Fat Tire 40: A Proper Test of Skill, Power, and Endurance
Mike West and Gretchen Reeves Prove they are Masters of the Mountains in Crested Butte.
(June 25, 2011) Crested Butte, Colo.—Epic singletrack cross-country racing returned once again to Crested Butte this weekend with the fifth stop of the Mountain States Cup Series. When 40 miles of Colorado singletrack are on the docket, experience and skill proved to be the winning modus operandi when Mike West (Yeti) and Gretchen Reeves (Tokyo Joes) posted the fasted times of the day.
West, always a player in the top ten but better known for his extraordinary descending skills and Super D dominance has been on fire this year in the longer cross country races, winning Mountain States Cup #4, the Chili Challenge cross country in Angel Fire, New Mex. over legendary champion Travis Brown just two weeks before repeating his victory in Crested Butte.
After a neutral start, Josh Bezecny (Trek Bicycle Store) led the initial singletrack climb on Mt. Crested Butte. At the summit, West moved to the front, dropped everyone on the first major descent and increased his lead through the technically challenging Upper Upper trail to Brush Creek Road. A chase group formed with local nitrous-burner Brian Smith (Alpine Orthopaedics), Umpteen-time Mountain States Cup champion Jay Henry (Tokyo Joes), 2009 Fat Tire 40 champ Travis Scheefer (Alpine Orthopaedics), and Tim Allen (Niner/Ergon/Stans) close behind.
“West road away from us on the Upper Upper”, said Smith. “The riding in there is demanding: rocky and steep”.
The group split apart on the Strand Hill loop with West, Smith, Henry, Allen, Scheefer, Peter Kalmas (Honey Stinger), and Brad Bingham (Moots) emerging from the singletrack to begin the next major, decisive climb up Deer Creek.
“Riding up Deer Creek with Brian and Mike was like Hot Tub Time Machine on singletrack,” joked Henry after the race, referring the relative age and racing history of the trio and comparing the 2010 John Cusack movie in which four friends utilize a time-bending hot tub to travel back in time to their respective heydays. “Only this time Mike was killing us”.
“I couldn’t reel Mike in on the climb up Deer Creek,” Smith commented. “When we started the descent from the top and I still hadn’t caught him, I knew he could run away with it. There is a lot of tight singletrack riding before getting to Gothic road.”
Cresting the summit of Deer Creek is a mile stone in the Fat Tire 40 course. It’s two hours into the race and you’ve just climbed for nearly 45 minutes straight, ending in a hike a bike, and put the worst of it behind you. From the saddle you can see the top of the final climb on Mt. Crested Butte. As the crow flies, it’s a just minutes away but for the riders it’s over an hour of riding to the base of the final climb.
The good news is, 40 minutes of that is on dreamy singletrack through aspen groves with only a few insignificant climbs.
West made his final move here, descending off the top of Deer Creek with trademark grace and speed and extending his lead to over 40 seconds.
Smith and Henry chased. Henry punctured his tire and had a mini epic trying to repair it, ending his bid for the win.
With Henry on the side of the trail battling mosquitoes and inner-tube related demons, Tim Allen moved into third place with Travis Scheefer close behind.
West finessed the remaining singletrack at mach speed while Smith buried himself to keep the gap to a minimum before reaching Gothic road and the final run to the finish.
Gothic road is short enough but a light headwind and three climbs along the way can cause some damage to both attacker and attackee before reaching the final 15 minute climb on the narrow, steep singletrack of the Prospector Trail, which leads to the summit of Mt. Crested Butte. From there it’s a smooth and fast descent to the finish.
West held Smith off on the road and up Prospector Trail to the Summit.
“When we reached the summit and Mike still had a gap I knew the only way I would win was if he made a mistake in a corner,” said Smith. “I gave it everything but I’ll have to wait for another chance to win this one next year.”
West won in 3 hours, 27 minutes, 18 seconds with Smith 42 seconds back. Tim Allen rolled in 4 minutes, 28 seconds later in third.
Other notable finishers were Kenny When, who won the Cat 1 40-49 race in 3 hours, 37 minutes, 16 seconds, which put him in 9th overall (including the pro’s), Vince Anderson posted the fasted singlespeed time at 4 hours, 2 minutes, 15 seconds, and Chris Baddick who traveled from England, decided to race the day before and powered to 8th place in the pro class.
“Not knowing the course was probably a benefit as I just took the trails as they came along, and each section of singletrack was an awesome surprise,” said Baddick. “The strand trail was way too much fun to be in an XC race – I couldn’t stop grinning.”
The pro women started one minute behind the pro men on the same 40-mile course. Sage Wilderman (Rocky Mountain Chocolate) charged from the start and led Jennifer Smith (Alpine Orthopaedics) and Gretchen Reeves (Tokyo Joes) for the first 18 miles of the race.
With Wilderman up the road, Reeves closed down the gap on Smith and passed her on the flowy descent off Strand Hill.
“I did the race last year, so I had a pretty good idea of what the course would be,” said Reeves. “The race strategy was simple: start at a pace that seemed manageable for 4 hours of riding hard at 9000 feet and try not to zone out too much on the singletrack and forget I was racing.”
Smith allowed a gap to form as they moved up the initial double track climb to the Deer Creek Trail.
“I could see Gretchen and Sage up the road but I wasn’t gaining on them at first,” said Smith. “But after Gretchen passed Sage, she fell pack and Gretchen slowed down a bit. I pulled in Sage as the climb got steeper and gained sight of Gretchen on the hike-a-bike.”
Reeves held Smith off throughout the ensuing miles of flower-lined singletrack on the Deer Creek Trail and Reeves had a 40 second gap when the two reached Gothic Road.
“When I caught sight of Sage on Deer Creek and plodded along past her, Jenny was still close behind so I had to drill it every time I hit a downhill to try and gain a few seconds.” Reeves said of the close race with Smith.
Smith, unknowingly living a parallel experience to her husband Brian who had chased West up the same road a half hour earlier, hunted Reeves on the energy sapping climbs on Gothic Road and all the way up the Prospector Trail but she couldn’t close the gap.
“Halfway up Prospector I realized I couldn’t win it,” said Smith. “Gretchen has more power than I do and she is such an awesome descender. I couldn’t catch her.”
Reeves took the victory in 3 hours, 59 minutes, 52 seconds with Smith 1 minute, 2 seconds back.
“I knew we had some mean switchbacks coming in the last 5 miles of the race. I remember hitting those last year and feeling violated and thinking [race director] Keith Darner was hiding behind a tree and laughing at us,” quipped Reeves. “So I chugged a coke on Gothic road and thankfully that was enough to get to the finish barely a minute ahead of Jenny.”
The gap to third place rider Teal Stetson-Lee (Rocky Mountain Chocolate) was over 14 minutes. Wilderman paid a price for her early break and fell back to fourth place finishing 28 minutes behind Reeves.
“The course was spectacular as always and a true mountain biker's course,” added Reeves.
Images and Video by Chris Miller Photography
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