American cross-country mountain bike racer Adam Craig has his sights set on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That means for the next few months he will be battling it out on the World Cup and National Mountain Bike Series with his fellow Americans for a slot on the U.S. team. In between races, Craig skis, kayaks and is the rally car co-driver for his Giant teammate Carl Decker. VeloNews.com is along for the ride. —Editor

Desert singletrack is always good for early season racing. We can use our skills and rad bikes to ride fast and have a good time, regardless of actual fitness. Desert doubletrack, on the other hand, is a suspect arena … You see, the wonder of singletrack is that you can only ride it as fast as you can, well, ride it. Jeep roads, on the other hand, you can ride as fast as your pasty white legs have the strength to turn the pedals.

Round two of the NMBS was held under the stage race format. Friday was a "Super D", Saturday a Short Track and Sunday a proper Cross-Country. The trails of McDowell Mountain Regional Park, just outside Phoenix in the Sonoran Desert, played host to the weekend's events.

Super D Now, I'm a big proponent of the idea that mountain bikes can pretty much be raced on any terrain and whoever wins will do so as a result of some special skill or fitness set, but we've gotta draw the line somewhere … Friday's stage 1 Super D was held in time trial format over an approximately five-mile course. The first mile was a false flat, slightly winding walking path through a campground, the next four were a jeep road crossing washes and small ridges. It was the hardest 16 minutes of my life, pedaling as hard as possible for every second, not hitting the brakes even once …

But, hey, the winner, Geoff Kabush, did have a special skill:riding hard and keeping his nose on the grindstone. I kept it moving and tried some risky sand wash gaps to entertain myself along the way. 4th place. Decka was 8th, as was Kelli. We all agreed it was the hardest thing we'd do all weekend …

Short track I like cyclocross. It's fun to rip around on knobby-shod tenspeeds and corner hard. I'm not so sure about racing cross in the desert on mountain bikes. So, instead of calling a spade a spade we'll call the short track the MTB Hillclimb challenge. Instead of airing down the sweet rock drop as we usually do, we rode the course the opposite direction.

Word spread quickly (and kind of hilariously) through the pits about the "UNCLIMBABLE" hill in the ST. I figured, being the meathead boy that I am, that I can ride up anything. Turns out I need to be more of a meathead, or just better at hillclimbing …

Fortunately, after Carl and the rest of the lead group checked out, Ross Schnell, Liam Kileen and I could casually try it every lap. With very mixed results. The more entertaining of which resulted in the three of us tangled together and not moving forward at all after various failures to climb the unclimbable. We all made it at least once, Carl claimed 50/50 success, which is why he got 5th to my 8th. Go figure.

XC race. Finally, good proper desert singletrack ripping. Or at least ripping as fast as possible, which was more a mind and handlebar challenge. It was a perfect scenario for the dreaded "Eye Bonk," this happens when you simply can't process any more awesome trail in front of you. Somewhere around the middle of the final of three laps this happened to two of our lead group companions, Wicks and JHK started blowing corners, so Kabush and I started railing it and got a gap that kept growing.

Just like the gap he got on me in the last 4k or so … 2nd again, I'll take it. Decker kind of held his promise to be 6th this weekend, as he always mysteriously is. He was 7th in the XC, but ended up 6th in the overall stage race omnium. Kelli did a few better with 4th in XC and overall. 3rd overall for me. Looks like the old fun Giant Team still can ride fast when we have to …

Next up, ten weeks in Europe for me, chasing the World Cup, and possibly my tail…