Craig turns in solid biking efforts Corinth resident prepares for world championships with NORBA win

Adam Craig has been one of the world’s most active competitive mountain bikers this year. The Corinth resident has competed in all seven International Cycling Union elite men’s cross country races of the season to date, as well as a full schedule of NORBA National Mountain Biking Series events.

And the results have been strong for Craig, who recently celebrated his 24th birthday. He ranks as the top American and 18th overall in the current World Cup cross country standings, a competition that features all of the world’s premier mountain bikers. That performance has been highlighted by three top-10 finishes, including a pair of fourths in back-to-back stops earlier this summer at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, and Balneario Camboriu, Brazil.

“The World Cup has been where it’s at for me this year,” said Craig via e-mail from Livigno, Italy, where he is preparing for this weekend’s 2005 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. “I wanted to do a solid season of top-level competition and it’s ended up being a great fit. My overall result and a bunch of individual results have shown a real step in the right direction, all coming out of a fairly relaxed year of racing my best.”

Craig, who rides for Giant Bicycles, also recently placed third in the final NORBA (National Off-Road Biking Association) cross country and short-track standings. That tour includes all the top bikers from North America.

“I’m very happy with my consistency this year,” he said. “For a season with no major goals in mind I’m stoked to have had a bunch of solid results and ended up with a solid overall showing.”

The 5-foot-11, 165-pound Craig enters the world championships on a high note after posting his first short-track victory in NORBA competition last weekend at Mount Snow, Vt. Short-track cross country is a discipline in which riders seek to ride as far as possible within a specified time limit, as opposed to traditional cross country, in which riders complete a specified distance in the shortest amount of time.

In the Mount Snow race, Craig fought off two-time NORBA short-track champion Geoff Kabush of Victoria, British Columbia, over the final stages of the 20-minute event.

“It was great to finally win a race in Vermont, I’ve been racing there for almost 10 years and it’s always been my homecoming race, as close to home as it gets for a national series,” said Craig. “Having the strength and composure to pull off the victory in a two-person battle was a huge step for me. I’m fired up.”

Craig placed 24th in last year’s world championships at Les Gets, France. He also has a good track record at Livigno, a resort in the Alps where he finished fifth in the final World Cup event of the 2004 season. That marked the top finish by an American in a full-field World Cup event – not all of the top Europeans competed in this year’s Quebec and Brazil races – since 1994.

“I’m not counting my eggs before they hatch, worlds are always the hardest race of the year,” said Craig. “But I do ride well on this type of terrain, plus I know a bit more about altitude racing than the average European racer so I’m hoping to have a solid day. We’ll find out where that gets me on Sunday.”

Craig is expected to remain in Europe after the world championships to compete in the last World Cup tour race of the year at Fort William, Scotland, on Sept. 10-11. He then will return to the United States for his final major event of the year, the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships at Mammoth Mountain, Calif., on Sept. 15-18.