The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Sets new course record
The Original Growler has gained national, even international, respect in the mountain biking community. For the first three years, the men’s title went to a rider from outside the Gunnison Valley. This year, thanks to the effort of Team Alpine Orthopaedics rider and Gunnison resident Brian Smith, the title stays at home.
In just its fourth year in existence, the Growler filled up in seven minutes on registration day back in February.
It’s one of the best ways to kick off the competitive mountain bike race season, with two options for riders. There is the half Growler, a 32-mile tour of the Hartman Rocks trails. Or, the full Growler, a 64-mile test of a rider’s strength, endurance and suffer-ability.
“The thing is pretty non-stop from start to finish of ‘busy’ riding,” says organizer Dave Wiens “It’s a race for mountain bikers. I’ve had plenty of people that have done the Leadville 100 that say this is harder.”
Wiens estimates that 80 percent of the racecourse is single track, an amount unprecedented in races of this length.
Smith joined in the fray to defend the hometown trails and bring the Growler men’s title to local hands.
Conflicts with his off-road triathlon schedule and injuries prevented Smith from competing in the first three full Growlers. This year, Smith made a point of racing and a point of winning.
“It was about time,” says Smith. “I really wanted to be the first local to win. I had some serious motivation.”
The neutral start from downtown Gunnison to Hartman Rocks blew up as soon as they hit dirt with a number of riders charging into the opening climb up Kill Hill. Smith opted out of the initial rush with 64 miles of racing ahead of him, positioning himself to take the lead heading into a key section of single track.
“I stayed conservative up Kill Hill—I know it’s tough,” explains Smith. “I just wanted to get to Josho’s first.”
Smith eventually moved into first place and had a two-minute gap halfway through the first 32-mile lap but it was a rough finish to the first lap. After flying down Collarbone Alley and coming into the flats toward the start/finish, Smith stacked, taking the brunt of the crash with his hands and face.
“I had dust all over my glasses, my hands were full of gravel and I tweaked a ligament in my finger,” says Smith.
Then confusion hit as Smith received a series of different times from onlookers regarding the size of his lead.
“I still had no idea because I was getting mixed messages,” says Smith. “So I just stayed pushing the whole time.”
Finally, Smith got word that he had an 11-minute lead and took a drink, only to send him into another temporary tailspin.
“I took a drink out of my gel flask and just got nauseated,” says Smith. “I had waves of nausea coming and going.”
Smith remained focused on his pre-race goal of a sub-six-hour race and when he finished, he was stunned at his final time.
“They told me 5:08 and I couldn’t believe it,” says Smith. “Keeping the title in the valley was the main motivator.”
“I was surprised,” adds Wiens. “That’s a phenomenal time. It was great to see a local throw down the fastest time yet.”
While Smith had to do all of the pedaling, he credits two other contributing factors to his win.
First was his bike. Smith was on a loaner bike, a Specialized S-Works 29er. It’s a full suspension bike with 29-inch wheels that weighs in at a paltry 22 pounds and retails for close to $10,000.
“It was incredible,” says Smith. “Of the 20 minutes I had on the second-place guy, I bet 10 minutes of that was because of the bike.”
Second, Smith credits his AO support crew, headed by Dr. Rhett Griggs of Alpine Orthopaedics.
“A lot of it also had to do with team support. Rhett was incredible. It’s great to have that local support.”
In the end, Team AO had a stellar showing across the board. Bryan Dillon joined Smith in the top five, placing fourth with a time of 5 hours, 32 minutes and 33 seconds.
The Team AO women’s riders took three of the top five spots in their race. Jennifer Smith took second place in the women’s full Growler with a time of 6 hours, 17 minutes and 52 seconds. Eszter Horanyi covered the 64-mile course in a time of six hours, 29 minutes and 33 seconds to take fourth place and Jari Kirkland placed fifth with a time of six hours, 44 minutes and 12 seconds.
The Town Cup title went to Gunnison as well. The Town Cup goes to the top finish for two men and one woman from the same town. Thanks to the effort of Jenny and Brian Smith and Bryan Dillon, they edged out Colorado Springs for the Town Cup title.
On the other side of the spectrum were the host of DNFs. Wiens had never seen so many in the three prior years.
“We had a ton of people pull the plug after the first lap,” says Wiens. “We have a category for them as well, the ‘Bark is worse than the bite.’”
And then there’s Dan Loftus. Loftus is part owner of the Brick Oven as well as a rider on the Brick Oven/Crested Butte Builders (BO/CBB) team. Loftus is no slouch in the saddle with a 24 Hours in the Sage solo title to his name. On Sunday, he took the full Growler to another level. After blowing out a sidewall on his tire midway trough the first lap, Loftus returned to his team support area, changed tires, returned to where his tire blew and then jumped back in.
A blown tire is considered a worthy excuse to drop out, grab a lawn chair and a cold beer, but not for Loftus.
“I didn’t feel like drinking at 9 in the morning,” says Loftus.
Loftus ended up finishing in a time of eight hours, 21 minutes and 33 seconds, over two hours longer than his time last year.
“I don’t do that many big events and so this was my opportunity to come in 238th place. It was really fun, just longer,” says Loftus. “It’s such a great course and a great event—why would you want to drop out?”
BO/CBB Directeur Sportif Ben Preston dubbed Loftus the “Persevering Pizza Boy” for his effort.
The half Growler is no pedal through the park either. Coming in at 32 miles, it can put the pinch on the participants as well.
“The half Growler is a really long cross-country race,” says Wiens.
AO athlete Jason Stubbe had the top finish in the half Growler among the men, posting a time of two hours, 54 minutes and 57 seconds to take second place.
Gunnison rider Amy Beisel led the local women on the 32-mile course to take third place with a time of three hours, 27 minutes and 25 seconds.
As always, Wiens and the athletes tout the efforts of the fans and volunteers out on the course giving all riders the extra push when needed.
“I can’t say enough about the volunteers,” says Wiens. “And I heard from several riders about the fans out all over the course.”
For complete results on the Original Growler, both full and half, check out gunnisontrails.com.
