August 22, 2000(West Dover, Vermont) – The young star of this year’s Giant
Downhill squad, Dustin Adams, capped off his first full tour of the NORBA
Circuit with a third place finish at the demanding downhill course during
the final race at the Mt. Snow Ski Area near West Dover, Vermont.

With hot and humid weather surrounding the downhill event, thunderbolts
flew, and the teaming crowd cheered as the top downhill stars on the
circuit battled their way down the rocks and ruts of the National Finals
course.

Dustin’s podium spot didn’t come without some mechanical chaos on his
bike. After qualifying in eighth spot (his best qualifier of the year) he
made his way up the charilift for his final run. Upon getting off the lift,
Dustin noticed that his brake line was severed, leaving him with no rear
brake!

Giant mechanics Matt Duniho and Frank Trotter pulled a Formula one-style
quick change by bringing a new brake, lever and rotor up the chairlift, and
installing them at the start area only minutes before Dustin’s start time.
Needless to say, there was some tension flying before the start gate
dropped.

“My rear brake didn’t even work until a few turns in on the course,” said
Adams. “But I was going good, the brake started working, and I came in to
the top spot at the bottom.” Adams finished up the day in third place
overall for his fourth podium appearance of the season.

This finish garners Dustin a third place overall in the NORBA National
Championship Series. “I trained really hard last winter preparing for this
season. I’ve been riding hard, not riding over my head, and it has
definitely paid off.”

Dustin’s team mate and mentor, 2000 Downhill World Champ Myles Rockwell
finished the day in ninth place, securing a spot on the U.S. National
Downhill Team for the World Championships to be held in Kaprun, Austria in
two weeks. Myles is set to retire from professional mountain bike racing
after the World Championship, which is to be held on the course that he won
the World Cup Downhill event on in 1995.

“Myles has really helped me out so much this year,” states Adams. “It’s
hard for me to tell you how much I’m going to miss having him on the scene.
I’m sure he’ll be back in one way or another. I’m looking forward to seeing
him rip it up in Kaprun.”

Giant’s Thomas Allier was having a great weekend in the MountainCross
event, until a damaged rear brake sent him flying over a berm in his
semifinal race. Allier has been chosen to represent France in the inaugural
4X event at the World Championships.

Look for Team Giant in a global capacity in Kaprun, where our best riders
from the U.S., Europe and Canada will represent the leading producer of
performance bicycles in the world – Giant.