The lead group charges out for 50 puzzling miles (photo by: Jennifer Wilson)
Evan Plews (www.evanplews.com - Salem, OR) the 2009 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo solo winner, and ridiculously fit retiree, Travis Brown (Trek -Durango, CO), destroyed the technical course and floated up the climbs. Course designer David Wilson, the SS winner of last summer's Breck Epic stage race, led through the start/finish area for the first 11.5 mile section with Plews, Brown, and El Pasoan Santiago Chavez (Sports Systems) close behind.
After exiting a bit of twisty singletrack onto a super rocky road climb known as Trenchtown Rd., the three riders dropped Wilson and began to grow a large gap. Singlespeeders Cameron Brenneman (Sante Fe, NM) and Beto Villegas (Sierra Vista, AZ) blitzed the 1600' Mundy's Gap climb along with 40-49 winner Kenny Wehn (Colavita – Durango, CO) and 19-29 winner Sem Gallegos (Crazy Cat Cyclery – Austin, TX) close behind the lead threesome of Plews, Brown, and Chavez.
On the west side of the Franklin range, Brown plowed through the infamous granite rock slide to regain the lead. At about mile 30, Plews regained contact and later took control up the final major climb of the day, a 350' foot grind up a newly finished set of 12 switchbacks.
Evan Plews on his way to the Puzzler win (photo by: Chris Oaxaca)
Plews, coming off double pneumonia just before the holidays, went on to take the win in 4:38 with Brown about four minutes back. Moving into 3rd position was Brenneman who pushed a 32x19 on his 29er. Villegas and Gallegos rounded out the top five.
In the women's race, local Susanne Rasmussen took the win in 6:24 with singlespeeder Paula Bohte (Sierra Vista, AZ) coming through in second. Alex Castro (Bicycle Co.- El Paso, TX) was the top finisher in the shorter 35-mile men's event and Diana Almeida (El Paso, TX) took the women's 35 miler.
Susanne Rasmussen was the top female finisher in the 50 mile event (photo by: Rebecca Reza)
115 riders finished the event with no major injuries though many riders looked like they got into a cat fight due to close encounters with the large variety of spiky plants lining the Chihuahuan desert trails. This year’s attrition rate was much lower with only 18 DNF’s in the 50 despite more singletrack than the previous years.
Race director Brent Sanders wasn't sure if comments about the difficulty of the race were compliments or complaints. “I had several people come to me afterwards saying that the race was too difficult,” stated Sanders. “Travis and Evan said it was definitely the most technical 50 miler they've ever completed and both said that with huge grins on their faces. When other riders say that to me without a grin, I take it as a complaint. We consider all suggestions, but this event is intended to be a tough race. All I can say is that we warned people best as we could.”
The El Paso Puzzler, the third race in the Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association's Marathon Series, is hosted by the Borderland Mountain Bike Association whose core members donated countless hours of trail building to a new three mile section of singletrack allowing the race to be held entirely in the Franklin Mountains State Park, the largest urban state park in the country.
50 mile competitors only repeated six miles of trail. The event was originally conjured up by Wilson and Sanders as a way to up the level of riding in El Paso. “David and I had been riding this huge loop around the Franklins for a couple of years, but we could never find anyone that would join us,” said Jennifer Wilson, the 2009 winner. “Brent and Susanne (Rasmussen) rode it with us and we realized that we shared the same vision to put on this event.”
“We've seen a complete paradigm shift in mountain biking in El Paso since the first Puzzler with group rides now consisting of this epic loop around the mountains whereas before, most people never wanted to make the effort at the huge climb up Mundy's,” said David Wilson, the BMBA president.
This year's Puzzler was sponsored by Hunt Communities and the El Paso Sports Commission along with industry sponsors, local bike shops and many others. All proceeds from the event go towards trail projects in the Franklin Mountains State Park.
For complete results click here
