Robin Bass of Boulder (RVT) grabs some air en route to a second-place finish in the pro women's downhill.
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Downhiller's Delight by Tom Horrocks "Everyone absolutely loved it," promoter Greg Morin said of the downhill course. "We didn't have one single complaint."
GUNNISON - The only thing more abundant than sunshine at the Rage in the Sage was smiles on faces of downhill racers competing in the first of four Paul Mitchell sponsored downhill events on the Colorado Off-Road Points Series this year.
Go Back to 1998
Last year Morin hosted a downhill on the other side of town and got an ear-full of complaints. So he set out to find a challenging course to please the growing masses. What he found was a very technical 1.5-mile course with an 800-foot vertical drop at Hartman's Rocks. The course had a little of everything and proved a good test of both skill and fitness with one slight uphill section at the midway point.
"It was a little bit dangerous in spots because of the drop-offs and speed we were carrying, but we'll take it. It was a ton of fun," commented Steve Smith (Colorado Bike Service), who finished third in the Veteran men's division. Indeed, Smith echoed the comments of all downhillers, who "Raged" about the course.
Jason Webster (Schwinn/Grand West) clocked the fastest time of the day at 2 minutes, 57 seconds, on a hardtail. Nancy Reynolds (RVT/Blue Pig) posted the fastest women's time at 3:37.
With the downhill taking place on Saturday, Morin decided to drop the circuit race from the schedule, which left many of the cross country racers fresh for Sunday's epic 42-mile adventure on a buffed, fast course. Rishi Grewal (Klein) smoked the two-lap race with a time of 2:39.29 to win the pro division. Daryl Price (Volkswagon/Trek) was second at 2:41.17, and Brian Miller (Moots) in third at 2:44.08.
Just how fast was Grewal's ride? Last years winning time posted by Mike Skellion was 3:02:26. Beth Coats (Ventana/Shimano) bested last years winning time by more than 12 minutes. Coats completed the 21-mile race in 1:33.45, as Kim Smith (Moots) was second at 1:37.12, followed by Lori Brandt (Shaklee/Moots) in third at 1:38.33.
In all, the two-day event drew 870 riders.