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ADAM CRAIG: GOOD AS GOLD IN RIO!

Photo by Jake Orness from Sea Otter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(JULY 16, 2007) - Congratulations to Giant Mountain Bike rider Adam Craig!   Representing the United States, Craig won the Gold Medal in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 14, 2007.   The cross-country course appeared perfect for the 25-year old from Bend, Oregon, riding in his first Pan Am Games ever.  

   Craig is currently ranked No. 18 in the UCI standings and is hot off a 10th place finish at the No. 5 round of the UCI World Cup, held July 7 in St. Felicien, Quebec. The American looks primed for a top result at the July 19-23 USA Cycling National Mountain-bike championships, held in Mount Snow, Vermont.   You can read Adam’s blog about his Pan Am games experience below.   And details of Adam’s terrific win can be found online at:   http://www.velonews.com/race/mtn/articles/12765.0.html     ADAM CRAIG REPORT: PAN AM GAMES, RIO DE JANEIRO   (JULY 14, 2007) - I must say, this has been a good trip.  I was wondering if flying to Brazil for a week before Nationals was a good idea, turns out it was, for a couple reasons.   First of all, it was the right thing to do, it's an honor to attend an event where the best of the best athletes in all of North and South America converge for two weeks of competition amongst our fellow hemispherians...  There's a ton of events, today saw Taekwondo, Open Water Swimming, Mountain Biking, Fencing, Weightlifting and Gymnastics, and it was only the first day of the games, tons more random cool stuff to come...   Second of all, I had the best Washington, DC layover, probably the best layover period, ever.  Flew down from Maine on Monday afternoon, hopped on the USOC bus over to George Mason University where we would be doing Pan Am Team Processing and getting our shiny new clothes and assorted sundries.  After dropping off my stuff, Jason Berry (producer of Offroad To Athens) picked me up with a bike to borrow and took me to some ripping local singletrack for a sunset spin, which turned into a sunset of pinning it having a great time, that guy rips too...  After that, we went to a barbecue and caught up with some friends, new and old, ate meat and picked a kayak out of the quiver for me to borrow the next day...  Morning brought meetings and shiny new swag, midday brought a nap, and the afternoon brought a very refreshing, very entertaining, very much-needed run down the legendary Great Falls of the Potomac, nothing like warm water and twenty footers to get you fired up for an international flight...  Smooth check-in, some sleeping pills and I was in Rio the next morning.  Totally makes up for the dozens of times I've gotten taken advantage of in Dulles airport and not made it home till the next day...   I've never been to a proper "Athlete Village" (sorry, I'm on a computer lab unit or I'd send some pics....).  Turns out they're crazy places, everyone is a badass of some type or another, there's a massive tent for a dining hall that's open 24 hours a day, there's a huge "international zone" where athletes mingle taking in live music, street performers and a variety of interesting general culture.  All surrounded by 15 ten story apartment buildings of various pastel colors (ours was aqua-marine green, just like the rivers of Oregon...) which ring a lagoon complete with lit fountains.  Awesome.  Except for the perpetually broken elevators...  Ah, when in Rome...   And the racing.  Brazil has a formula.  Big MTB event = huge rainstorm two days out that renders the courses and venue totally unusable.  Everyone panics.  Practice is held in the mud the day before the event, but under sunny skies.  The event dawns sunny, hot and with perfect conditions on perfect terrain.  Black dirt singletrack up and down through the jungle.  It's awesome.  Everyone races and is stoked.  It's happened three times in a row in Brazil for me now...   The race itself was the first time ever a Gringo has gone into the woods first at a Pan Am event, to my knowledge.  That gringo was me after doing some bubba scrubbing over a few sweet start loop jumps and foiling the Brazilian blocking tactics...  Feeling strong is great.  I opened a gap on the first technical climb up the small looking but very worth hill that the course looped up and down three times.  From there it was just a steady charge to get time on Rubhino, the Brazilian hope who made a solid effort to keep up, pretty impressive actually.  For the next four laps he and I distanced ourselves from the field and I maintained a 40 second or so gap on him, the serpentine course giving plenty of opportunity for spotting your opponents progress.  The last couple laps the heat got to the local boy and, thankfully, not to me as I sipped ice cold Coca Cola and extended my lead.  Like I said, feeling good and being able to ride within yourself is nice.  The fans were definitely partisan though, which was entertaining, not really booing me, but definitely not impressed with my lead over their boy.  Most of the comments were funny and I was able to laugh along, but a few...  well, that's for another story...   At any rate, Pan Am Games Gold seems to be a big deal down here, it's been great to have a few days in a huge city racing bikes, relaxing and meeting a bunch of people from different countries and sports.  I'll be back in four years if they'll have me.   Thanks for all the support, from both the USOC, USA Cycling and the Giant Mountain Bike Team along the way.   Cheers, AC


16 July 2007