The xc riders have about a 2 week break mid season which makes some sense. If you'd ever had to train of a racing season you'd know what i mean, but I get the feeling you haven't maybe? You spend a good portion of the off season trying to get into the best shape you can to start the season off and then you spend the rest of the on season racing and working to maintain and sharpen your skills. If you drop out of your peak shape too early its a bitch and half to get it back. and training months for one race and then having to either maintain that speed or break for a while and then rebuild to top shape just sucks. I'm sure there's probably some logistical reason behind the schedule, but to me it just further shows that UCI doesn't give a crap about gravity racing