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Dirt Rag Articles
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It was dry and dusty on Friday morning when the Dirt Rag booth opened for business. We chose a site away from all the other vendors and race support tents and managed to take over at least twice our allocated space. The spectacle of NORBA style mountain biking was before us, which seemed to draw a much younger crowd than one might suspect. The Mt. Snow ski resort had been transformed into a wonderland of mountain bike racing—sponsors hawking their wares in the expo area, team mechanics slinging wrenches. The sun baked the wooded Vermont mountaintop, but on the whole the sunshine was gladly welcomed.
Rumors regarding Alison Dunlap’s injury status abounded (reports ranged from a broken wrist to speculation regarding broken rib or two) and admonitions of her bravery reverberated throughout the morning. When it was all said and done the pro-women’s cross-country race went to Jimena Florit but Dunlap did manage a very respectable seventh place, following on the heels of Willow Koerber whose sixth place finish marked her second top ten finish this year. Dunlap came even closer to victory in short track, coming in second to Chrissy Redden.
The men’s cross country and short track races went to Roland Green with Ryder Hesjedal coming in second in cross country and Paul Rowney taking second in short track.
The mountain cross was billed as spectator highlight of the weekend, and the pro finals did not disappoint. In the end, Brian Lopes and Katrina Miller stood tall as king and queen of the hill.
The downhill, particularly a section referred to as the “yard sale”, seemed to get the most attention—perhaps because of societies relentless ambition to see carnage. The crowd’s reaction to bouncing and bounding downhillers could be heard clearly all the way down the mountain. Australian racer John Waddell claimed victory in the pro men’s final, while Tracy Moseley of Great Britain won the women’s pro final.
Quite a few friends of Dirt Rag placed well in Vermont, including several of our hometown riders. It was especially nice to see Dirt Rag team jerseys adorning a number of racers, and the Dirt Rag flaming socks were obviously a big hit, as even racer-turned-announcer Chopper flew the Dirt Rag colors.
Our friends over at Shimano used the NORBA Finals as an opportunity to unveil the 2003 line of XTR components, noting that several pro racers would be competing with 2003 XTR equipped bikes. After a short presentation and obligatory unveiling ceremony, it was time to let the public give the new XTR a try. Shimano set up an enclosed test-area, and Chris DiStefano was kind enough to allow Danny Wilson and myself to hop over the velvet ropes and take a test ride ahead of the leering crowd.
I can’t say much about the new components other than that they worked fine in a controlled environment (and I suppose on the racecourse, as well) and the shifting mechanism is integrated into the brake lever. You press the lever up with the tops of your finger(s) instead of pushing the thumb shift mechanism in, and you press the brake lever down with instead of pulling the rapid-fire switch in. If that sounds a bit confusing just relax, new bikes will ship with 2003 XTR components almost immediately. Incidentally, a removable thumb-shift mechanism is included to help riders get over the initial shock of a new shifting standard.
Another interesting side note concerns the unchanged XTR V-brake design and Shimano’s confidence in their new XTR disc brake. Chris DiStefano explained that the new disc brakes come with no weight penalty, and thus Shimano will be phasing out the XTR V-brake altogether.
Back at the Dirt Rag booth, business was decent throughout the weekend, and our offer of free WTB Moto-Raptor tires persuaded dozens of racers and spectators to subscribe or renew. It was inspiring to hear one positive comment after another directed at the booth by passers by. Countless people earnestly implored us to keep up the good work and/or complimented us on the content and appearance of the magazine. One satisfied downhill racer specifically attributed his podium appearance to the advice given by Kyle Ebbett in Dirt Rag #95. Now who says you can’t learn anything about riding from reading?
My one regret is that the entire time we were in Vermont the Dirt Rag crew only managed to ride bikes for transportation around the resort and campgrounds. I guess we were tired from all the riding at Pedro’s Fest and in Boston. Between hustling in the expo area, attempting to cover the race scene, and (most importantly) communicating with the people, we barely had time to get acquainted with the lay of the land, let alone ride the course. As a result, I can’t personally comment on the riding in the area, but all reports seemed to indicate a big thumbs-up. Next year we’ll just have to arrive a day early or leave a day late.
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