The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Eight riders headed to the state championships this weekend
by Than Acuff
It all started with training rides back in the beginning of August for the CB Devo high school bike team and after three months of riding and racing, eight athletes for CB Devo are headed to the state championships in Glenwood Springs Saturday and Sunday, October 24-25.
The team closed out the regular season of races in Cañon City on Saturday, October 10 with one individual win, three more top five results and the team placed second overall in the Crystal division edging out Aspen/Basalt for the overall conference title.
As she has done all season, Tilly Rinderle took the lead right off the start line and rode to another win in the girls’ sophomore class race to seal her overall points series title. In fact, she ended up catching all but five of the riders in the JV class, whose race started five minutes before the sophomore race.
“Tilly did Tilly things,” says coach John Landreth. “She was confident, calm and collected and put it down again.”
Robert Spencer continued his assault on the JV boys’ class. He has been going toe-to-toe with one rider in particular all season and followed a similar strategy that got him the win earlier this season. But a wash out in a corner dropped Spencer from the front pack leaving him to step up his effort to reel the front runners in once again to get back in front and looking to build a gap on a downhill section. Once they came into the final stretch, it was a drag race to the finish line and all the effort reeling the others in eventually took its’ toll, yet he still rolled through in second place.
“He had to hammer and he dug hard to get there,” says Landreth.
Nevertheless, the second-place result generated the most team points with JV teammate Soren Eggebraten taking fourth place to add another chunk of points to the team result.
“They both raced super smart races as they’ve done all year,” says Landreth.
Grace Tucker had herself a go in the freshmen girls’ race and just like Spencer and Eggebraten, Tucker laid down a faster second lap, but it took some carnage for Tucker to level up. After getting pushed out of a corner by a girl that’s been doing it all season, Tucker settled in and waited.
That time came later on in the race as she watched that same girl take out two more riders so Tucker used the opening to make her move and stuck onto the rear wheel of the leader to place second.
“She had an amazing race,” says Landreth. “She got angry, but she sat back and bided her time. She knows her capabilities for the second lap and just puts on the jets.”
Then came varsity rider Jackson Holsteen. The varsity class raced last that day and Holsteen was struggling during the first of three laps. But after some maple syrup and additional fluids during the end of the first lap and the start of the second lap, Holsteen hung in until the replenishment took hold and laid down his fastest time on the third lap to place 22nd, a result that sealed the overall conference title for the CB Devo team.
“He passed everyone back that passed him, and it was exactly what we needed for the team title,” says Landreth. “It just goes to show that every kid does matter.”
Meanwhile, Sullivan Reese and Shiloh Stephenson finished in 17th and 22nd place respectively in the boys’ sophomore race and Mason Dunn and Walker Sumners closed out their first year of racing in high school with 35th and 41st place finishes respectively in the freshmen boys’ race. Results that should not be overlooked as Reese, Sumners and Dunn all made the cut to race in the big show joining Rinderle, Spencer, Tucker, Holsteen Eggebraten and Nate Taylor. While Dunn is unable to make it to the races, eight CB Devo riders will be battling the state’s top riders and Landreth believes they have a shot at the podium.
“Four teams will have a war on their hands for the podium,” says Landreth. “If we ride the way we can ride, we can stand on the podium. Not backing down and having fun.”
