March 12, 2004 – The first round of the 2004 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series continued today as most of the top-level pros christened their 2004 race season with a time trial, the first stage of a multi-day event which also includes Saturday's cross country race and Sunday's short track contest. Held in Cameron Park along the Brazos River in downtown Waco, familiar faces returned at the start of an Olympic year to warm up for the weekend's increasingly important events where valuable UCI points are on the line. With three Olympic spots up for grabs this season for American athletes, UCI points are a key factor in determining those nominations.

Leading up to the race, plenty of attention was focused on the return of Alison Dunlap (Colorado Springs, Colo.) arguably the nation's best female mountain biker, who would saddle up for her first mountain bike race since last June after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. The two-time Olympian showed she was back to her usual form after riding to a third place finish with a time of 14 minutes, 36 seconds over the 3-mile course. Ahead of Dunlap was a pair of Canadians as Alison Sydor claimed the win in 14:23 and Kiara Bisaro placed second in 14:26.

In familiar fashion, the men's race also featured a Canadian on the top step of the podium as Seamus McGrath won ahead of compatriot and last year's overall NORBA National Championship Series winner, Ryder Hesjedal. McGrath clocked a 12:23, besting Hesjedal by three seconds for the win. U.S. Olympic hopeful, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo.) placed fourth with a time of 12:36 while Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonburg, W.V.) rode to a conservative 18th place in a race where no UCI points were awarded.