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| Willow won the XC race but mentor and teammate Jimena made the podium also. Willow would go on to win the next NORBA National at Mt. Snow as well. Jimena bowed out gracfully in 2005, still near the top of her game. No one has been a better ambasador for mountain biking. |
| Schweitzer is not exactly easy to get to. First you have to get to Spokane, Washington, then drive 1.5 hours to Sanpoint. From Sandpoint, the access road to the mountain is nine miles straight up! |
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| NORBA National August, 2004 As it turned out, this trip to Idaho will never be forgotten. Sandpoint is a vacation town of 7000 people sitting on 43-mile-long Lake Pend Oreille and at the base of Schweitzer Mountain Ski Area in the Selkirk Mountain Range. Little did I know that I would be spending a week or so in their small hospital and employing the services of an orthopedic surgeon. More on that later..... |
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| No flat trails on this mountain |
| The racing was held at the ski area and for once we did not seem to actually ride on ski trails. The cross country course began with a huge climb over a mile long. Just when you thought you must be near the top you took a left turn onto much steeper singletrack. The intial downhill sections were fast but mixed with new singletrack... always an adventure. Somehow you emerged back onto the initial climb in the opposite direction until they routed you onto the dustiest switchbacks I have ever ridden (OK , I walked a bit the first couple times). The powder was very similar to Nestle's Quick! (continued below) |
| Following the switchbacks you began to make long traverses on the mountain. It seems like there were four or five of these, with another set of steep switchbacks somewhere in the middle. Finally you made a mostly downhill run of about 2 miles to the finish, but an upturn at the end made it painful indeed. Ryder Hesherdahl was the star of the week, winning both the Cross Country and the Marathon. He annoucned that he was going for three on the last day....attempting to win the marathon and Short Track within an hour of each other. Geoff Kabush, who had broken an Egg Beater pedal in the cross-country said "enough" and took the Short Track convincingly. By the way, Geoff rode a whole lap of the XC on just a pedal spindle and still took second! I honestly can't remember much of the women's events, except that Willow Koerber had a break-out race and was mugged by Jimena at the finish. Shonny Vanlandingham, Dara Marks-Marino, and Kelly Emmett also made the podium. |
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