12 Hours of Mesa Verde
For years the Mesa Verde race has been a well-run, successful, grassroots endurance mountain bike event. In 2009, Mesa Verde experienced it’s coming of age. Saturday’s event exploded from just over 200 racers ‘08 to over 420 enthusiastic racers anxious to attack some of Colorado’s most enjoyable trails.
The race is held almost entirely on the Phil’s World trail system in the shadow of majestic Mesa Verde National Park. Despite it’s unassuming name, Phil’s World contains some of the most entertaining trail riding in the west, it’s mix of challenging rock sections, high-speed, winding singletrack, and dizzying whoops, berms, and jumps makes it hard to imagine a trail that offers more straight up fun.The race started right on time with a 7AM Le Mans style run. After 2 minutes of running it was onto the bikes for 12 hours of fun and suffering. The weather conditions were near perfect throughout the entire race with warm sunny skies and a cool breeze that helped make riders comfortable when out from under the Oak and Pinion trees that covered most of the 16.5 mile course.
Fastest lap of the day went to Trek rider Travis Brown who proved he is still one of the world’s best bike handlers as he tore through the tight and twisting course in an astonishing 1 hour 8 minutes. In the solo categories it was the singlespeeders who dominated. Endurance specialists Dave Harris and Lynda Wallenfels (Siren/World Bicycle Relief) took top honors in their respective categories and bested the top geared solo riders which included three-time defending geared solo champion Jens Nielsen and Rachel Warren in the women’s category. Wallenfels also held off Colorado endurance queen Jen Gersbach who took second in the solo singlespeed category.The Duo competitions went to Drop It Like It’s Hot for the men, blank, and the Subaru/Gary Fisher team of Chris and KC Holley in Co-Ed. The Holley’s, a husband and wife team from Spanish Fork, Utah, put in blazing fast laps hour after hour and finished as one of the top-5 fastest teams in the race completing a total of 9 laps.
As the sun set on an enjoyable day at the Montezuma County fairgrounds riders reflected on a tough day of racing with all riders sharing one similar sentiment, “This course is awesome!” Judging from the riders’ feedback following the race it seems likely 12 Hour of Mesa Verde can expect another record turnout in 2010.Race Notes:
It seems clear the western Colorado crowd has fully given in to the 29er craze. The big-wheel bikes out numbered conventional 26 inch bikes 2 to 1 in Mesa Verde.
Written By: Shannon Boffeli
Photos By: Jen Hanks
Solo Men
1, Jens Nielsen
2, Aaron Huckstep
3, Joe Prinzivalli
Solo Women
1, Rachel Warren
Solo Men Singlespeed
1, Dave Harris (Siren/WBR)
Solo Women Singlespeed
1, Lynda Wallenfels (Siren/WBR)
2, Jen Gersbach
Duo Men
1, Drop It Like It’s Hot
2, Directory Plus
3, Fisher (Josh Wood/Matt)
Duo Co-Ed
1, Subaru/Gary Fisher (Chris and KC Holley)
2, MTBracenews.com (Shannon Boffeli/ Jen Hanks)
