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Kabush, Koerber kill it at Windham Mountain
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Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) and Willow Koerber (Subaru-Gary Fisher) won their respective Pro XTC cross-country races in the Yankee Clipper at Windham Mountain in New York on Saturday.
Kabush overcame a close encounter with a stump to take the win in 1:38:46 ahead of Max Plaxton (Sho-Air-Specialized) with Todd Wells (Specialized) third.
Koerber, meanwhile, celebrated her first pro win in five years by crossing just ahead of Luna teammates Georgia Gould and Catherine Pendrel, who finished second and third, respectively.
Into a gully, then into the lead
The pro men rode aggressively, with a small group emerging at the front, taking turns leading the race.
Kabush, fresh off his win at Mt. Snow a week earlier, fell victim to an early crash, riding into a stump. He was uninjured, but his bike tumbled into a gully.
“I had to hike down to get it,” he said.
Despite after a hard effort to get back on terms with the lead group, Kabush had enough gas to launch an attack on the fifth lap, catapulting himself into the lead, which he held to the line.
“The last month has been awesome. Hopefully I’ll stay healthy and get to Australia in one piece,” he said, referencing next month’s mountain bike world championships in Canberra.
Max Plaxton (Sho-Air) held on for second, but was unable to help teammate Sid Taberlay finish high enough to snatch the overall series from Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher).
The two were riding with Todd Wells (Specialized) following Kabush’s crash, but Taberlay flatted, presaging a bad day. High temperatures were also a factor in the race.
“With this heat, a bad day is very possible,” said Plaxton.
Wells used Taberlay’s flat as an opportunity to ride away. Plaxton chased back to Wells, eventually beating him. Taberlay finished fourth, behind the Specialized rider.
“That’s racing,” said Taberlay of his ill-timed puncture.
Koerber crushes, and impresses
Koerber took the lead on the top of the second trip up the course’s punishing climb, only to lose it to a flat tire on the next lap. After her competitors passed her in the tech zone, a team mechanic said to her, “You know, you can still do this.”
Inspired, Koerber attacked right out of the tech zone, quickly catching and passing her rivals to retake the lead. She flatted one more time, but had enough of a lead to nurse her brand-new Gary Fisher 29er back to the tech zone for a second wheel change before racing off once more, this time to her first victory in a pro race since 2004.
“I really needed to suffer," she said. "I was into it, I didn’t care how bad it hurt, I was going to win. Winning is a whole level of punishing yourself. You have to want it, because those girls are really fast."
Runner-up Gould called Koerber’s performance impressive.
“It was one of those days where she had the fire in her eyes. I just moved out of the way when she came up to me,” said Gould.
