Team Alpine Orthopaedics closes race series on podium

Next stop, the CB Classic

It’s been a long season of bike racing for Team Alpine Orthopaedics (Team AO), starting back in April with the first event of the 2010 Mountain States Cup race series.

Back then, the team’s athletes posted middle of the pack results across the board but AO rider/Directeur Sportif Dave Ochs pointed out that the crew would come around as the season wore on.
In the end, they did as they closed the Mountain States Cup series with the Breckenridge Fall Classic last weekend with a number of podium finishes. In addition, four Team AO athletes reached the top 10 in the overall points standings, with Travis Scheefer in second place among pro men, Laura Anderson in fifth among pro women, and Tim Curry winning the overall title in CAT I class ages 19-29.
The Breckenridge Fall Classic throws the full range of endurance riding events at the riders, with three races over two days.
The weekend opened with a circuit race the morning of Saturday, September 11 on a course that was a mix of single track and wide track that forces riders to pin it from start to finish.
“If you get stuck behind someone slower, people tend to pull away from you,” says Scheefer.
Scheefer got the hole shot off the start to lead the group through the first two laps before points series leader Jay Henry pulled in and around Scheefer to take the lead. Scheefer held off a rush from Len Zanni in the end to hold his spot on the podium with a third-place finish.
Anderson had the top result for the team, taking fourth place, just two minutes off the podium.
AO CAT I ages 19-29 rider and junior coach Tim Curry took fifth place and CAT I ages 30-39 riders Troy Hiatt and Ochs finished in eighth and 13th respectively.
The pros then had to hop on their bikes and head across town to line up for the Hill Climb.
“We had 30 minutes to rest, maybe get some food and get across town for the next race,” says Scheefer.
The Hill Climb climbed three and half miles straight up to the Sally Barber Mine.
Scheefer held off a little bit on the Hill Climb, crossing the top in fourth place in a time of 23 minutes, five seconds, nine seconds off the podium.
“I throttled back a little bit,” admits Scheefer. “I knew that I needed to save some for the cross-country race on Sunday.”
Anderson stepped it up on the Hill Climb to finish in third place with AO athlete Jari Kirkland in fifth.
“I was warmed up for the hill climb,” says Anderson. “You have to keep your head in the game on the final section and when I got there, I laid it all out there.”
Curry finished the day with a fifth-place finish and Hiatt made the move up into second place, with Ochs taking fifth.
The cross-country course was more mountain bike trail than the typical laps on a ski resort course, with over 5,000 feet of climbing on a 32-mile stretch.
“It was definitely a classic mountain bike course and it was tough,” says Scheefer.
“It was one of those epic style races,” adds Anderson. “It was brutal.”
Again, Scheefer was off the front with Henry and Zanni and two other riders. Henry and Zanni put in one more push for the win and second place, with Scheefer taking third.
“Once we got into the race a little further, Jay kicked it up a bit and it was obvious he was on,” says Scheefer.
Kirkland posted the top AO women’s result with a sixth-place finish and Anderson fought off a bad nutritional decision to come in seventh in the cross-country.
“I made the mistake of eating a leftover burrito and granola Sunday morning,” says Anderson. “Everyone was putting the wood to me but I managed to hang on.”
Gunnison rider Jon Brown continued his late season domination, winning the singlespeed class in the cross-country race on Sunday. Curry closed the weekend with a sixth place, Hiatt took eighth and Amy Beisel placed second among CAT II women ages 19-29.
Scheefer closed the Mountain States Cup series in second place overall, 46 points behind Henry, gritting out the final month to stay in contention for the overall title.
“I think I peaked around Nationals in July,” says Scheefer. “It gets tough toward the end of the season—you start to get kind of burned out. Dr. Griggs helped me out a lot this year coaching and coming up with a training plan. That helped me out a ton.”
“It was super good to see Travis up there on the podium for the overall,” adds Ochs.
Anderson finished in fifth place in the overall points standings.
“I kind of managed to pull it back together at the end of the summer,” says Anderson. “I’m 40 years old and coming in fifth overall in the series I think is pretty good. I’m happy with it.”
Curry won the overall title in his class.
“That’s huge and that’s great for him,” says Ochs. “The season was totally awesome and we accomplished a lot of what we wanted to do.”
The team has two more races with the CB Classic on September 25 and the 24 Hours of Moab, the 24 Hour National Championships, in October.
According to Ochs, five AO team riders are headed to Moab, with Ochs, Scheefer, Brown and Ethan Passant gunning for the four-person pro men’s National title and Kirkland slated to push for the women’s solo National title.