Amy Beisel takes Fat Tire 40 women’s title

Swiss pro happens here on a whim, throws down

The Fat Tire 40 bike race may not be the longest mountain bike race. It may not be the toughest mountain bike race. But it does put on the hurt. Team Griggs Orthopedics young gun Bryan Dillon, who finished in third place, put it this way.
“It’s only 40 miles, but it’s a hard 40 miles,” says Dillon.
This year, visiting 25-year old rider Oliver Zurbruegg, rumored to be a pro from Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, set the race pace. Lauterbrunnen sits in the Jungfrau region at the foot of iconic Eiger.
With the flowers peaking the way they are, I have to think young Zurbruegg was in his element as he rode away with the Fat Tire 40 title, finishing in a time of three hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds.
My guess is the hills were alive with the sound of music for Herr Zurbruegg while, for most of the rest of the field, the hills were alive with the sound of pain.
Though not so much for Dillon.
It was Dillon’s third time in the Fat Tire 40. He won the open category in his debut Fat Tire 40 race and then stepped up to the pro division last year, coming in 15th.
This year, he’s on a fairly rigorous racing schedule with the Fat Tire 40 his eighth race of the season and he’s had a pretty good summer so far.
While he admits some weekends are better than others, this past weekend was one of his better ones.
Riding on a 1×11 drive train (one chain ring in the front, 11 in the rear cluster), Dillon followed a wise strategy that works for a course like the Fat Tire 40.
“I knew that for the start, you kind of take it easy,” says Dillon. “Keep the leaders in sight but don’t push it. It’s a long race with some big climbs.”
After a tour of the Evolution Bike Park on Crested Butte Mountain, the course finishes with the West Side Trail before exiting the mountain and heading onto the Upper and Upper Upper Loop.
As Dillon exited Upper Upper Loop onto Brush Creek Road bound for Strand and then Deer Creek, he was sitting in sixth place and feeling good.
“I started climbing the road climb up Strand and putting in a little faster pace,” says Dillon.
He continued to push his pace up the road to Deer Creek and by the top of the Deer Creek climb, Dillon had moved into second place, with the Swiss rider three minutes ahead and Brian Smith and Jay Henry less than 30 seconds behind him.  
“Deer Creek was good,” says Dillon. “I felt good the whole way.”
It wasn’t until the climb out of Gothic that Dillon started to feel a twinge of fatigue.
“I definitely felt like I was close to the end on Gothic Road,” says Dillon.
By the time the course returned to the ski area trails and wound up Meander, Henry managed to pull past Dillon. Dillon did what he could to stay with him but couldn’t find it, finishing in third place with a time of three hours, 21 minutes and 51 seconds.
“I stuck with him a little but he just had a little more left in the tank,” says Dillon. “I was happy in third and riding with Jay and Smithy is kind of a crazy thing. Those guys are legends.”
Keeping a Fat Tire 40 title in the Gunnison Valley was left up to Team Griggs Orthopedics rider Amy Beisel. Beisel has been on the Pro XCT race circuit, matching wits with the top riders in the nation on shorter, more intense cross-country courses.
She had no idea where she stood among her competition when she lined up Saturday morning for the Fat Tire 40 and was a bit suspect of her race shape for the 40-mile course.
“I’ve been training for these short, intense races,” says Beisel. “Forty miles is really long in comparison.”
As a result, she too opted for a slow and steady pace to start and was determined to keep up on her nutrition and the proper mindset all 40 miles.
“I tried to keep a positive thought process going and to eat and drink,” says Beisel. “Eat a GU every half hour and drink a ton.”

The plan played out almost perfectly as she was out in front early with just teammate Jari Kirkland on her rear wheel through the Upper Upper Loop section.
Beisel bided her time and then made her move as she turned onto the singletrack of Deer Creek and started into the punishing climb.
“Once I got on Deer Creek, I decided to put the throttle down,” says Beisel.
Beisel never saw Kirkland again and pushed all the way through to the win, covering the course in four hours, six minutes and 40 seconds. Kirkland remained in second place, posting a time of four hours, 14 minutes and 29 seconds, with Blair Hurst out of Boulder finishing in third.
“It was a surprise,” says Beisel. “It felt good the whole time. I didn’t get into the red zone until the end.”
Both Dillon and Beisel will return to the road to continue racing. Dillon will race in the Marathon Nationals in Sun Valley this weekend and then head to Breckenridge for the Breck 68 Sunday, July 14.
Beisel returns to the Pro XCT circuit and will compete in the cross-country NORBA Nationals in Pennsylvania July 21-23.