2010 Battle The Bear and Front Range 50

Great weather and a fast course make for great racing at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood.

Race report and images by Shawn Lortie Photography

(May 8, 2010) LAKEWOOD, Colo.—The cool morning slowly turned to a warm afternoon as hundreds of riders made their way around this year’s 10-mile loop at the Battle the Bear and Front Range 50 mountain bike race. The 50 milers took off at 8:30 in the morning under clear skies, with the beginner classes taking off soon afterwards. Due to the abundance of fast rolling single track, passing was a bit of an issue but the race promoters did a good job of staggering the starts so that everyone was not out on the course at once.

The sport classes took off about 9:30 with two laps to look forward to. The course was one big loop around the park with a couple of short climbs and lots of fast and fun single track through the woods and fields of the park. There were plenty of short technical sections throughout the loop, and by the looks of all the tubes, CO2 cartridges, and miscellaneous bike shrapnel I saw around the course, they took their toll.

By 11:30 the Pros and experts were ready to go, as most of the sport riders had finished up and the 50 milers were spread out around the course. The fast guys were throwing down sub 40-minute laps, with Colin Cares, of Kenda Felt averaging about 37 minute laps to take the top step on the podium. Matthew Beaton of Tokyo Joes, and Cody Waite of EPC Multisport rounded out the top three of the Men’s Pro Class.

In the Pro Women’s class, Kelli Emmett of Giant Bicycle took a commanding lead fairly early ion the race and road strong to take the win. The race for second place between Judy Freeman of Kenda Felt and Erin Huck of Tokyo Joes was tight. After over two hours of racing, Freeman took it by a mere 27 seconds. Nice racing ladies!

In the 50 Mile race, over 350 riders rode five laps of “The Bear”. That’s a lot of times around the loop, and a lot of passing/being passed too. I’m sure many were cursing the course after a few hours out there, but the majority seemed to be having a blast. The race promoters also put on a kid’s race at the start finish area, which is always a hit. Good job guys!

For complete results, please visit Battle the Bear and Front Range 50

Riders drop down off the mesa after the start/finish area. From here the course skips across a paved road and dives into the wooded single track.	Stevie Cullinan, eventual second place finisher in the 19-29 Front Range 50, hammers it out while his chaser pops some air.	Yuki Saito of the Topeak/Ergon Team ended up in third in the Front Range 50 Men 30-39 class.
A bunch of short steep climbs made for out of the saddle fun.	A Green Mountain Sports rider rails a turn in the woods.	A Titus/Chipotle rider gettin' his groove on.
Blue on green.	John Solskov of Team Pactimo finished up 13th in the FR50 in the 30-39 class.	Kelli Emmett, over the bridge and through the woods into first place in the Pro Women's Class.
Barry Weibe finished up in 10th spot of the Men's Expert 40-49 field of the Battle the Bear.