21-22 June, NORBA, Mt Snow, Vermont.

The road trip from West Virgina to Vermont was a great opportunity to see a little of East Coast America... especially as our cruising speed was just 50mph (80kmh) due to a heavily loaded trailer! It took us 15 hrs driving, which we split over two days. None the less, we had good fun, with Wade Bootes as chief comedian. We took a hotel in a typical east coast town called Wilks-Barre, during my 3hr morning ride I saw my fair share of rednecks, trash, and beaten up pickup trucks.

It seems that the Mt Snow race has been on the circuit since the beginning. The rooty, super technical single tracks seem always to be slick, and the course always splits up the field, creating a super tough race. Filip Meirhaeghe, winner of the most recent world cup in Fort Williams, and Roland Green would ensure that it would not be an easy race too.

Up the first climb I felt good, although Green and Shamus McGraph had already opened a small gap. For the first lap I stayed close to Jeremy Horgan-Kobelsku, Todd Wells, Ryder Hysjedel and newcomer Jeremiah Bishop. It was going to be a long race, and you don't want to blow on these single tracks! Filip didn't seem to be in contention, which was a surprise. But, my cursed season caught up on me again by the end of the second lap. I was bombing down some technical section and slammed my rear wheel onto a sharp stone, cutting the side wall. I tried fixing it, but the hole was too big. Its the 3rd race out of 4 that I have had problems, so you could say I was a bit frustrated.

077menpodium.art

NORBA - Snoe Shoe, West Verginia

You could say that we've eaten our fair share of mud in the past two days! It was never in doubt that it would rain here.. I mean, it has rained here every day since April 1st! Therefore, it was quite a surprise to find a course full of flat single track sections, which don't typically handle rain well. Then with some hard rain the day before, and all the riders riding the track, the track became mostly unridable. But, what was ridable was pretty awesome fun.. it was like trying to ride down a hydro-slide, full of rocks and roots.. you just had to go with the flow. The flat parts basically sucked shit. It was more a matter of who could drag there bike the fastest through the much.
The new NORBA lap format has been designed so men and woman can race at the same time, so the laps are much longer. We ended up racing just 2 laps, with a total distance of just 16 miles. Not long, but the final finishing time was still 1.45hr, which just goes to show how slow the course was.
I was pretty excited before the start, as Roland Green decided not to come, leaving a great opportunity to try and win the race, although I knew the muddy conditions didn't really suit me well. From the start it was Ryder Hesjedel that took command, but I was always in contention. II was loosing a lot of time on the running sections, but gaining the time back on the descents. The mud was causing all sorts of problems with the bikes. My gears were skipping from the first climb! With 5km to go there were still 4 riders almost together.. Ryder, Todd Wells, Jeremy H. Kobalski, and myself. Then we hit a huge running section, and Ryder got a big gap. The 3 of us tried to work together to bring him back, but coming into the final climb, Todds gears started jumping, and I couldn't get my cleat in. Jeremy was off chasing Ryder, and I was left battling with Todd for the 3rd place. My legs were feeling pretty dead, but I managed to jump Todd on the final 500m which felt good.

The STXC today was a bit of a non-event.. at least for me. It was raining non-stop all day, then I got called up in 31st position, making it pretty tough to get to the front. By half way I had worked my way into 10th position, but then wiped out hard on an ashvelt corner. I got back on the bike and tried to regather momentum, but a few laps later I crashed again. By this stage I was quite far off the back, and so was lapped out shortly after. My final position was around 30th or something. Jeremy won the race, and Trek/VW rider Travis Brown fished 4th, and Sue Haywood 2nd in the woman's.

Podium at Snow shoe!

NORBA NCS 2, Snowshoe, WV, June 14
Cross country
Pro men:
1. Ryder Hesjedal (C), Subaru-Gary Fisher, 1:38:16
2. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, RLX-Ralph Lauren, 1:38:29
3. Kashi Leuchs (NZL), Maxxis-Trek, 1:39:13
4. Todd Wells, Mongoose-Hyundai, 1:39:26
5. Paul Rowney (Aus), SoBe-Cannondale, 1:39:47
6. Seamus McGrath (C), Haro-Lee Dungarees, 1:40:12
7. Jeremiah Bishop, Trek-VW, 1:40:56
8. Geoff Kabush (C), Kona-Clarks, 1:42:12
9. Walker Ferguson, Subaru-Gary Fisher, 1:42:36
10. Adam Craig, Giant-Pearl Izumi, 1:43:27

New bikes!

Trek have just given me two very nicely painted new frames, using there "Project 1" technology. The paint job has had everyone turning heads all weekend, and the best thing is that I have a hardtail to match. Trek sure are spoiling me! Here in the photo, Pat, one of the Trek/VW mechanics is building my bike up for me. He is working my bike at all world cups and norbas, and doing a great job so far!

EuroCup, Hasliberg

I think I have a curse on me at this race! It started last year when I put the rear derailler into the wheel, and Helena punctured out as well. Now this year, I was having a great race, and at the half way point was just 10sec behind Roul Paulisson, and Christoph Sauser. But then on the next lap I screwed up on one of the tricky decents, and managed to hit a big ditch, slamming my butt straight into the saddle very hard. It was just unlucky, that I had put on a new carbon railed saddle for testing, and it just snapped. I could have tried to continue, but I thought it might be better to save the energy, as I have to race a NORBA this Saturday, and I have a long travel day tomorrow to Snow Shoe, West Vergina.

Kashi's report from Scotland

31 May - World Cup #2, Fort Williams, Scotland (9th)

2hrs drive from the Glasgow, Fort Williams is a small touristy town nestled below the vast and beautiful green mountains of the Nevis range. There's not much else out here except pubs and sheep, which is about the only explanation I can give to the incredible turn out of spectators this weekend. Well, that, and we had probably one of the few sunny weekends all year!

Our race was on Saturday for a change, and the locals had built us a very techi course, full of drops, roots and burms. It started with a long open climb, and although I had prepared perfectly, I still lost many places, forcing me back in the group for the first decent. Because of this I lost 1min on the first lap, and meant I was forced to play catch up once again..

The next 2 laps I rode well, and actually maintained my 1min gap to the lead group, catching and passing a few small groups along the way. The descents were awesome fun.. and the crowd were always cheering me on, as I guess I was one of the faster riders. By the final lap I had bridged up into the top 10. If only I could get my starts better, I am sure I would have been on the podium both these last two weeks. But that's racing! We managed to get out for a good night out afterwards, drunk some Guinness, and danced with the local youngens.

Other cool news is that Susi is still in the leaders jersey for overall world cup points. Mio from Trek/VW finished 2nd in the 4cross. Then today, my x teammate, Cedric Gracia won the DH. Overall, its been a nice weekend up here in Scotland..

dats bout it. latr, Kashi