After racing (and hmm… winning) the solo category for the last 3 years at the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde I decided that it was time to share the fun with a friend and team mate, so I invited Damian along for some fun at Phil’s World just outside Cortez, CO. And what fun it was! The trails at Phil’s World are mountain bike trails made by and for mountain bikers. The trails flows, rock and rolls like nothing else, so we were getting excited to race on these trails with over 500 fellow racers.
I volunteered to race the first lap, which included the Le Mans start run. Much to my chagrin, the run was a lot longer this year, which didn’t bode well for someone who hasn’t been running much for the last few years. At the start line I was called out by the race organizer as the solo winner of the last 3 years, so that was cool, and then the gun went off and the mayhem started. I didn’t exactly get a great start, and was probably in 30th place by the time I got on the bike. So, the chase was on, but luckily there was a long stretch of open course before we hit single track, so I managed to work my way up to top five before the single track, can by the end of the 1st lap I was in 3rd place. That position gave Damian a shot of an open course, and he proceeded to catch the two riders in front, including Dave Wiens (winner of many Leadville 100), to put us in 1st place and get the fastest lap of the race.
After the first two laps we settled in and steadily increased our lead over the other Duo teams. At times we were leading the race overall, but as the individual racers on the 3 and 4 man teams didn’t have to do that many laps, they kept a hotter pace, and we drifted back to 3rd overall. During the race we got to battle with some local legends, including John Tomac, which I raced twice and managed to hold off on both occasions. In the end we won the Duo category, and for the first time in the history of the race, we managed 10 laps.
It was a great time, and thanks to Damian for pulling his camper to the race for luxury accommodation.
Ride On!
Jens