Alison Sydor

Soon, the snow at ski resorts all over the planet will melt. Soon white will turn to brown, ice to mud, frigid skies to warm. When that happens, mountain bike racing will again return to our favorite mountains where, during the frozen winter, smooth trails hibernated beneath snowy blankets. Winter is over. It’s time for mountain bike racing — professional mountain bike racing.

Several hundred well-tuned athletes race all over the world in the hopes of winning a few thousand dollars, a medal and a chance to represent their nation at Worlds. And the travel... heck, we’re gonna log over 60,000 miles just keeping up with them. Add the ever-present risk of injury, inevitable illness, bad hangovers and tiny rental cars and it’s enough to make us wonder why they don’t just become accountants. What a way to make a living.

Cadel Evans

But we love mountain bike racing at the Zone. Where else (besides pro mud wrestling) can you get dirty, naked and paid all on the same weekend? We are proud to offer up another full season of both U.S. National Championship Series racing (NORBA) as well as international World Cup action (Diesel/UCI).

Tinker Juarez

The NORBA racing – which begins in May - consists of a six-race series all across America, from California to Vermont. These NCS weekends feature cross-country racing on Saturday, dual slalom racing Saturday night and downhill racing on Sunday.

Tammy Jaques

The World Cup season, kicking off March 27 in Napa, California, is two separate circuits, each traveling around the world and each featuring eight rounds of racing. There’s a cross-country circuit (XC) as well as a downhill/dual (DH/DL) tour.

Everything begins in Monterey this week with a pre-season mega-race, the Sea Otter Classic. Then, the end of the season wraps up in September with the World Championships in Are, Sweden. And that’s it, the season all rolled into one big canoli...

Laurence Leboucher

These pro racers have trained hard all winter, working diligently for the pending two-wheeled action. For some (like various downhillers), motocross riding in Southern California, lifting weights and scarfing down fish tacos was all it took to maintain the edge necessary for alpine racing.

Others (like most cross-country riders) went anaerobic; racing cyclo-cross and training like the dickens on XC skis and road bikes. But everyone trained because it’s tough to get sponsorship these days, and they all want those huge cash prizes. They are, as the kids say, ready to rock.

Missy Giove

Who Will Win
And whom, you seem to be asking, will win? Well, we could handicap the players and give them Vegas-style odds on winning, but that’s too easy. All you really need do is look at last season’s results to see who’s going to be a factor. We will, however, give you some things to consider.

Four Things To Consider: