September 16/04 7:37 am - Geoff Kabush Report from MTB Worlds

Posted by Editoress on 09/16/04
 

Geoff Kabush Report from Worlds
Courtesy Team Maxxis

The last MTB race of the year for me was also the biggest and this year the chase for the rainbow stripes took everyone back to Les Gets in the French Alps.  The season has been rolling along quite swell so far and I got rewarded the morning before I left with a phone call notifying myself that I had been selected to ride in the Team Relay for Canada.

The team relay is one lap of the course for each of the four team members; one Senior male, one Espoir male, one Junior male, and one Senior female.  For Canada the team consisted of Max Plaxton, Raphael Gagne, Kiara Bisaro, and myself.  It was kind of special because Kiara and I are from the same hometown and we were all very motivated because we knew we had a chance to do well if everything went smoothly.

I went first and felt a bit nervous with the rest of the team depending on me but I knew right away the legs were good.  I moved to the front halfway through the lap and kept it pinned to the finish to give us a 10sec lead with the fastest lap of the day.  It got more exciting as Max overcame a early fall and stretched the lead out to 45sec.  It got interesting because teams send their riders in various orders and Kiara went third for Canada riding against most of the other team's Junior males.  Time seemed to slow to a stop as we waited for updates but Kiara rode strong and Raphael left the transition with 1:50 to make up and in 7th place; but it was all women in front of him.

We all stood at the finish line with arms around each other waiting for updates......5th @ 1:00........3rd with half a lap to go.........and finally we caught a glimpse of Raphael going into the final pitch right behind Barbara Blatter.  Shivers went through down my spine as he powered by her and we waited another couple of minutes until he popped back into sight to ride across the finish line and give Canada the win by 20secs.  I knew we could do well but to win and get a rainbow jersey was amazing.

It was a little hard to sleep for a night, my week wasn't over and I had to get ready for the Mens XC on Sunday.  It was a beautiful week of course until the night before the XC when it started to pour and pour more rain.  I finally had to give in and take off my beloved semi-slicks and put on some serious mud tires.  It was a pretty serious mix of mud and grass and I had the usual spazzers in front of me and lost a bunch of time on the start loop to begin around 60th;  legs felt good but the conditions were frustrating. 

Things were getting so bunged up that I was chucking my bike in a lake to try to get some of the mud and grass off the drivetrain;  on the last lap I just left it in the big ring to avoid any problems.  I finished strong with the 6th fastest finishing lap and was able to move into 15th.  My best ever Worlds result but a little bittersweet because I felt like I could of done even better.  I forget about everything pretty quick when I look at my rainbow jersey from the relay and I can call it a wrap on by far my best MTB season to date.

I am heading home for a little down time; maybe a trip to my family cabin on Hornby Island; catch up with all my friends; eat some good pastries;  but not too many.   It isn't long before I launch into my first full cross season with the newly formed Maxxis-Giant Cross Team.  I can't wait, it should be fun.

over and out,

gk