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Altitude camp pays off for JHK, Irmiger

Published: Aug. 5, 2006
Hi, honey, I'm home
Hi, honey, I'm home
Photo: Fred Dreier

In preparation for the August 5-6 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series stop at Brian Head, Utah, husband-and-wife duo Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Heather Irmiger borrowed the Irmiger family pickup and headed to Winter Park, Colorado, for a quick high-altitude training camp. The regimen included staving off mosquitos, shooting slingshots and a few epic training rides through the Rocky Mountain backcountry.

"We just wanted to have fun, and it worked out because the riding was great," Irmiger said. "I had a pretty awesome bonk one day. I broke my derailleur and ran out of water and food. Jeremy told me, ‘Maybe someone just got the altitude grumpies.’ I was like, ‘Dude! Shut up!’ We rode around 12,000 feet. It felt so bad."

The altitude grumpies were in full force at Brian Head, where the course’s 27-mile single lap started at 10,000 feet and just got higher. Several riders described breathing as like trying to inhale through a straw. But the thin air didn’t appear to hamper JHK or Irmiger, who collected their second consecutive cross-country victories at the southern Utah resort.

And now, while we wait for our feature presentation, a couple of selected shorts
And now, while we wait for our feature presentation, a couple of selected shorts
Photo: Fred Dreier

The long lap began with a 2-mile climb that included pavement, fire road and a gaggle of locals sporting nothing but underwear. The course topped out at the summit of the Brian Head resort, and then sent riders on a twisting maze of local trails with grim names like Blow Hard and Dark Hollow.

"At altitude like this, sometimes it’s just good to ride by yourself because it’s not really tactical," said JHK, who attacked at the top of the first fire-road climb and rode the rest of the day by himself. "I decided I was going to try to ride this race exactly like I did last year. I went really deep across that ridge. I just put my head down and really put it down from there."

A chase group containing Geoff Kabush (Maxxis), Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-Volkswagen) and Todd Wells (GT) could not bring Horgan-Kobelski back. Despite crashing and breaking a few spokes early in the race, Kabush rebounded to ditch the other two and finish in second place, nearly two minutes down. Bishop took the sprint for third. Their finishes kept Kabush and Bishop within striking distance of JHK in the NMBS overall points ranking.

"I just said, ‘Put your head down and don’t look back,’" said Bishop, who lost a similar sprint to Kabush at the NMBS No. 4 in Deer Valley, Utah.

Irmiger’s victory did not come as easily as her husband’s. She led a group containing Luna’s Shonny Vanlandingham, Jimena Florit and Georgia Gould, and Dara Marks-Marino (Titus-Kenda) to the top of the opening fire-road climb. Leg cramps and a slow leak hampered Marks-Marino, but Irmiger was unable to shake the Luna riders.

Another Luna, Czech Katerina Nash, joined the group after making up time on a technical descent, and Irmiger rode into the final wooded section with her and Vanlandingham, roughly a mile from the finish. But when the Subaru-Gary Fisher rider emerged, she was all alone.

"It wasn’t nearly as straightforward as last year. It was an insane battle today. Up until five minutes ago I wasn’t sure I was going to win," she said. "Katerina passed me in the final feed zone and got a 20-foot gap on me and I was about to give up and then was like, ‘No!’ I caught back up to her in the single-track and attacked. She didn’t respond."

Nash finished second, with Vanlandingham third. It was a confidence-builder for Vanlandingham, who has been off the bike since catching a cold last week and crossed the line covered in goo.

"I managed to find the only really slippery puddle in the course," Vanlandingham said. "Heather and I got a little gap and rode the whole descent together. Katerina caught us on the descent and just ripped it."

Super D
NMBS Super D series leaders and Trek-Volkswagen teammates Ross Schnell and Susan Haywood won the pro Super D races on Friday.

Schnell, who finished second at the July 15 national championships to Adam Craig (Giant), hung with Craig through the course’s initial descents. Schnell and Craig banged elbows as the Trek-Volkswagen rider made the winning pass near the bottom, but Craig said there were no hard feelings.

"Well, I deserved it after I almost put Ross into the boards at nationals," he said.

Haywood, meanwhile, took the victory ahead of Ford’s Sara Bresnick-Zocchi.

Race notes
Absent from the women’s cross-country field was Kelli Emmett (Ford Cycling). The 29-year-old broke her left arm during the Crankworx festival. Emmett will likely miss the rest of the NMBS schedule.

After double-flatting on Brian Head’s rocky trails, newly crowned national cross-country champion Ryan Trebon limped home half an hour after JHK took the men’s race. Trebon carried his bike for several miles, and said he simply tried not to hold up too many female riders.

American downhill legend Marla Streb had to leave Brian Head after crashing hard during Friday’s Super D. Streb, who gave birth to her first child in May, cracked three ribs and destroyed her bicycle after crashing. She was in third place.

With 16 competitors, the mechanics’ class was the largest group to hit the Super D course on Friday evening. Giant’s Tom Neb took the victory ahead of Maxxis’s Adam McGrath.

Longtime NORBA downhiller John Kirkcaldie (Maxxis) announced his pending retirement before Saturday’s dual slalom. The Kiwi will call it quits after the August 22-27 world championships in Rotorua, New Zealand. Kirkcaldie has raced professionally for 11 years and said he is ready to start a general contracting business in Wellington, and possibly coach for his cycling federation. "I’ve been thinking about [retiring] for the last season and a half, and I figured Rotorua is the perfect spot for me to retire," Kirkcaldie said. "I’ve been racing there for over a decade. I raced more years than I thought I would have. I’ll always remember my two NORBA-series titles and New Zealand national championships. I always enjoyed racing in the United States more than traveling back between Europe, so I turned into a NORBA guy. My ride on Maxxis will open up spots for two younger riders. It’s time for a career change."

NMBS No. 5 Brian Head, Utah
Cross country (unofficial)
Men
1. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Subaru-Gary Fisher
2. Geoff Kabush (Can), Maxxis
3. Jeremiah Bishop, Trek-Volkswagen

Women
1. Heather Irmiger, Subaru-Gary Fisher
2. Katerina Nash (CZ), Luna
3. Shonny Vanlandingham, Luna

Super D results
Men
1. Ross Schnell, Trek-Volkswagen
2. Adam Craig, Giant
3. Mike West, Maverick
4. Ariel Linsley, Maverick
5. Brent Winebarger, Aztec

Women
1. Susan Haywood, Trek-Volkswagen
2. Sara Bresnick-Zocchi, Ford Cycling
3. Linden Kimmer, Soulcraft
4. Heather Svahn, Content Works
5. Lrien Lightfield, Tamarack

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