12 Hours in the Wild West

FORT STANTON, N.M. – In the days of the Wild West, a battle raged in Lincoln County between cattle ranchers and general store owners. The Lincoln County War left many an innocent man dead and produced some of America’s most legendary figures of that time, including Billy The Kid.

Taking place among the same juniper and pinion studded hills that hosted those bloody battles of 1870’s, the 12 Hours in the Wild West is the mountain biking equivalent of those clashes, but this time the outlaws are riding steeds of a different sort and their clothes are much tighter.

With 1,100 feet of climbing, the 10.25 mile course offered up a challenge, but also gave racers lots of fast downhill and plenty of good vistas.

“The course is fun and getting ridden in very nicely. It looks like they just did a bunch of work on it” Alex Leonard of Albuquerque said. His favorite part of the course was on the climb. “I like the Billy The Kid section,” he said.

Paul Trotman of Albuquerque loved the long descent back to the staging area. “You can just keep it going,” he said.

In looking for a new venue to stage an endurance race, Albuquerque based race organizer Lindsay Mapes, spent some time talking to mountain bikers around the state to get a sense of what area might be an under-appreciated treasure.

“The place that stood out the most was the Ruidoso area, they were ripe and ready for a race,” she said. “They have 90 miles of singletrack in the area, but they don’t have a race.”

Mapes also organizes Dawn Til Dusk 12 Hour Race and 24 Hours in the Enchanted Forest, both of which are in the western section of the state. She saw an opportunity to expand beyond her comfort zone of organizing events in an area she knows well. Mapes also has a bigger plan in mind.

“For 2012 I want to start a points based endurance series in New Mexico,” she said.

That means there’s potential for other new events around the state. Currently she’s looking at the Silver City, Albuquerque and the Taos areas as other possible settings to hold other endurance races. While nothing is set in stone, endurance racing in New Mexico suddenly has a brighter future.

Top finishers of the day included the Denver, Colo., couple Sara Delano and Ken Boyer in both the Female and Male Solo categories with 10 laps in 11:16:08 and 13 laps in 11:37:27 respectively.

Solo Singlespeed winner Isaac Burleigh of Socorro, N.M. was seen singing “Whoomp! There It Is” with a big smile on his face on the course, and with good reason. He rode 12 laps in 11:23:24.

Fastest lap of the day was spun by Anthony, Texas racer Sem Gallegos at 42:39.

To see the full results head over to the 12 Hours in the Wild West Results Page

To see more photos of the event check out Brian Leddy Photography