The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“I knew I had to stay hammering all the way”
Not since April had Team Alpine Orthopaedics athlete and Gunnison resident Brian Smith raced in a triathlon. Since then his focus has been mountain bike racing but with the Xterra Mountain Championships in Beaver Creek coming up on Saturday, July 16, it was time for Smith to return to the off-road triathlon circuit.
While he’s always been a solid runner and his mountain biking splits are often the fastest at Xterra events, he always finds himself deep in the field after the opening swim leg.
“Out of the pro men, I’m one of the worst swimmers out there,” says Smith.
He put some time in the water at Blue Mesa in preparation for the Beaver Creek race but it didn’t seem to make a difference on race day. As Smith emerged from the one-mile swim, he was in last place among pro men, five minutes behind the leader.
Next up was Smith’s specialty, mountain biking, and with a brand new 29-inch Breezer Cloud Nine bike under him, Smith started to reel in the leaders early in the mountain bike section. Smith crushed the opening climb that rises 2,000 feet in five miles.
“The bike was unbelievable,” says Smith. “It climbs so well. A quarter of the way through the climb, I knew I was rolling through the field.”
About the only trouble Smith had on his bike was during the descent. A choice to run somewhat narrower tires made for some exciting descending.
“It was sketchy on the downhill on the narrower tires,” admits Smith.
Nevertheless, Smith posted the fastest bike split of the day, covering the 15.5-mile course in a time of 1:13:22. It was fast enough to move him from last place among pro men into fourth place as he rolled into the final transition from biking to a 10-kilometer trail run.
“I couldn’t believe how much time I made up,” says Smith.
Smith lost a place during the transition but pulled back into fourth place 30 seconds into the run and set his sights on Frenchman Nico Lebrun, a constant adversary of Smith’s on the Xterra circuit.
Yet, before he could reel in Lebrun, he started cramping on the initial climb, leaving him no option if he was to ever catch Lebrun.
“I knew I had to stay hammering all the way,” explains Smith. “I’d been doing longer races all summer and this was just 10 kilometers, about 40 minutes, so I just kept pushing. I saw Nico and on good days I’ve been able to get by him.”
As Smith was working his way closer to Lebrun, he hit another snag, clipping a rock hard with his toe.
“I guess I didn’t see it I was just focusing on Nico and keeping him in sight,” says Smith. “I’m still not sure if my toe’s broken.”
Approximately one-third of the way through the run, Smith passed Lebrun, but a shot at then reeling in Seth Wealing in second place seemed implausible.
“I pretty much blew myself to the moon at that point,” says Smith.
Smith finished the 10-kilometer run in a time of 36:08, the fastest run split of the day, and crossed in third place just 41 seconds out of first place.
“It was pretty phenomenal,” says Smith. “I’ve never been that close to the leader. I’ve never had a great result at Beaver Creek and that was a big motivating drive for me, to do well at Beaver Creek.”
Smith now returns to mountain bike racing with a couple of weekends in the Mountain States Cup series as well as dropping in on some local races to remain focused.
“There might be a Growler race here or a Pinnacle race there,” says Smith.
Smith returns to the Xterra planet on September 24 to compete in the US Championships in Ogden, Utah.
