Unless you
enjoy riding in the cold and snow, which I admittedly do quite often, this time
of year will likely find you sitting in a back room or basement plugging away
on a trainer, rollers, or a spin bike for hours on end.
Indoor
training is not exactly exciting although training videos (such as the
Sufferfest) can make things more bearable. But, there is another option which
does not include a staring contest with your water heater as you try to finish
an interval set. For a bit of racing excitement while you pedal away in one
spot, we mountain bikers can turn to reruns of the UCI World Cup XCO race
series. Thanks to Red Bull, each World Cup race is shown live online at Red Bull TV.
While this
is great, the really fun part is the on demand feature which allows you to
watch races from the past few years. In other words, perfect entertainment for
winter training. There are plenty of races available, with seven races per year
and both elite men and women races being available, along with eliminator
races. (Be warned, the website is difficult to navigate. I've found the best
way to find a race is to search for the actual race and year in Google as
opposed to spending hours digging through the website) Warning, there are
spoilers below, so if you don’t want to know how the race ends, just click on
the link and get pedaling. Otherwise, dive on in…
Elite Men World Championship 2014, Hafjel Norway: A very recent contender, this past year’s
world championship race saw XC giant Julien Absalon facing off against
Switzerland’s Nino Schurter. Absalon was fresh off his first World Cup overall
win since 2009 while Schurter was the reigning world champion. Schurter had
also missed a few early World Cup events to dabble in road racing but had
returned to win the final three races of the year, using his full suspension
27.5 Scott Spark 700 to good effect on the technical parts of Mont Sainte Anne
and Windham, while Absalon seemed to lose time on his traditional hardtail.
As expected,
the race came to a head to head affair, Absalon versus Schurter. Neither man
could get much of an advantage, although Absalon launched a blistering attack
during the main climb on the course in what had all the makings of an attempt
to break Schurter. Although Schurter had appeared somewhat fatigued, he
responded in kind and both riders raced neck to neck, out of the saddle, in a
full sprint up a ridiculously steep climb. It was a fantastic scene and great
display of power.
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| Schurter and Absalon shoulder to shoulder on the main climb at the 2014 World Championships. (Captured from Red Bull TV) |
While
Absalon conceded the uphill sprint and settled back on Schurter’s wheel (yeah,
I’m going to give away the ending) he eventually passed Schurter, opened a gap
and went on to win the world championship, while Schurter uncharacteristically
face planted on a rocky downhill on the final lap. Not that this cost him the
race since the gap to first was too large to overcome anyway, but such a
mistake is not seen often from Nino Schurter.
Side note: Italian racer Marco Fontana (Cannondale Factory Team), despite not making any noise during the World Cup races, came back and rounded out the podium with a solid 3rd place finish. Must have been because he got rid of his traditional baggy shorts and went with straight lycra. The women’s race is also a good watch, with North America being well represented with Canadian Catherine Pendrel and the United State’s Lea Davison coming in first and third respectfully, despite both missing early season races with injuries.
Elite Women, La Bresse France 2012: Perhaps my favorite race of all
those available on Red Bull TV, La Bresse featured a course designed by Julien
Absalon's brother and actually contained very little, if any, manmade features
and several difficult technical sections. The women’s race featured the regular
big names and Katerina Nash with the Luna Pro Team took an early aggressive
lead over her Luna teammate Catharine Pendrel and Julie Bresset of France.
By
lap 3 Pendrel and Bressett had caught and passed a fading Nash, with Pendrel
taking a very narrow lead. However, on a steep muddy downhill section Pendrel
foundered a bit and went off a drop too steeply, almost went OTB and had to put
a foot down to regain control. Bresset was hot on Pendrel’s wheel, and also
took the same drop too steeply, nearly hit Pendrel, broke left before flying
over OTB and went face first into the rocks and mud. While Bresset and Pendrel
were busy trying to sort themselves out, up comes Nash who dismounts, runs past
both riders, and takes the lead.
 |
| Chaos breaks out on the downhill at La Bresse as Julie Bresset goes over the bars. (Capture from Red Bull TV) |
At the same time, Gunn Rita
Dahle was in fourth and still in the hunt and eventually works her way up to
second behind Nash. The race is Nash’s to lose, but what has to be fatigue gets
the best of her and a series of small mistakes and crashes allows Dahle to gain
even more. Finally, on the last lap Nash crashes just before the downhill which
claimed Bresset and Pendrel allowing Dahle to pass her with a very short lead
heading into the finish. I won’t spoil what happens on this one, but the race
is a favorite. The leaders, all giants in women’s World Cup racing stayed close
to each other for the entire race and the mix of catastrophic crashes and
multiple lead changes kept things exciting up until the very end.
Elite Men Albstadt
Germany 2013: Germany hosted the kickoff event of the 2013 season and
the day of the race was marked by a wet and slick course thanks to a rain
storm. This led to an exciting race which saw the two favorites, Julien Absalon
and Nino Schurter both having off days. For Absalon the end came on lap 5 of 7
when his bike literally came apart. He had been leading by a good margin and
was reduced to angrily stalking down a hillside carrying the pieces of his
shattered bike, a walk which was documented in excruciating detail by the
numerous video cameras on the course.
For Schurter, things just didn’t pan out and he appeared to suffer a mechanical which his mechanic blandly attributed to a fork issue in a mid-race interview. The race came down to a group of 5 riders who were roughly 15 seconds apart at the intermediate time check. Ultimately, the day belonged to Australian Daniel McConnell riding for Trek Factory Racing. In 2012 his highest World Cup finish was 19th but at Albstadt McConnell was in the right place and steadily worked his way near the front (he was outside the top ten before lap 5) and was set up for a furious run into the finish. This was the start of a good season for McConnell who ended up having enough points to take 2ndoverall in the series.
Honorable Mention: Pietermaritzburg,
South Africa 2012, Elite Women: Also a great race, this one stands out for
the long duel between Poland’s Maja Włoszczowska and Canada’s Emily Batty.
Repeated attacks failed to dislodge either woman from the other’s wheel, but
the turning point came on the last lap in the middle of a very technical and
rocky downhill called the Tree House. Batty went into the section in the lead
and took the much shorter and harder inside line but seemed to do so in a
careful, and slow manner. Włoszczowska was hot on her heels and absolutely
bombed down the longer and less direct outer line, came even with Batty in the
middle of the section, and came out slightly ahead for the run in to the
finish.
 |
| (Red Bull TV Capture) |
It
was a fantastic move which paid off in grand style, while depriving Batty of
one of her best chances for a World Cup win.
Of course, the
above thoughts are my own, and there are plenty of other good races that would work well for helping those long hours of indoor training fly by if the need arises. Have a suggestion for another race you think
deserves a mention? Share with the class in the comments section.
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