Local riders take top spots at the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde comp

Numerous trips to the podium

Every May, a stout contingent of Gunnison Valley bike riders open the racing season at the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde. It’s a fitting kick-start to the year, with Cortez biking Mecca Phil’s World opened up for 12 hours straight of racing.
The course is 16.4 miles long and offers up riding much like what’s available at Hartman Rocks—rolling singletrack, plenty of twists and turns, occasional technical sections and high-speed descents with a modest vertical gain of 1,135 feet per lap.
“It’s a little Star Wars-like,” says avid participant and Team Griggs Orthopedics (Team GO) rider Dave Ochs. “You can totally use the force and you can catch air all over the course.”
Some opt for the three or four-person relay team format to give their pale white winter legs a chance to acclimate to spinning rather than shuffling. Others, more fit perhaps, find a partner to share in the pain of 12 hours of bike racing and jump into the two-person fray. And then there are the soloists, who perhaps find the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde the perfect way to reintroduce their minds and bodies to the idea of spending several hours in and out of the saddle. No matter what your pick, given the time of year, the race still hurts.
“You just have to roll with it,” says Team GO rider Janae Pritchett.
The Gunnison Valley posse, 20-strong, spearheaded by local squad Team GO, opted for all race category options available at Mesa Verde and pulled off a number of podium finishes and one title.
“Everybody did well,” says Ochs. “It was a great showing.”
Pritchett and Amy Beisel led a Gunnison Valley near-sweep of the podium in the women’s two-person race. Beisel and Pritchett won the title last year and were hoping to set a new record for the race this year.
“No one has done nine laps and we missed by 10 minutes last year, so we were trying to beat our time,” says Pritchett.
There was some concern prior to the race as Pritchett experienced some “massive mechanical issues” the night before and the morning of the race. But with the help of teammates, everything was in running order by race time and she and Beisel rattled off eight laps, a total of 131 miles, to win the women’s two-person title.
“We went out hoping to beat last year but the course was slower, a little dusty and sandy,” explains Pritchett. “It was good but it hurt a lot. It came down to Cokes, pickle juice and some caffeine.”
Team GO teammates Jenny Smith and Amy Nolan weren’t far behind, coming in second place in the end.
Jari Kirkland, a well decorated solo racer and former Mesa Verde champion, finished in second place among the solo women, while Mike Mcauley placed third among solo men with Neil Beltchenko and Jefe Branham taking fourth and fifth place.
Brick Oven team rider Heather McDowell signed up for some extra pain in her Mesa Verde experience. Not only did she opt for solo, but she also decided to jump into the singlespeed category and fired off six laps—that would be 98.4 miles, by the way—in May, to take second place.
Meanwhile, the Team GO men’s three-person team of Ochs, Brian Smith and Rhett Griggs were in the midst of a battle for the title. Ochs led the charge in the Le Mans start and Smith and Griggs laid down some blistering splits but they were eventually outpaced by a four-person team to finish the day in second place.
“We were duking it out for awhile for first place,” says Ochs.
Troy Hiatt, Paul Pike, Kevin van Treek and Jon Brown joined their teammates on the podium, finishing the day in third place.
The women’s Team GO squad saw success equal to their male counterparts. Beth Shaner, Tina Kempin, Esther Blom-Geiser and Brianne Marshall pulled together last minute for the Mesa Verde race and were tossed immediately into a battle.
“We were toggling back and forth between second and third place,” says Kempin.
As the race wore on, Team GO pulled away from their closest rival and then set their sights on the first-place team.
Kempin headed out for the team’s eighth and final lap five minutes back from the first place team and pinned it for the final 16 miles after 11 hours of racing, but still came up shy of the title, coming in second place.
“I gave it my all but we were still happy with second place,” says Kempin.
Just to make sure they had all bases covered, Team GO also had a coed crew racing. Evan Ross, Scott Krankala and newest team member Sari Anderson pulled together to ride a total of nine laps over 12 hours and finish the long day in fifth place.
Local riders will now have the next week to rest up and then reboot to defend their home trails in the Original Growler on Saturday and Sunday, May 24-25 at Hartman Rocks.