VeloNews | MTB News & Notes: A chat with Jill Kintner; Fontana gravity games; NorCal high-school racing; Sea Otter shift (original) (raw)

Posted May. 11, 2007

For the two years four-cross racer Jill Kintner has been America’s best hope to bring home a medal from the mountain-bike championships. She has delivered wonderfully, collecting the rainbow stripes in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, her gold at the world’s was America’s only medal in the sport it created back in the late 1970s.

Over the last two years, Kintner has seen few women racing four-cross. Some have traded in their mountain bikes for BMX rigs to chase after the 2008 Olympics. Others have been scared away by the World Cup’s monstrous four-cross courses.

Kintner, a former world champion BMX racer, has stayed true to her sport, hoping its popularity would rebound. But in 2007, America’s most-decorated active female off-road racer has seen her sport — labeled “mountain-cross” on this side of the Atlantic — all but disappear in America.

In April the Sea Otter Classic, North America’s premier off-road racing event, ditched mountain-cross in favor of BMX. And USA Cycling announced that dual slalom will replace mountain-cross at the 2007 National Mountain Bike championships July 17-22 at Mount Snow, Vermont.

VeloNews caught up with Kintner as she was racing BMX in Missouri to prepare for the upcoming World Cup season.

VeloNews: How has the racing been out in Missouri?

Jill Kintner: It’s funny, I actually did a road bike race. It was a crit. I’ve never raced on a road bike and it was hard. I full-on got fitted on a road bike and raced with a bunch of dudes. I was like, “What are these stupid attacks going all the time?” It was really hard.

VN: It sounds like you’ve been doing some BMX rounds as well.

JK: Yeah, I’ve been doing them just to enjoy it. I don’t want any attention for racing.

VN: What was your response when you heard that mountain-cross will not be held at the 2007 national championships?

JK: I don’t understand why they’re not doing it. They have no reason to. I think they’re just being slack and they can’t build proper courses, or maybe they’re so wrapped up in cross-country that they can’t see that mountain biking has evolved past 1990.

VN: The explanation I’ve heard is that building a mountain-cross course is too expensive and time-consuming.

JK: That’s a weak excuse. I honestly don’t get it at all. That’s what I heard was why they didn’t have one at Sea Otter. It was really hard to go there this year. I mean, the industry and the media is there and I didn’t feel like I even had an event to race. It was weird. I mean, [mountain-cross] is a big part of the gravity game. They race it at World Cups, they don’t race dual slalom. Slalom doesn’t even exist anywhere else but here. A guy like Gee Atherton is one of the best riders in the world and he has no idea what slalom is. He’s never seen it. What does that say about us supporting the growth of our sport in the world?

VN: Do you see the sport shrinking in other countries?

JK: No, even in Brazil everyone was so enthusiastic about four-cross. The energy was amazing down there and they put on a great event. It sucks now because I can’t even race in my own country. Not one single race. Crankworx is about the only place you can go, and even there the best girls don’t even show up.

VN: How do you think promoters could bring mountain-cross back in the U.S.?

JK: I think more people would race if the courses were up to par. The downhill guys don’t want to go to a NORBA and race around some hay bales and one roller on the track. Why would [Brian] Lopes show up to do one of those? Why should I, for that matter? Back in 2002 it seemed like the sport was huge over here. But then we went two years without prize money. The World Cups are so huge in Europe — I mean, you can’t even find a spot on the fence to watch. I hate to throw away a title [by not racing in the U.S.] but what does a title really count for?

VN: Have you given any more thought to racing BMX in the Olympics?

JK: I’m racing some BMX, but it’s just for training. I don’t want to make anything official, you know. I will always enjoy racing four-cross more than anything in the world, but it seems like everyone who is a top four-cross rider is bailing. I want to keep the sport alive, but I need competition. Yeah, I guess it’s kind of putting all of your eggs in one basket, and it’s a big risk spending your whole year training and competing in this sport. But I don’t want to leave this spot with any of my goals left on the table. I want to finish them all.

With BMX I think whoever qualifies [for the Olympics] is going to be someone who really dedicates themselves and doesn’t split their objectives. I don’t know, it would be exciting to try for [the Olympics] but I don’t know if I’m ready to change my objectives. I did BMX for a really long time and I got burned out. I just want to go and ride my bike.

Watch for a Planet Dirt story on the demise of mountain-cross in North America in Issue 9 of VeloNews, due to hit newsstands May 28.

Gravity games at Fontana NMBS
The May 5-6 Fontana NMBS serves as the first gravity race of 2007 - the April 1 NMBS in Fountain Hills, Arizona, and the Santa Ynez NMBS were cross-country-only events. This year, the heavy hitters were in full force in Fontana, as many of the world’s best used the NMBS to prepare for the following weekend’s World Cup opener in Vigo, Spain.

Australians Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Chris Kovarik (Intense) highlighted the list of gravity stars present at Fontana. However, it was American Cody Warren (Foes-No Fear) who pulled out the upset, besting Rennie on the short, two-minute rocky descent by just over a second. Warren, a native of nearby Alpine, California, has raced at Southridge since his days as a junior. American Kathy Pruitt (Jamis) gave the U.S. a sweep of downhill.

American world four-cross champion Jill Kintner (GT) was also in Fontana for the NMBS round. For Kintner, who spends most of the year living and racing abroad, it was her first NMBS race since 2005. She handily won the mountain-cross, and was joined on the podium by her teammate and partner, Australian Bryn Atkinson, who took the men’s competition.

2007 National Mountain Bike Series Gravity No. 2 Fontana, CA Downhill Men
1. Cody Warren, Foes-No Fear, 1:56.9
2. Nathan Rennie (Aus), Santa Cruz Syndicate, at 0:01.1
3. Justin Leov (NZ), Yeti-Fox, at 0:01.7
4. ndrew Neethling (SA), Mongoose, at 0:01.9
5. Chris Kovarik (Aus), Intense, at 0:02.0
6. Eric Carter, Mongoose-SRAM, at 0:03.1
7. Jared Rando (Aus), Giant, at 0:03.2
8. David Klaassenvanoorsch, ODI, at 0:04.2
9. Amiel Cavalier (Aus), Giant, at 0:05.5
10. 10. Duncan Riffle, Honda-Iron Horse, at 0:05.6

Women
1. Kathy Pruitt, Jamis, 2:22.9
2. Clair Buchar (Can), Specialized, at 0:02.3
3. Marla Streb, Luna, at 0:02.3
4. Lisa Myklak, Leelikesbikes.com, 0:04.1
5. Joanna Petterson (SA), Brodie, at 0:04.4
6. Melissa Buhl, KHS, at 0:07.6
7. Jackie Harmony, Brodie, at 0:10
8. Wendy Reynolds, Bear Naked-Cannondale, at 0:11.5
9. Caroline Jarolimek, The Fix, at 0:14.1
10. Darian Harvey, Durango Rough Riders, at 0:14.1

Mountain-cross Men
1. Bryn Atkinson (Aus), GT
2. Eric Carter, Mongoose-SRAM
3. Chris Powell, Avent/Bombshell
4. Dale Holmes (GB), KHS
5. Ryan Condrashoff, WTB

Women
1. Jill Kintner, GT
2. Melissa Buhl, KHS
3. Leana Gerrard, Bear Naked-Cannondale
4. Joanna Petterson (SA), Brodie
5. Caroline Jarolimek, The Fix

NorCal High School league’s South Bay Invitational
The fifth round of the 2007 NorCal High School Mountain-Bike League, the South Bay Invitational, attracted 270 high-school racers from 24 different Northern California schools. The race was held May 6 at San Jose’s Grant Ranch.

Reigning NorCal state champ Sara Ely (Nevada Miners) easily took the 18-mile varsity girls race. The 24-mile boy’s varsity race came down to a sprint, won by Menso de Jong (Archbishop Mitty) ahead of Tyler Brandt (Drak High School) and Andy Goessling (Berkeley High School).

The varsity boys race

Photo: Robert Lowe

The NorCal league is the country’s largest interscholastic mountain-bike-racing league for high-school-age athletes. It was started in 2000 by Matt Fritzinger, a math teacher at Berkeley High School.

Last year, some 300 high school students from Northern California participated in one of the league’s six races.

The South Bay Invitational was the fifth of six 2007 races. The NorCal league’s season kicked off on March 4 with the Central Coast Invitational in Fort Ord in Monterey, California. The series closes on May 20 with the California State Championships race, held at Boggs Mountain in Napa, California.

NorCal High School League South Bay Invitational May 6, 2007
Junior-varsity girls (12 miles): Lainey Aldridge, Harbor High School
Junior-varsity boys (18 miles): Will Curtis, San Rafael High School
Sophomore boys (18 miles): Max St. Pierre, Berkeley High School
Freshman/sophomore girls (12 miles): Corolina Gomez-Villafane, Los Gatos High School
Freshman boys, Division I (12 miles): Alex Stevenson, Berkeley High School
Freshman boys, Division II (12 miles): Niko Kaplanis, San Rafael High School

Sea Otter shifts for 2008
The Sea Otter Classic will be starting a little later for 2008. The cycling festival has occupied the second weekend in April since its inception in 1993. But next year, Sea Otter will be May 1-4 at the Laguna Seca Raceway.

Promoter Frank Yohannan said multiple factors influenced the change, including the dates of local, regional and national events, but the primary concern was weather.

“We do an survey of spectators and athletes every year, and while we can’t affect the weather, they always note that bad weather made things uncomfortable,” Yohannan said.

“We make a pretty serious impact on the terrain in our area, and one of the things we learned this year with drier weather was that there was little mitigation work we had to do on the land. In rainier years there is damage and work that needs to be done.”