing four-time defending champ Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher), Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-Volkswagen), Todd Wells (GT) and Trebon’s Kona teammate Barry Wicks — chased for four laps, but could not bring the lanky Kona rider back.

“I figured that if I got a gap, somebody is going to have to chase and they’re not going to want to work together,” Trebon said. “I don’t have a problem working out in the wind. I was hurting on that last lap but I just said, ‘There’s no way I’m going to give this away. I’ve been out here for an hour and forty minutes by myself, and I’m not going to give it away.’”

Gusty winds and temperatures in the 90s beat down on the men’s field, which left the starting line in the heat of the day. Drafting became a major factor on the course, which featured no technical sections or shade, plenty of dirt and fire roads, and fast, twisting single-track.

Behind Trebon, as he expected, the chase was struggling to organize itself.

“I thought it was business as usual. Ryan would go up the road and then crack like an egg and come back,” said Bishop. “Everyone kind of looked at Jeremy to chase because he was the defending champ. I looked over at him and he wasn’t wearing a poker face. JHK was tired. I sensed desperateness. Barry started blocking aggressively, which was no big deal. We shut down some time on Ryan and then people started attacking. Todd attacked at the top of the longest road climb. Jeremy got dropped and I was hanging on for dear life.”

Wells attacked on the third of four laps, but crashed hard on the descent, severely injuring his wrist. Bishop continued on the front with Wicks in tow. Eventually Wicks passed the cramping Bishop to finish second behind his teammate.

“Ryan is good at that kind of steady-pace effort,” Wicks said. “I’ve had pretty consistent results this year. It’s confidence off of the ’cross season. Ryan and I are just coming into the fast times of our careers — we’re only 24. I think we have the confidence to ride with the older guys now.”

For Trebon, who recently turned 25, the win is the biggest result of his career as a mountain-bike racer.

“This is a good one. I can’t complain,” Trebon said. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, this is a good idea,’ and then ‘Oh, man, this is such a bad idea.’ The heat was getting to me and I went through like eight water bottles. I was just trying to keep it together. But this is a good one.”

Clothes make the woman
At the onset of the 2006 racing season, Luna team manager Waldek Stepniowski handed his newest rider, Idahoan Georgia Gould, a national champion’s jersey won by Luna veteran Shonny Vanlandingham. Stepniowski told Gould to hang the jersey on her wall for motivation.

Gould’s visualization pays off

Photo: Fred Dreier

“I told him I’d burn a hole in it by looking at it so much,” Gould said.

The motivation technique worked, as the 25-year-old Gould made a late charge to win the pro women’s cross-country race.

“This is my best result ever. I’m really blown away right now,” said Gould after crossing the finish line. “I’m kind of overwhelmed right now.”

The Subaru-Gary Fisher duo of Heather Irmiger and Willow Koerber led the three-lap race early, attacking defending champ Mary McConneloug (Seven-Kenda) and Dara Marks-Marino (Titus-Kenda).

“Willow and I said we’d be teammates for a lap and then let it go,” she said. “We were killing it on the downhills and the next thing I knew I was on top of her and we were tangled up in the course tape.”

Koerber collected some splinters in her hip and a broken headset. A snapped chain eventually forced the Subaru-Gary Fisher rider to abandon.

Irmiger seized the lead on the second lap after a flat derailed Marks-Marino. Noticeably absent from the front of the group was Vanlandingham, who suffered a hip injury during a pre-ride crash. The Luna rider struggled home in seventh place.

Gould steadily passed riders on the course, whose long, exposed sections of dirt and paved roads and few descents suited powerful riders like the Idahoan.

“Knowing how Georgia rides, I thought she could pull it off. She’s such a powerful rider,” said McConneloug. “I was hoping to go out front and run away because I know my draft is no good for the person behind me. I didn’t have the power needed to go out front. Those girls were dropping me.”

Gould’s win marked a symbolic changing of the guard, as the past three national champions — McConneloug, Vanlandingham and Alison Dunlap — are all in their mid-30s.

“I just think it’s all mental,” Irmiger said. “If you believe you can do it you can, it doesn’t matter if you’re a newcomer. I think that’s why Georgia won today. She really believed in herself. Usually that comes with age, and she’s already got it. I think us youngins’ are on a roll.”

Oh, brother
One year after watching his older brother Andy win the U-23 national cross-country title, Montanan Sam Schultz followed in his footsteps, donning the U-23 stars-and-stripes jersey.

Schultz, who rides on the national U23 development squad, found himself riding alongside teammates Sam Jurekovic and Colin Cares after the second of four laps around the 7.9-mile cross-country course.

“I knew that we were probably the three strongest riders out there. Everyone was taking their fair share of pulls,” Schultz said. “We were definitely having a good time out there. Sam J. was trying to say that they’d give me the jersey but I didn’t want to take it like that. We had to sprint it out.”

In the end, Schultz outsprinted Jurekovic at the line for the win, followed shortly thereafter by Cares, the newest member of the national team.

“It usually depends on who’s having a good day. If Sam is having a bad day then one of us can take it,” said Jurekovic. “But Sam is usually the strongest.”

It’s the first national title for Schultz, who nearly rode away with the jersey in 2005 at Mammoth Mountain before a last-lap flat stopped him in his tracks, leaving his older brother free to snatch the win. Sam Schultz finished third.

“This is huge,” Schultz said. “It’s nice to keep the jersey in the family. I was disappointed last year, but Andy was going really good. I guess this was my year.”

NORBA National Mountain Bike Championships
Cross-country
Men
1. Ryan Trebon, Kona-Les Gets
2. Barry Wicks, Kona-Les Gets
3. Jeremiah Bishop, Trek-Volkswagen
4. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Subaru-Gary Fisher
5. Adam Craig, Giant

Women
1. Georgia Gould, Luna
2. Heather Irmiger, Subaru-Gary Fisher
3. Mary McConneloug, Seven-Kenda
4. Dara Marks-Marino
5. Susan Haywood, Trek-Volkswagen

Under-23 men
1. Sam Schultz, USA National U23
2. Sam Jurekovic, USA National U23
3. Colin Cares, USA National U23

Under-23 women
1. Jenna Zander, Bear Naked-Cannondale
2. Chloe Foresman, Tokyo Joe’s-GoLite
3. Melanie Meyers, Ford Cycling
4. Caitlyn Tuel, Trek-Volkswagen
5. Sabra Davison, Balance Bar-Devo

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