Let’s pretend that your mountain-bike racing plans for next season include marathon and cross-country events — and you’re going to take on both the NORBA and World Cup schedules. Well you better buckle up for a long year. Starting March 5 in Boerne, Texas, the 2005 pro schedule includes nine NORBA stops, eight World Cup marathons and eight World Cup cross-country races.

The last event of the year isn’t until October 7, when the marathon World Cup series wraps up in France at Roc d’Azur. Throw in the fact that there are races in Cyprus (marathon World Cup No. 1), Brazil (World Cup cross-country No. 6/downhill-4X No. 5) and Norway (marathon world’s), and it’s going be a long spring, summer and fall.

“We received a lot of good bids,” said UCI mountain bike coordinator Régis Alexandre, whose organization will also be putting on an eight-race gravity series. “It’s allowed us to organize three very strong series.”

The marathon circuit will kick off the 2004 UCI slate on April 10 in Cyprus, with the ensuing seven stops taking racers to Riva, Italy; Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec; Bad Goisern, Austria; Oisans, France; Falun, Sweden; St. Wendel, Germany; and finally Roc d’Azur.

“The marathon is the spirit of mountain biking right now,” said the UCI’s Alexandre. “We’re very pleased to have such a strong series.”

The World Cup cross-country will roll out two weeks after the first marathon event, with round No. 1 at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium on April 24. Round Nos. 2 and 3 will also be cross-country-only affairs, as the series heads to Madrid, Spain and Houffalize in Belgium. The gravity gang will open the World Cup series in Vigo, Spain, during the last weekend of April, then hook up with the XC folks in Willingen, Germany, for the year’s first “triple” event.

The disciplines will split off once more on June 11, with a downhill/four-cross only event in Schladming, Austria. The next three stops are triples starting with Mont-Ste-Anne. Next up is the first-ever South American World Cup in Santa Catarina, Brazil; and then it's back north to the U.S. and Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico. The trip to the America’s Southwest will end a two-year World Cup drought. The U.S. last hosted a World Cup in 2002 at Telluride.

The World Cup season wraps with one more gravity-only race on August 21 in Pila, Italy, before the finals for all three disciplines on September 10-11 in Fort William, Scotland.

The marathon world championships will be held in Lillehammer, Norway, on August 20, with world’s for XC, downhill and 4X slated for August 31-September 4 in Livigno, Italy, the site of this year’s World Cup finals.

Back in the U.S., the NORBA series returns for its second season under the guidance of Jeff Frost and Tom Spiegel. After an eight-race slate in 2004, the 2005 National Mountain Bike Series will include nine events, plus the year-end national championships.

Just as in 2004, the series begins in Texas with an endurance-only event 30 miles northwest of San Antonio. Racing will be split between Boerne and Tapatio Springs, with a three-event stage race (XC, STXC, TT) and a marathon on the schedule.

From there it’s off to Arizona where round No. 2 will be held in conjunction with the NOVA Desert Classic outside of Phoenix. The schedule there includes another three-event stage race and either a 12- or 24-hour race.

Big Bear Lake, California (May 14-15), Deer Valley, Utah (June 18-19) and Sandpoint, Idaho (July 16-17) will host rounds 3-5, with round No. 6 going to Snowmass, Colorado. Round No. 7 has yet to be finalized, but the dates are set for August 13-14 and it will most likely be at an East Coast venue.

Round No. 8 is in Snowshoe, West Virginia, and then it’s back to Mount Snow, Vermont for the series finals. Having the finals back east is one of the reasons Durango is not on the 2005 schedule, according to series co-manager Frost.

“There was some conflicts with the music series [at Durango Mountain Resort),” explained Frost. “And they wanted to be the permanent site for the finals, but we’d made a commitment to go to Mount Snow this year.”

Frost added that it’s very likely Durango will be back in the fold come 2006.

The 2005 U.S. national championships will be held September 24-25, but a site has not been locked in yet.

“It’s 50/50 between going back to Mammoth and doing something in the East Coast,” said Frost.

Next year’s NMBS events will be slightly streamlined. There will be no downhill qualifying (“It’s a waste of time,” said Frost. “We’ll do seeding based on series rank.”), and event schedules will be shortened from four days to three.

Still to be addressed is whether there will be any prize money or TV coverage in 2005. Frost says his team is in negotiation with “a big car manufacturer” but the deal isn’t done yet.

“It’s probably 50/50 whether it will happen,” said Frost. “But if it does happen the deal would include money for TV and prize money. We should have an answer by Interbike.”

Interbike, a cycling industry trade show, starts October 4 in Las Vegas.

National Mountain Bike Series
No. 1 — March 5-6 — Boerne, Texas — MA/TT/ST/XC/SR
No. 2 — March 19-20 — Phoenix, Arizona — EN/TT/ST/XC/SR
No. 3 — May 14-15 — Big Bear Lake, California — MA/DS/Mania/XC/ST
No. 4 — June 18-19 — Deer Valley, Utah — MA/DH/XC/ST/DS or MX
No. 5 — July 16-17 — Sandpoint, Idaho — MA/MX/DH/XC/ST
No. 6 — July 22-23 — Snowmass, Colorado — XC/DH/ST/MX
No. 7 — August 13-14 — To be determined — XC/ST/DH/MX
No. 8 — August 20-21 — Snowshoe, West Virginia — MA/MX/DH/XC/ST
No. 9 — August 27-28 — Mount Snow, Vermont — XC/MX/DH/ST
World Cup marathon series
No. 1 — April 10 — Cyprus
No. 2 — May 1 — Riva, Italy
No. 3 — June 19 — Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec
No. 4 — July 10 — Bad Goisern, Austria
No. 5 — August 7 — Oisans, France
No. 6 — August 14 — Falun, Sweden
No. 7 — October 1 — St. Wendel , Germany
No. 8 — October 7 — Roc d’Azur, France

World Cup cross-country series
No. 1 — April 24 — Spa Francorchamps, Belgium
No. 2 — May 8 — Madrid, Spain
No. 3 — May 29 — Houffalize, Belgium
No. 4 — June 4-5 — Willingen, Germany
No. 5 — June 25-26 — Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec
No. 6 — July 2-3 — Santa Catarina, Brazil
No. 7 — July 9-10 — Angel Fire, New Mexico
No. 8 — September 10-11 — Fort William, Scotland
World Cup downhill/four-cross series
No. 1 — April 30-May 1 — Vigo, Spain
No. 2 — June 4-5 — Willingen, Germany
No. 3 — June 11-12 — Schladming, Austria
No. 4 — June 25-26 — Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec
No. 5 — July 2-3 — Santa Catarina, Brazil
No. 6 — July 9-10 — Angel Fire, New Mexico
No. 7 — August 21 — Pita, Italy
No. 8 — September 10-11 — Fort William, Scotland
National and world championships
July 16-17 — European national championships
August 20 — Marathon world championships — Lillehammer, Norway
August 31-September 9 — XC/DH/4X world championships — Livigno, Italy
September 24-25 — U.S. national championships — To be determined
Discipline Legend
MA = Marathon
EN = Endurance (12- or 24-hour race)
XC = Cross country
ST = Short track
DH = Downhill
Mania = Downhill mania
MX = Mountain cross
DS = Dual slalom