The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Showtime at the Omnium
It appears the Tuesday evening road rides are starting to pay off for the Brick Oven/Crested Butte Builders (BO/CBB) bike team. Typically found riding single track on mountain bikes, members of the team make an annual summer pilgrimage to Salida to compete in the Salida Omnium Friday through Sunday, July 31-August 2. The Omnium is the State Championship Road Race, attracting some of the top road cyclists in the state in every category.
BO/CBB team riders Tim Poppe and Dawn Passant led the local charge, taking third and second place overall respectively in their categories at the three-stage road racing bike event.
The weekend of racing opened with a time trial, eight miles of punching it.
“The trick is to hurt yourself as much as you can,” says Poppe.
Having never raced in, let alone trained for, a time trial before, Poppe was happy to close the day with an eighth-place finish. Crested Butte rider Fred Sandusky took 13th place in the same category.
Monica Green represented the local women’s contingent in the time trial, taking 13th place in her category.
Day two was the most painful for Poppe, a 48-mile road race. The race was broken into four laps on a 12-mile course with 1,300 vertical feet of climbing on each lap.
“That was, by far, the hardest day,” says Poppe. “It’s a tough race.”
According to Poppe, a group punched it from the start, dropping him behind, leaving him in the dark as far as where he stood overall. Much to his surprise, despite his seemingly slow going, Poppe finished up in 15th place.
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I expected to do in that race,” says Poppe. “I was happy.”
Sandusky had the top local finish on the day among the men with a seventh-place finish. Torrey Carroll took 12th place in the same category, while Nicholas Kempin and John Starr finished in 16th and 25th place, respectively, in their age class and category.
Dawn Passant of BO/CBB dominated her category, Cat 3 35+ to win the race. It was Passant’s first race in Cat 3 having just moved up from Cat 4 and she wasted no time in legitimizing her new class.
While several of her competitors were able to work with their teammates on the course, Passant had no one but herself to rely on, yet still rode to the Cat 3 road race title.
Green finished in 12th place in Cat 4 and Tina Kempin rolled across the finish line of the demanding course in 14th place.
The weekend closed with a criterium in downtown Salida. Twenty-five riders lined up in Poppe’s category set to ride a one-mile, figure-eight course for 40 minutes straight. Once the 40 minutes are up, they have five more laps to battle it out for the title.
“It’s pretty fast,” says Poppe. “Lots of sprinting with tight corners. You’re definitely fighting to hold your position.”
While Poppe’s legs were still feeling the burn from the day before, he had an edge with some sound strategy advice from last year’s criterium winner and BO/CBB rider Dave Ochs.
“Ochs told me exactly where to attack on the last lap,” says Poppe.
With that in mind, Poppe bided his time amidst the pack for the first 40 minutes, moving into the top five as the riders headed into the final five laps.
“I was just kind of hanging out most of the race,” says Poppe.
Once they hit the backstretch on the final lap, Poppe made his move to take the lead and held it through to the finish line.
“I just punched it up the left side of the pack and when I hit the home straight I hit the gas one last time,” says Poppe.
Sandusky closed his weekend with a fourth-place finish and Passant took third place in her category. Kempin took fifth place in the criterium and Green took 14th.
Poppe’s efforts over the three days put him on the podium with a third-place finish overall, Sandusky took fourth place overall and Passant closed the weekend in second place overall in her new category. Kempin finished in 10th place among Cat 4 women and Green ended up in 12th place.
