Men's CrossVegas
by lyne on Sep 28, 2008 8:02 PM EDT
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The crowds were bigger and rowdier by the time the men's CrossVegas race started at 9pm. The presence of Lance Armstrong brought out a lot of media and the scrum at the start/finish line was unbelievable (see pic on the flip). It was so bad that when I was talking to the winner Ryan Trebon (Kona) after the race, we were physically pushed by folks, including media, trying to get close to Armstrong - blah.
But the racing was great.
"This was the most kickass [cross race] I've ever done, I've done a lot, I've raced I think eight World Championships, I don't know eight or nine Nationals in my time. So many people, to have Lance here, one of my other hero of all times, [Thomas] Frischknecht here closing out his career, it's badass." said US Cross Champ Tim Johnson who finished second.
Trebon wins after a solo attack in the final laps. I was all ready to get the shot but the guy (with a media pass) in front of me with his phone moved and so...
All photos copyright Lyne Lamoureux
The selection was made pretty early on as a group of about twelve riders separated itself from the pack which shattered in mutiple chase groups. Armstrong was in the third group chasing with BMC's Tony Cruz among others.
Canadian Geoff Kabush attacked the group with three laps to go and got a gap. Jonathan Page bridged up to him and...
"They went and I had kind of a bad moment there, and I just had to tip myself back, I kind of knew, Kabush was tired and Page went across to him and Jon wasn't doing any work and was sitting in so I knew it was going to come back , and I just kind of rode myself back into it. I don't know, I was just trying to do something like maybe get a group of three or four, try to see how it went from there, I just didn't want that group to go to the last lap." said Trebon.
The media scrum around Lance Armstrong at the start
Two-time Danish Cross Champ Joachim Parbo in the house.
Trebon leads front group through hurdles
Jonathan Page finished fourth
Third-place finished Adam Craig bunny hops while Frischy carries
The guys at the back of the field raced hard but enjoyed the crowds, grabbing money as they went. Some even came with wigs on such as Justin England and ?
Lance Armstrong over the hurdles
Kabush attacks with 3 laps to go but was caught and finished sixth. We asked him the following day what he though about Lance Armstrong racing and he said (with a smile): "Was he there? I never saw him."
Frischy finished fifth
Tim Johnson
Mountain Bike World Champ Christopher Sauser tried his hand at cross. He finished seventh.
Trebon still with the lead group in the final laps just before his solo attack
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Amazing report and spectacular photos, Lynn! Thank you!
They are so dramatic. Looks like the crowd was having fun, too!
yep, the crowd, the media and the racers were having a blast
this is a must see in future visits to Interbike.
Nicely done
Also, it is your duty to treat any line-jumping douchebag with a bop to the head, media pass* or not.
*anyone can get those these days. :)
Nice Pics!
Looks like you had your exposure set just right, Lyne. Many of the other pictures made it look so dark, you could barely make out the riders, much less any of the crowd.
By the way, did you have a moto for his race? Or did the guy with the camera phone take it?
GRINS
by Chief Commissaire on Sep 28, 2008 10:11 PM EDT reply actions
You put together a great cross report.
We should see about getting the Podiumcafe to send you to the World Cups and Superprestige series.
If Lynn goes to Worlds then
I go as her bodyguard. It’s only fair.
(picture of Lynn lost in a Sven Njis scrum while Drew knocks back yet another Leffe in the beer tent).
Lynn, did you get a chance to interview K-Bob (Kabush) or just as a quick question? He’s one of the more ‘animated’ guys on the scene, always been one of my faves.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
Talked briefly to Kabush the next day and he had the best line ever
when asked about having Armstrong at the race he said, “Was he there? I never saw him.” Brilliant
but unfortunately that was it. We left the cross race pretty quickly after the finish, especially as I could not even get to the front of the podium to take a pic. Even missed Frischy’s going away party.
That's a bummer but understandble.
I’m glad you even got to talk to him. Just one more cool Canadian.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
we decided to go to the Sinclair party and had to hustle to make it there after the cross races
we chose wrong. We left that party after one hour and went for food – nothing like a spicy Pho in the wee hours of the morning
Mmmm............... Pho
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
I Clark Kent/Supermanned it
in the cab on the way from the race to the party, only to drop my wallet on the floor of the cab. Ooops!
The dude behind me in line to get in to the Rio wanted to pay me 50$ for my pass: “You do realize that it’s going to be a total saus fest, right?” “C’mon, I’ll give you $50!”
The bro at the door gave me a hard time when I realized I had dropped my wallet (and ID) in the cab. I was alternately flattered and pissed until he finally let me in.
When we were getting into an elevator I smart-assed the people coming out “Hey, look! It’s a bunch of dudes!” and got mean mugged something fierce.
I enjoyed the view while my friends & I talked about that night’s race & the upcoming ’cross races.
I hate guys with camera phones
C’mon Chris – get on it.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
and of course...
you need gav along, to uh do gav stuff :-P
nice photos and interviewy bits. thanks.
funny guy that kabush!
You're aware there's no
surfing in Belgium, right?
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
but there is beer...
for cross worlds? i can skip some surf. sheesh, a girl has to have priorities you know.
Golf Clap
There’s some funny stuff over at HTATBL & the lack of organized beer feeds during the pro race. I asked one of the kids about the lack of orange jumpsuits and I guess the race organizer, Chris Grealish, shut them down because “Pro riders don’t take beer feeds” and then he proceeded to describe the differences between real racing and Californy racing.
There’s always at least two sides to every story and I didn’t track down Grealish to hear his side, but man, I distinctly remember seeing a goodly number of pro women & men taking beer feeds, pizza feeds, and dollar primes at last year’s ’Cross Vegas.
(And besides, ’cross is about spectator interaction!)
Ooooh yeah? What's this then?
Laten we eens gaan surfen nu
Iedereen is te leren hoe
Kom met me mee op een safari
Kom met me mee op een safari
Vroeg in de ochtend
We zullen beginnen
Sommige honingsoorten komen langs
We laden onze Woody
Met onze borden binnen
En leidt ons liedje zingen
Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets
I think we need to practice this song
and then go to a cross race and belt it out. I’m thinking of the Portland races in early December
so I read that as eleven woody – ROFL
so laughing right now
eleven woody – lol, yeah, that’s sure what it looks like, and i don’t want to think to hard about what we laden sounds like…
so heart me some flemish.
This could be my new tattoo
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
I might leave that up to
the masses. We can have a poll at the appropriate time :-)
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
Maybe.......... :-)
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
'cross tips for Lancey-pants
Not that I am in anyway superfly ’cross racer, but:
1) I noticed you had to look down to find your pedals. Stop doing that. You know where your pedals are. Practice.
2) You’ve a small stutter step. It’s not every remount, but on a couple of them, so it’s clear you’ve done some work on it. Keep practicing & drop the stutterstep.
3) You can not push knobbies as hard as you can push slicks in the corners. I think you learned that lesson the hard way.
4) You want your elbow in between the saddle and your body when your suitcasing your bike. It’s easier, more leverage, etc.
I have the name for my VDS squadra next year
Team Lancey-Pants
With Marian’s permission of course…….
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
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