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Chris
Eatough Race Report: Chevy Trucks Norba National XC #2 Alpine Valley, WI - 6/14/02 |
 Chris Eatough |
 Jeremiah Bishop |
There was an abundance of excitement at the new Norba National venue of Alpine
Valley, Wisconsin, and the "cheeseheads" were treated to some great
racing. My Trek teammate, Jeremiah Bishop, and I drove the team VW Eurovan up
from the East Coast to arrive on Wednesday, and went right out for a ride on
the new course. What we discovered was a fun mountain bike track with a good
variety of climbs, singletrack with rocks and roots, and flowing downhills.
We also discovered some mud, which was peanut butter thick at times, but also
dried up quickly in between the rain showers which continued throughout the
week. Jeremiah and myself both felt the conditions were in our favor, since
the course was more technical when slick, and East Coast racing has provided
plenty of mud racing this spring.
Wet conditions are harsh on the hardware, and it took lots of love and care
to get my Trek bike tuned and prepped for battle. Thankfully the tech guys at
SRAM, Hayes Brakes, and Rock Shox were on hand to help me out, and my bike ran
perfectly all weekend.
On race day the start was fast (as always) since 100+ Pro men don't all fit
at the front of the race on narrow trails (yet they are all determined to be
there). I didn't have the explosiveness to burst through to the front, which
meant I was slowed down in some traffic and found myself somewhere around 35th
place on the 3 mile start loop. However, the 27 mile race would take over 2.5
hours, and I knew that many of my competitors would be unable to maintain the
effort and aggression throughout. I managed to move up to around 20th going
into the 4th and final lap, and picked off a few more near the end to finish
15th. I was just over a minute out of the top 10, which is an ongoing goal of
mine at Norba National XC races.
Jeremiah also had a solid race, coming in 21st, which moved him up to 22nd in
the overall National rankings. We were both cheered on by rowdy and enthusiastic
supporters all around the course, creating a "home court advantage"
for all the Trek riders, since the factory and headquarters are local to that
area.
The Norba Nationals continue this weekend at Snowshoe, WV, with Pro XC on Friday
and Short Track on Saturday.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Eatough