CARL DECKER ON THE USA CYCLING MARATHON NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
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Adam Craig (center) won the US Marathon Nationals, besting his friend Carl Decker (second from left) by only 12 seconds. The next closest rider was ten minutes back.
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“Adam and I know each other well after 9 years of riding Giants together.”
(Editor’s note: Giant Factory Off-Road Team pro Carl Decker provides his account here of the US MTB Marathon National Championships, held September 17 in Carl’s hometown of Bend, OR. Carl finished an extremely close second to Adam Craig of the Rabobank-Giant Off-Road Team, who scored his second national title of the year with this victory. The next closest rider behind Adam and Carl was more than 10 minutes back. Carl’s teammate, Kelli Emmett, finished second in the women’s race, scoring her second podium at a major event in three days. She placed third at Cross Vegas just a few days before.)
IN DUST WE TRUST
The MTB Marathon National Champs have always been at extreme altitude somewhere in Colorado. Or so I’ve heard—I’d never done the race until last week when it came to my backyard. Okay, it was actually 50 yards out my front door, but that’s beside the point. The point is: the race was in thin air, and always won by guys and gals from high altitude. This year though, Nats would be in my town, Bike Town USA, starting and finishing at the Old Mill District, situated at a totally reasonable 3600’. The voting among us Giant XC racers was unanimous: Sign me up!
With only 4100’ of climbing over 53 miles of racing, Adam and I suspected that this would be a course for full-suspension—Anthem X29ers. A practice lap of the course confirmed our suspicions. It was soft, dusty, bumpy, drifty, and twisty, but never steep. These were the type of trails Bend is known for: pretty mellow intermediate trails that really only get interesting with speed. But damn they get interesting in a hurry when you’re at Maximum Attack. AC and I had a great time pre-roosting those trails!
A few days before the race I was anxious. Adam and Kelli were both in Las Vegas for the Interbike trade show. Me? I’d asked to miss it in favor of resting and being 100 percent on race day. The problem? I felt like shit! All of the training I’d done to sharpen for the race had left me dull and plain worn-out. By Wednesday, I was really wishing I were in Vegas so that I could have something to blame for my later mediocre Nationals performance!
Raceday dawned and the gun went off. We rode a few miles of pavement at a leisurely warm-up pace, and Adam and I rode at the front when it turned to dirt. At the first climb, Jeremy Kobelski and teammate Sam Shultz made an acceleration, and I covered it. And it felt easy??!! Jeremy was 12th at the World XC Championships 14 days prior. Surely he and Sam were just getting started…
As soon as the singletrack began, I took the lead—just for a second—just to see how it felt. It felt good. After a few minutes of drifting and sprinting, Adam had dispatched the Treks and it was just the two of us off the front. And that’s the way it was for most of the race: two buddies riding wheel to wheel in their own backyard. We took alternate lines and passed each other and said “Ah Ha!” and we talked about how great our bikes were and how fun these trails were when you rode them in anger. We worked together. Adam and I always want to work together, but we seldom do. It was a good time.
On the long final descent into town, I decided to play it safe. I knew AC would take a faster line over some large jumps. I decided to take the slower line and catch back up for more chatting and bonding. After all, I felt incredible. What’s 10 seconds between friends? So Adam aired, and I erred. And then I had a 10 second gap to close over the final 15 miles. The race was on!
Adam and I know each other well after 9 years of riding Giants together. I know that he is Strong Like Bull. I know that he’s a fantastic bike handler. He knows that I am cagey in a race, and that I will usually (okay, always) beat him in a sprint. So that 10 seconds meant everything. If I caught him--even for a second—I’d win. If I didn’t, well—that would suit him just fine.
The chase was relentless and incredibly painful. I came within 5 seconds—twice! But never closer. At the finish, AC had 12 seconds and a Red White and Blue jersey to show for his effort. Well done.
Later he told me that he had to get towed up the hill to his house because his legs were so ruined from the chase. This made me feel like a pussy. I was totally able to ride up the hill to my house! I hadn’t tried hard enough! But I’d done what I could.
The Trek guys worked together to finish 3rd and 4th eleven minutes in arrears (!) followed by Colin "Care Bear" Cares. Adam and I had dominated the field in trying to outride each other.
Our teammate Kelli had a great ride too, but was eclipsed by an incredibly strong Pua Sawicki who finished shockingly close to some of the front running men. Still a great ride though, and following a kick-ass ride to 3rd under the lights at Cross Vegas to boot.
So, to all you triple-lunged Coloradoans: Maybe next year fellas!
Oh, but Marathon Nationals are here again next year. Maybe the year after that then. Home Trail Advantage is a real bitch. Best bring your dust masks, boys!
Happy Trails,
Carl Decker
Giant Factory Off-Road Team
(Editor’s note: Giant Factory Off-Road Team pro Carl Decker provides his account here of the US MTB Marathon National Championships, held September 17 in Carl’s hometown of Bend, OR. Carl finished an extremely close second to Adam Craig of the Rabobank-Giant Off-Road Team, who scored his second national title of the year with this victory. The next closest rider behind Adam and Carl was more than 10 minutes back. Carl’s teammate, Kelli Emmett, finished second in the women’s race, scoring her second podium at a major event in three days. She placed third at Cross Vegas just a few days before.)
IN DUST WE TRUST
The MTB Marathon National Champs have always been at extreme altitude somewhere in Colorado. Or so I’ve heard—I’d never done the race until last week when it came to my backyard. Okay, it was actually 50 yards out my front door, but that’s beside the point. The point is: the race was in thin air, and always won by guys and gals from high altitude. This year though, Nats would be in my town, Bike Town USA, starting and finishing at the Old Mill District, situated at a totally reasonable 3600’. The voting among us Giant XC racers was unanimous: Sign me up!
With only 4100’ of climbing over 53 miles of racing, Adam and I suspected that this would be a course for full-suspension—Anthem X29ers. A practice lap of the course confirmed our suspicions. It was soft, dusty, bumpy, drifty, and twisty, but never steep. These were the type of trails Bend is known for: pretty mellow intermediate trails that really only get interesting with speed. But damn they get interesting in a hurry when you’re at Maximum Attack. AC and I had a great time pre-roosting those trails!
A few days before the race I was anxious. Adam and Kelli were both in Las Vegas for the Interbike trade show. Me? I’d asked to miss it in favor of resting and being 100 percent on race day. The problem? I felt like shit! All of the training I’d done to sharpen for the race had left me dull and plain worn-out. By Wednesday, I was really wishing I were in Vegas so that I could have something to blame for my later mediocre Nationals performance!
Raceday dawned and the gun went off. We rode a few miles of pavement at a leisurely warm-up pace, and Adam and I rode at the front when it turned to dirt. At the first climb, Jeremy Kobelski and teammate Sam Shultz made an acceleration, and I covered it. And it felt easy??!! Jeremy was 12th at the World XC Championships 14 days prior. Surely he and Sam were just getting started…
As soon as the singletrack began, I took the lead—just for a second—just to see how it felt. It felt good. After a few minutes of drifting and sprinting, Adam had dispatched the Treks and it was just the two of us off the front. And that’s the way it was for most of the race: two buddies riding wheel to wheel in their own backyard. We took alternate lines and passed each other and said “Ah Ha!” and we talked about how great our bikes were and how fun these trails were when you rode them in anger. We worked together. Adam and I always want to work together, but we seldom do. It was a good time.
On the long final descent into town, I decided to play it safe. I knew AC would take a faster line over some large jumps. I decided to take the slower line and catch back up for more chatting and bonding. After all, I felt incredible. What’s 10 seconds between friends? So Adam aired, and I erred. And then I had a 10 second gap to close over the final 15 miles. The race was on!
Adam and I know each other well after 9 years of riding Giants together. I know that he is Strong Like Bull. I know that he’s a fantastic bike handler. He knows that I am cagey in a race, and that I will usually (okay, always) beat him in a sprint. So that 10 seconds meant everything. If I caught him--even for a second—I’d win. If I didn’t, well—that would suit him just fine.
The chase was relentless and incredibly painful. I came within 5 seconds—twice! But never closer. At the finish, AC had 12 seconds and a Red White and Blue jersey to show for his effort. Well done.
Later he told me that he had to get towed up the hill to his house because his legs were so ruined from the chase. This made me feel like a pussy. I was totally able to ride up the hill to my house! I hadn’t tried hard enough! But I’d done what I could.
The Trek guys worked together to finish 3rd and 4th eleven minutes in arrears (!) followed by Colin "Care Bear" Cares. Adam and I had dominated the field in trying to outride each other.
Our teammate Kelli had a great ride too, but was eclipsed by an incredibly strong Pua Sawicki who finished shockingly close to some of the front running men. Still a great ride though, and following a kick-ass ride to 3rd under the lights at Cross Vegas to boot.
So, to all you triple-lunged Coloradoans: Maybe next year fellas!
Oh, but Marathon Nationals are here again next year. Maybe the year after that then. Home Trail Advantage is a real bitch. Best bring your dust masks, boys!
Happy Trails,
Carl Decker
Giant Factory Off-Road Team
October 5, 2011
