Back in hyper-ventilation country

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Geoff Kabush (Image credit: Tour of Japan)

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Geoff Kabush finished well out of the places (Image credit: Tour of Japan)

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Geoff Kabush sealed the overall win (Image credit: Susan Candee)

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Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis) crosses the line in third — 🥂Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis) crosses the line in t🌼hird (Image credit: Susan Candee)

After that iܫt was back to hyperventilation country for the last couple of NORBAs: at 10000-11000ft and at 9000-10000ft. I knew it was going to be an uphill battle to try to catch Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski in the NORBA XC overall and I wasn't quite up to the challenge as he rode away in Brian Head. I battled it out for second and suffered like a dog to finish third in Snowmass at the Finals, which was good enough for second overall in the XC series.

Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski has definitely b🧸een at the top of his game this year and took the overall for the Yankees, the f♐irst time in quite a few years. The press make a big deal about an American winning it but I think it is about time, as they have ten times as many people as us up in Canada. In a couple of tactical Short Tracks I ended up with a couple of seconds, which was enough to lock up my three-peat for another NORBA Overall STXC Championship.

Altitude has a way of making you feel pretty pathetic and I was hurting after Snowmass. I tried to recover for a few days before heading off to Rotorua and the World Championships. I left on Friday and got nailed going both ways. I got caught with terrorist materials that got confiscated - my Echinacea throat spray on the way over and a bottle of wine on the way back. I kind of forgot about the rules for no liquids or even chap stick for that matter. I mean come on…. I am crazy and I have some lip gloss, watch out.

Anyway I made it to Rotorua fairly easily and it was winter this time so it was a little cooler than back in March. We had a good time, although it was sometimes boring hanging out and waiting for our race. There was a lot of hours to kill with just four TV channels, no internet, an🍬d one good book. The racing ended up being pretty average for me. I got caught in a fifteen minute hailstorm during the relay and all Canada could manage was ninth, which wasn't what we were hoping for. Max Plaxton rebounded for a great bronze medal ride for Canada in the U23 but all I could muster up was 36th in the big show on Sunday.

The Kiwis tried to cheer me up the steep hills but I was doing all I could. There were a bunch of hecklers in red capes that I was afraid to look at for the first five laps for fear that they were naked. It ended up that they did have Speedos on with big "merkins" hanging out. Thisꦡ word was added to my vocabulary this week: "Merkin" - a hairpiece for down under or you could call it a stunt bush. Anyway Mathieu Toulouse made it in for 48th place and local hero John Kirckaldie finished 21st in the DH in his big retirement race. He was the big TV celebrity all week.

The results weren't always what we were hoping for this year but everyone supporting Team Maxxis did a great job and we had fun anyway. We have to go back🔯 and do some more homework this winter and then try to stay healthier next year. I still have a busy fall and will try to stay as fit as I can for PanAm Championships and a bunch of cyclocross that I will try to milk my fitness through. That all starts afte🍎r wedding season - I have three to go to in four weeks with the big finale in Victoria on October 7 when Keri and I tie the knot. Should be some good times.

Popular Canadian mountain bike racer Geoff Kabush races for Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountai♑n. He's a regular on the mountain bike World Cup circuit and at Canadian and US national series races. You'll also see him in some occasional mountain bike stage races during the season and on the cyclo-cross circuit in the fall.