Vancouver Island’s Geoff Kabush takes stock of a tough 2015 season as he gears up for Vallnord
The B.C. cross-country rider can count at least a few visits to the tough, demanding terrain of Vallnord, Andorra -- a competitive advantage only the experienced can claim.
For Canada’s Geoff Kabush, this weekend’s competition at the 2015 mountain bike world championships in Vallnord, Andorra will be the 20th of his storied career. So when the 38-year-old British Columbian looks back on those twenty races, he can count at least a few visits to the tough, demanding terrain of Vallnord among them — a competitive advantage only the experienced can claim.
And it’s indeed been a handful of trips to the European high country for Kabush. “I’ve raced in Andorra a couple of times,” he told Canadian Cycling Magazine , “and had some success before placing third in the first world cup here in 2008. The altitude is a big factor here as is the course, which has definitely been slick and wet.” Since the beginning of the 2015 competition, torrential downpours have saturated the Vallnord soil, making the trail’s conditions — challenging at the best of times — doubly complicated.
But with his formative experiences in cross-country having been on the equally-challenging trails of Vancouver Island, B.C., Kabush also has the bonus of being uniquely prepared.
“Any time we have technical tracks,” Kabush explained, “it’s an advantage having grown up on similar trails in B.C.” Island trails are infamous for the tricky ground they put in a cross-country rider’s path, too, with steep climbs, precarious, tightly-winding singletrack descents, occasionally nerve-wracking stretches of rock, and of course, the Andorra-like dampness that comes from being one of the wettest places in Canada. It’s a grueling proving ground for cross-country cyclists, and it makes for some of the toughest, hardest-riding competitors in Canada.
“There are many different reasons for successful riders coming out of B.C.,” Kabush said, “but the skills learned from growing up in B.C. certainly are a big asset when it comes to racing.”
Preparing for the worlds, though, means recognizing where he may face the most difficulty during competition — something about which Kabush is fully, candidly up front as he takes stock of the 2015 season. “With a few health issues and then a knee injury, I really struggled to get on track most of the year,” Kabush explained. But things soon started to “click” for the rider in the last month, he said, and time spent at altitude in Andorra since his arrival has certainly helped. Still, his optimism remains cautious. “My form feels good, but one of my biggest challenges this week will be start position and traffic. This is the price I pay, though, for a sub-par season and dropping down the rankings. I just have to hope things open up and I’m able to sneak up somewhere on the start and keep moving forward all race.”
“The racing has been a struggle,” he said, “but I still remain confident that I can get back to the level I want to be at, and I’m hoping this weekend will be a big step in that direction.”
It may be the UCI’s official culmination to the season, but the worlds don’t usher in a cooling-down period for Kabush’s 2015. Vallnord kicks off a particularly busy third act for the cross-country rider, with the mountain bike world championships followed closely by the RBC GranFondo Whistler. Then, barely missing a beat, it’s Trans-Cascadia and the Dominican Republic UCI C1 race, and after the briefest of pauses for the Island rider to catch his breath, the nationals, Cincinnati, and Iceman Cometh. When the dust finally settles on 2015, Kabush then descends into the trenches of winter training, focused on hitting the trails with a vengeance in 2016. It’s as if the real work begins once competition this year ends.
“After this season I’m definitely motivated,” Kabush said, “and ready to give 100% this winter and into next year, which is a big one.”
But as Kabush hits the high gear in preparation for 2016, he’ll at least have a beautiful backdrop. Through it all, the B.C. rider is again enjoying the life of a Canadian west coaster, having recently returned from a period spent living in the southwest United States. “[I’m] so happy to be back in B.C.,” Kabush said. “Every community has developed such incredible trail systems and I can’t wait to have more time to be a tourist in my own province. Every time I return to places like my hometown trails in Cumberland, it seems like there are more and more awesome trails.”
