Mike Vine Reports from X-Terra Maui World Champs

the XTerra world Champs took place last weekend in Maui oct 23. i had been looking forward to this event for 3 years... and moreso of late because I knew I had the form to win this one. but with the brutally hot conditions and especially the jagged lava rock and keawe thorn infested bike course i've found it always takes a bit of luck in maui , and this year's race was no exception.

It started well with a solid swim... i tucked in behind peter reid and raced out to the first buoy with the leaders. after the first of 2 loops i found i was not far off the lead pack. At T1 I came out 1 minute off the fastest split. on the bike i found my legs right away, climbing well and moving from 20th up to 3rd within the first 15 minutes. Last year's 2nd place marceau was again riding in 2nd and tagged on when i went by. we traded back and forth for a couple km until we reached an extended climb and he popped. from here it was defending champ Eneko Llanos just ahead, who i soon overtook for the lead. i continued climbing with only the tv chopper for company, and feeling within myself. this is too easy i was thinking. prior to the race i had wondered if my hardtail would be the right choice, and so far it was fine... ie the course was smooth enough. but this is maui and with the experience of 5 tries before , i knew it just wouldn't stay this easy. and then the curse of maui struck again - while pedaling in the middle ring the chain sucked up and jammed, twisting a link. this sort of thing just doesn't ever happen anywhere else... only in maui. fortunately the bike was still rideable as the gears were skipping only in the bottom 4 cogs. so i rode on, still making solid progress over 'ned's climb' on the top of the course then down the plunge.

however the course is far from over here with the new loop. still remaining were a couple short climbs then a nasty traverse to the loop point over ball sized lava rocks of all sizes. The Frenchman Lebrun caught me along here and went ahead. we were both being bounced around on our hardtails .... i was making time on the downhills and lebrun was forging ahead on the uphills. in the final 100 yards of bone rattling descent before lap point the chain skipped off and kinked itself in 2 spots. i had to get off and work the kinks out, however it was severely twisted now. it was 10 min to T2 from here and all downhill. with the gears skipping severely i nursed the bike home where i found i was in 2nd , 1:35 behind Lebrun. the win was unlikely now, but 2nd sure would be nice. while switching into my running shoes the front of my thigh seized. best way to deal with a muscle cramp is to keep moving so i did, but uh oh, the speedsters llanos and mcmahon were now bearing down, among others. the new course starts with about 4 km of exposed uphill which had me struggling. Llanos caught me near the top. the leg had loosened by now and i was starting to come back somewhat so i was able to pace off him but the damage was done- i was now down to 3rd w/ mcmahon right behind. he went by although now with 3 km of descending i was improving and striding out more. it turned out to be a close finish when mcmahon started to fade however it was not to be. 4th again was my final finish.
with the big drop in prize $$ from 2nd to 4th i'm left reflecting on what might have been. It was a freak mechanical my bike was afflicted with and not much i could have done to prevent it. So the season is done now and I'm good and ready for some R&R - which for me entails a couple months of dirtbiking and full time wrenching in the garage.

All in all it's been a successful comeback season and satisfying to know i'm running at full power once again...and the horsepower is there to take on the big guns of xterra.

Many thanks to my sponsors - Driving Magazine of Maui, Frontrunners , Schwalbe Tires, Fox Shocks.
See y'all in '06
for now,
Vineman