Adam Craig (Rabobank-Giant) in the woods (Image credit: Jared Brodjeski)
Some super Ds are run as mass start events while others are run as a time trial. Unlike the last two years in Granby, Colorado, this year's US super D national championships race in Sun Valley, Idaho, was done as a time trial. Gathered at the finish afterward, riders generally agreed the format was better.
"The time trial format IS the format," said freshly crowned super D national champion Adam Craig (Rabobank-Giant), who went on to give his definition of how to make the perfect super D.
"You take the most available vertical in your venue and then you take the raddest route to the lowest available spot that also happens to be the finish area. It could be five minutes or an hour and five minutes. It's better if it's an hour and five minutes. It's awesome when it's a time trial because it lets you race."
Craig has previously won super D nationals in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
"This course, if run as a mass start, would have been a race up the climb, which would have separated people, but then it would have been dangerous on the way down with the morning sun and all the dust for low visibility," said Craig, who then gave kudos to the national championship race organizers for doing a good job with this year's super D.
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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
