The Rob Report

Author: Robyn Wong
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My first ever World Cup Mountain Bike race! The day was Sunday July 8th, the venue was atop Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Before the staging began, the atmosphere was rather quiet among the competitors when I heard “hey” from behind. A face that any keen Mountain Biker would recognise held out his hand and was keen to find out who I was. It was Mr Gary Fisher himself. He didn’t linger long but time enough to find out who I was and where I was from and totally happy that I was riding one of his bikes. Wahoo! That was pretty exciting.

One start loop and 7 laps!! The first corner of the pre lap was a ball of dust and stuck at the back I could see the leaders put the pace on and fire into the distance. The pre lap was not enough time to spread out the troops and naturally there had to be some who faltered on the rock drop off holding the rest of us up. So, it wasn’t a great start.

The course was short at only 4.7km, technical and had a section of steep energy sapping climbs at the end of each lap. The technical sections twisted amongst trees, were damp underfoot and of dark dirt with some nasty tree roots. Most of the course was single track with some loose rocky 4WD tracks. There were numerous bridges, lined with a non slip surface scattered throughout the course and a series of 3 fairly tight and gravely switchbacks. There were also a few fun rock drops. All in all, the course was excellent and totally challenging, having a bit of everything.

The top of the course was at 1100m and the weather surprisingly, wasn’t too hot. For most of the Woman’s race we were quite fortunate to have cloud cover. The men weren’t quite as fortunate.

During my 5th lap, I took a fall. I picked myself up, only to find my bar end had been wedged into a near vertical position, which I couldn’t force back. I continued riding but lost a few more positions as I composed myself and got back into a rhythm. Just as I finished that lap I heard the motorbike behind me, signalling the leader wasn’t far behind. I finished in 34th place, 2 laps down in a time around 1 hour 49 minutes. A bit disappointed but a great experience.

A dispute arose during the woman’s race which disqualified the Italian, Annabella Stropparo, as evidence was shown on video that outside help was given during her mechanical. Final placings were Barbara Blatter, Chrissy Redden, Alison Dunlap, Caroline Alexander and Mary Grigson. Ex kiwi Mary Grigson was in 2nd place before she punctured on the last lap.

In the Men’s race, Kashi did extremely well finishing 11th, taking his World Cup position to 15th. I was out there cheering him all the way. On Saturday during the DH semi finals I managed to briefly catch up with JK, April Lawyer, Lisa Horlor and Craig McGinnity.

Now, I’m on my way to Bend, Oregon to compete in the 5 day Cascade Cycling Classic road tour which starts on Wednesday July 11. After that I’ll head to Mammoth Mountain for a NORBA race, but will miss the 5th World Cup race this weekend in Durango, Colorado.