The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Flat course, headwinds make for strategic adjustments
By Than Acuff
Make that now three for three.
The CB Devo high school bike team won their third race in a row on a new course at Fountain Valley High School on Saturday, September 21.
The course, and weather, provided some unique challenges for the riders as instead of punchy climbs and technical sections, the course was relatively flat and required a different style of riding than the typical high school course. Furthermore, windy conditions had athletes looking even closer at race strategy.
“The course had minimal climbing and little technical features, favoring powerful riders,” says coach Morgan Weinberg “It was a windy day which, paired with the flat high-speed course, made drafting a factor, especially for the light riders.”
After suffering a mechanical in the previous race, rider Finn Veit returned to lead the team in points placing fourth in the boys’ varsity race covering the 20-mile course in a time of one hour and six minutes.
Sam Bullock was next across the line for CB Devo in the varsity race finishing in 24th place, brother Kenny placed 27th and Ebbet Weinberg took 29th place.
“Sam had a good effort even though the course did not play to his strengths of climbing and technical descending,” says Weinberg. “Ebbet had a strong race and kept himself in the top 30 with a 29th place finish despite having to repeatedly close gaps on the open windy course.”
Temple Robertson was the next top scorer for the CB Devo’s team points total. After mixing it up in the lead group and tucking in out of the wind through the first lap, the two front riders built a gap on the second lap, but Robertson hung on to finish in third and remain at the top of the overall standings among the JV boys.
Ben Geisler rolled through the finish line to take sixth place in the JV boys’ race and bring in more points for the team while Ethan Armbrecht gritted his way to an 18th place finish in the JV boys’ race.
Lone female rider for CB Devo, Brie Bender, continues to do her thing bringing in big points for the team as she moved up a spot from the last race to take third place in the girls JV race. After falling off the top two riders, Bender dug deep to reel in second place for a sprint finish just falling short but remaining on the podium.
It then came down to the freshmen and Jack Holsteen mashed his way through the flat course to finish sixth place scoring the final team points for CB Devo to help push them to the win.
“The Fountain Valley course gave Jackson a chance to use his considerable power and he peddled his way to a career best 6th place finish,” says Weinberg.
Nate Taylor fell prey to the windy conditions but pushed through to roll across the finish line in 10th place. CB Devo heads to Nathrop for their next race on Sunday, October 6. The season wraps up at the state championships at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs October 19-20.
