Winners give peak performance

DEER VALLEY — The cross country event in the National Mountain Bike Series was grueling. It involved laps around a 7.2 -mile course of steep climbs, dangerous switchbacks and rugged downhills. It was not, however, close.

Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, winner of the men's event, and Georgia Gould, winner of the women's race, were lone riders coming across the finish. Horgan-Kobelski won by 40 seconds and Gould by two and a half minutes.

Which, considering the field of 90 men and 67 women consisted of some of the world's best cross country mountain bikers, is somewhat surprising.

Horgan-Kobelski took a big lead on the first lap — 43 seconds — but gave it up on the second lap to trail Jeremiah Bishop by a bike length.

On a steep climb on the third lap, he passed Bishop, took the lead and rode hard, as he said, "because I didn't want to let it go."

Horgan-Kobelski, from Boulder, Colo., posted at time for four laps for 28.8 miles at 2 hours, 8 minutes and 19 seconds. Second was Geoff Kabush of Victoria, British Columbia, in 2:08.58 and third was Bishop of Harrisonburg, Va., in 2:10.39

While Gould, from Missoula, Mont., won the women's race, no one celebrated harder than Kathy Sherwin of Heber. She finished fifth to make her first podium appearance and to prove to herself that her decision in 2004 to go full-time into mountain bike racing was the correct decision.

Her previous best was a seventh in 2006. This year, circumstances haven't gone her way, "but you just have to push through," she said after picking up her medal.

Sherwin had worked for and ridden bikes at Deer Valley for nearly 15 years before turning pro. Having the home-court advantage helped, she admitted, "But this race is all about the engine and if the engine isn't working for you, even if you know the course inside and out, you won't do well."

There was an incident during the race she jokingly said helped. A bee got stuck between her forehead and glasses and stung her.

"It made me forget about the pain in my legs," she said, "so a little referral pain at that point was fine with me."

Gould's time was 1:51.49 over three laps, or 21.6 miles. Shonny Van Landingham of Durango, Colo., was second in 1:54:27, and Katherina Nash of Truckee, Calif., was third in 1:55.19. Sherwin's time was 1:59.21.