Local mountain bike heavyweights Neal Kindree and Kyle Ritchie have just returned from Livigno, Italy where they competed in the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championship, and they've got stories to tell.
Kindree has returned a conquering hero with the fastest cross country time of all riders on Team Canada. He lined up with more than 96 riders from around the world to compete and was seeded in 10th position. Kindree quickly lost ground in the starting frenzy, having to jump off his bike and literally run through people to get past single-track jams in the first 500 metres of the start, which consisted of a wide loop that funneled into a 10-metre section of single track.
"Our coach told us it would be the most intense and aggressive start we had ever been in," he said. "I don't know why they designed such a crazy start. Can you imagine 96 of the fastest juniors in the world, all sprinting as fast as they can so they can enter the single track first? I was literally running and knocking people over to get through the jam!"
After the first lap he had moved up to 23rd position, about one and a half minutes down from the leader. He continued to work his way through the pack moving up to 7th position, only 25 seconds behind a group of five riders including the silver and bronze positions.
With 10 km to go, the course dropped down into a technical descent and Kindree's tire jammed into a rock knocking him off his bike and peeling his front tire off the rim. He did a quick flat change and lost three positions but quickly gained it back. He soon realized he was also losing air in the tire he had changed and was forced to stop and inflate it before descending the last technical section. A couple of riders went by but he managed to catch and pass them to regain his position and finish 8th overall.
Neal was very excited about his 8th place finish despite having a silver medal in his sights.
"I know in my heart what I was capable of and that makes me feel really good inside. It's been a terrific experience!"
In the junior downhill category, Ritchie said he felt solid after taking a run two days before the race.
"I cruised in my qualifier," said Ritchie, who qualified in 21st place.
But the day before race day, heavy rain drenched the course, changing it dramatically. The mud dried up before the run, but the "old-school" course of wide corners and big jumps was still altered. Ritchie said he was having a good run nonetheless, until he crashed.
"The whole course was pretty full-on," he said. "A lot of people crashed at high speeds."
Ritchie received cuts and bruises, but no serious injury. He ended up placing 42nd.
The season is over for Ritchie and he intends to milk his rest while working at a bike shop before starting another racing season in March.
Kindree will find out in the next 10 days whether he will be selected for the Pan American championships in South America on Oct. 30.
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