CLICK FOR ON THE SIDE BAR Kirk Molday dropped out of the race after a couple laps with leg cramps. The No Fear/REI drop-off, ridden by pros only, is the gnarliest in America, with vertical pitches and a tree luge run that makes the infamous Bailey’s Bailout in Vail look like a cakewalk. Rumor has it that DBR is looking for a woman to race in their prestigious jersey. Perhaps Katherine Maher from Bend, Oregon? Industry-studette Mary Monroe came back from an auto accident to win her sport class event — rumor has it she’s gotten the Jamie Summers treatment. Several of the women will take advantage of the Hewlett-Packard road stage race between now and the next world cup in Canmore, Canada to bolster their base and take their fitness to the next level.

Both win two in a row

Alison Sydor

Steve Larsen (USA, Schwinn-Toyota) digs Red Wing. Maybe it's the great food at the Blue Plate, or the winding singletrack through thick green hills. One thing's for sure, Larsen loves this Welch Village course because he's won every single NCS race ever held here (okay, there have only been two). With thousands of enthusiastic fans, near-perfect conditions and his second win in a row, the U.S. National Champ probably wishes every race of the season were held here.

Alison Sydor (CAN, Volvo-Cannondale) crashed into a tree here last year, but won big today and has decided to forgive the course in this her second week of winning rides as well, getting "redemption for last year." This cross-country-only race, NORBA's third race of the season, highlighted the best in U.S. championship racing.

Welch Village is a tiny spot on the Minnesota map, nearly an hour's drive south from bustling Minneapolis-St. Paul. There's a general store, a river rafting outfitter and — oh yes, amazing mountain biking. Locals and residents from as far as Wisconsin know this bit of info and have gone out of their way the past two years to soak in the singletrack vibe and watch pro mountain biking.

Unlike last year's muddy conditions, this weekend was made-to-order racin' weather. Rains Friday night dried out in time for Sunday's race with a stellar track; grippy and smooth in the trees, hard and fast on the steeps. The full weekend of racing climaxed Sunday as both women and men blazed around the five-mile course and began to give a clearer picture of the '98 XC season, and how it may end up.

	Steve Larsen

Both Larsen and Sydor dominated their fields, going off the front hard and gaining time each lap, both paced by serious contenders looking for points and podium positions. But while Sydor put the hurt on Tammy Jacques (USA, Schwinn- Toyota) and never let the little tigress return to within 20 seconds of her physically-punishing pace, Larsen had his hands full the entire afternoon as David "Tinker" Juarez (USA, Volvo-Cannondale) shadowed the powerful climber until the bitter end. The sight of two top riders dropping their respective fields was a huge hit with an enthusiastic crowd of spectators, and was rewarded by cheering throngs on both sides of grinding climbs and impossible drop-offs.

WOMEN
Racing began at 10 a.m. as Sydor dominated her field nearly from start to finish. While not contending the NCS title due to her absence from Big Bear's round one, Sydor is motivated to win every race she enters and considers the NORBA series great training for her world cup title campaign.

"It's the best national series, and gives me a chance to try new things," Sydor explained.

She knew that Jacques could do damage on the climbs and so went out hard in the singletracks and technical descents, building on her lead by several seconds each lap. While Jacques chased gamely and joined Sydor in moving away from the rest of the field, she couldn't catch the physical Canadian and settled easily for the silver medal today.

	Juarez and Larsen

"All week I was worried about my start, because I don't usually start too well," Jacques said. "But today I had a great start, so you never know."

Jacques had divided the course into eight sections: start, hill, singletrack, whoops, climb, trees, climb and drop. She worked each portion hard, hoping for a big win but taking the leader's jersey neverless. "That was my goal, and I'm really happy to get it... finally!"

"[Tammy] passed me a couple times early in the race," Sydor said. "I had to ride the singletrack really well because it's hard to gain time there, but easy to lose it. This race was important to me, and even though my first priority is the world cup, I'm concentrating 100% out here."

Golden Brainard (USA, Catera/Pure Energy), who won round one, further impressed with an effort which nearly kept pace with the blazing Sydor and Jacques. She lead the rest of the women, including National Champion Ruthie Matthes (USA, PowerBar) and World Cup contender Chrissy Redden (CAN, Ritchey) as a long line of women raced and chased for 22 miles.

MEN
Larsen, like Sydor, had something to prove here in Red Wing. Beside the fact that he's the defending champ, he won last week in Seven Springs and here last season. The image of him hoisting his bike across last year's finish is now the image of this venue, used on everything from t-shirts to programs. And with Kirk Molday (USA, Trek/Volkswagen), last season's NCS points leader, still toasted from early-season illness, Larsen rides in everyone's cross-hairs. A flat took him out of round one, and he has to do well in all the rest of his races to even hope for a repeat. So when the gun went off this afternoon, no one heard it louder than the Schwinn rider several rows back in the grid.

Tinker Juarez would also like to show he's still a force. After a strong early season, Juarez has been looking for a great ride to boost his mental game and saw his chance on this technical course. So it wasn't too big a surprise when the two went off the front after a lap of leader-roulette.

The sight of these two champions shoulder-to-shoulder, standing on their middle rings up the nastiest climbs of this steep course was classic mountain bike racing. Larsen's hopes to crush the field again like last year were dashed as Juarez stuck to him like glue until the final climb of the five-and-one-half lap event.

One position back, a battle royale waged between preseason standout Roland Green (CAN, Mapei-Kona), David Wiens (USA, Polo Sport) and the surprising Seamus McGrath (CAN, Haro). This trio rode tightly the entire race, stretching out on the descents and re-gathering on the climbs.

As Wiens gave his all to defend the leader's jersey, Green looked to show why April held him so much promise. Also in the scuffle was Andres Brenes (CRC, Ritchey) and climbing legend Tim Gould (GBR, Schwinn-Toyota). By the end of the race Green squeaked by McGrath by three seconds with Brenes in hot pursuit and Wiens going backward several spots for a 9th place finish. Wiens did, however, keep his jersey and was all smiles after the race.

Larsen was also all smiles, again raising his Schwinn over his head in the hot afternoon sun.

"This is my favorite course; definitely the most exciting," said Larsen. "I was feeling stronger on the climbs, but because I had a bad starting position, I spent some energy getting to the front," he continued. "I just had to put the screws to [Juarez] on that final climb and was able to move away." With another win, Larsen knows he can't afford any missteps the rest of the season. "Now I've just to take them as they come," he said.

"I knew he was climbing a bit better than me today," explained Juarez, "so it was really just a matter of when he'd attack." That time came in the last steep climb when Larsen put the hammer down and walked away from Tinker to put 30 seconds gap on him in just a half lap. After nearly two hours of riding within feet of each other, the two silently rode their own race — perhaps secretly knowing the ultimate outcome but remaining wary that in mountain bike racing, anything can happen.

"I haven't had a race like that for a while," Juarez said. "It's good for my confidence."