1998 Norba Mountain Biking
Big Bear Lake, CA
May 16-17, 1998
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Marla Streb took second in the Downhill and 32nd in the cross country.
Marla rocks!
The difference between women's first and second place was more than nineteen seconds.
The difference between women's second and third was more than six seconds.
The difference between women's first and 30th was two minutes and thirty-seven seconds.
The same phenomenon occurred in the men's race. First to third place was separated by less than two seconds.
Fourth to tenth place was eight to almost 10 seconds out and by 20th place, the racers were almost 20 seconds out.
I dunno. I guess the times should be closer. Must be that little spaniard El Niño.
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Downhill #1
Mongoose Muscles Up Big Bear
The All-American Mongoose kids Leigh Donovan and Brian Lopes conquered the challenging Big Bear course in impressive fashion. John Tomac had posted the fastest time, but Tomac took seventh in the quals and had to wait for six other world class riders to try to beat his time. Then Brian Lopes came barreling down without a mistake. Brian beat out Tomac by .29 of a second and was the only other man to post a time under 4:45.
World Points leader, Jurgen Beneke (GER) took third place at 4:45:88. The strange thing was the numbers that followed. The rest of the top-10 men were eight to 10 seconds out and after 20th place, the pros were 20 seconds out. Apparently the course was weighing heavily on the endurance factor or it was evolving so fast that riders just couldn't adapt. Either way they can still blame it on El Niño.
Leigh Donovan posted the fastest qualifying time with Marla Streb following her lead and placing second. Elke Brusaert must have been doing what you'd expect in her qualifier run, going conservative. In her final she was more than 30 seconds faster and jumped from 11th to third. The mud seemed to weigh heavily on all, but the World Cup female competitors attacked it with speed. Cali-girl Michelle Bednar seemed at home here and brought home fourth place. Mercedes Gonzalez got an ankle injury on the upper section and DNFed and Tara Llanes was looking clean until she sunk deep and flipped in the mud.
The course here at Snow Summit wasn't very different from last year. Well, except for all the snow, snowmobiles, three pinners hiking up to ski down, creative footwear including duct taped shoes of all kinds including: mountaineering boots, snowboarding boots and the favorite of the day big tall rubbers.
Three days before the race Snow Summit got 10 inches of fresh and the roads were temporarily closed. The upper sections were dug out of the snow and remained frozen in the morning and moist in the afternoon. The lower section went from crusty to swampy as the day progressed. The bottom section had one particular descent that combined three consecutive small drops with puddles of unknown depth between each. The pros didn't have much trouble and would power through, but the expert and lower classes offered a spectacle for all to enjoy. The crowd continually grew at this section and the frontline was changing every run as spectators got soaked with mud or almost killed by some agro rider.
The story wouldn't be complete without a note about USA Today's "Worlds Greatest Athlete", Shaun Palmer. Shaun looked very fast in his qualifier and was. When he passed me, he had a lot more speed and fluidity than veteran Johnny T. His qualifying time of 4:47:86 would have gotton him fourth place if it had been his final run. Palmer apparently suffered the same fate as the rest of the pack in the finals. It had nothing to do with me getting the crowd around the mud to yell "Punk-ass" as he went by. I was only kidding, but a select few decided it was the right thing to do. Who-da-thought??
— Hans Prosl, gone agro for The Mountain Zone.
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