Grinder brings 252
bikers to Galena Lodge
Sandstrom shades
Harrison over 27 miles
Saturday’s
cool weather with scattered rain showers provided some of the best racing
conditions seen in years at the Galena Grinder mountain bike race 23 miles
north of Ketchum.
Galena
Grinder mountain bikers had to make a decision about whether to forge
through Horse Creek, and this biker did just that during Saturday’s
race. Express photo by Willy Cook
And it was
a good thing that the recent heat wave took a breather. The 27-mile,
three-lap course was very demanding for the expert and pro fields—so
demanding that organizer Ron Dillon plans to shorten it to two laps and 24
miles in 2002.
Dillon
said, "We’ve nailed the course for beginners, but it is too tough
for the pros and experts and is starting to scare them away. Some experts
were out there for well over three hours. That starts to resemble a death
march rather than a fun, mountain bike race."
The
top-flight Pro/Semi-Pro Men had a close finish.
Pocatello’s
Craig Sandstrom (2.20:53) made his early lead stand up and held off Dave
Harrison of Ketchum (2.21:13) by 20 seconds after 27 miles.
Placing
fifth and sixth were the cross-country season leaders on the 2001 Wild
Rockies "Unplugged" Mountain Bike Series tour—Whitney Albright
of Ketchum in fifth (2.25:22) and tour leader Craig Kidd of Pocatello
sixth (2.28:31).
Turning in
another impressive performance, good for first place in the Expert Men’s
19-26 age class, was Troy Quesnel of Ketchum (2.33:56). Quesnel extended
his overall XC points lead for the season.
Among
Pro/Expert women, Salt Lake City’s Sally Warner (2.52:33) led from start
to finish to finish eight minutes ahead of season tour leader Barb Kreisle
of Boise (3.01:07).
Saturday’s
10th annual Galena Grinder was the sixth Wild Rockies stop.
A total of
252 racers, mainly from Idaho but some from as far away as Colorado and
Massachusetts, raced the extensive Galena trail system.
Other
winning their age classes among 40 Wood River Valley racers at Galena
Lodge were Ben Young (1.45:54 for 18 miles), Don Sewell (1.53:10 for 18
miles), Chris Kastner (1.55:40 for 18 miles) and Whit Henry (1.55:09 for
18 miles);
Also, Mike
Altermatt (50:08 for 9 miles), Georgia Gould (50:38 for 9 miles), Dede
Draper (1.28:50 for 9 miles), Corey Bellinger (1.01:14 for 9 miles), Zack
Lowry (20:42 for 3 miles) and Marvin Melville (1.01:10 for 9 miles).
With her
third-place finish in Sport Women 35-44, Hailey’s Cherry Thornton
(2.40:26 18 miles) moved into her overall season class lead.
Dillon said
there was a huge pile of raffle prizes compliments of Carrera, Durance
Cycleworks, Sun Summit, Sturtos, Backwoods, Bob’s Bikes and Scott USA.
Afterwards, racers dined on the awesome Grinder burrito bar and got their
prizes.
The next
series event is the 10th annual Bogus Bomber Saturday and Sunday, July
14-15 on a brand new course at Bogus Basin north of Boise.
Dillon said
the 10.5-mile cross-country course featuring some terrific new trails near
Deer Point is a huge improvement over past years.
Check the
Web site at www.wildrockies.com.
Here are
other class placings and times for Saturday’s Galena Grinder:
-
27
miles: 2—Moses Mexia 2.48:05. 3—Tom Montgomery 3.08:35. 5—Tony
Chaves 2.41:00, Kris Thoreson 2.45:58. 8—Don Shepler 2.51:00. 11—Matt
Bott 3.02:10.
-
18
miles: 2—Dave Bell 2.01:53 and Dusty Labarr 1.57:28. 5—Erik
Rolf 2.07:04. 6—Michael Olenick 1.58:20. 7—Lee Roquet 1.54:20 and
Bob Lowry 1.58:34. 9—Ryan Still 1.57:11. 15—Bruce Rogers 2.03:44.
18—Doug Cleven 2.05:02. 19—Marvin Burrell 2.08:38.
-
9
miles: 2—Maggie Macdonald 58:45. 3—Mark Harbaugh 58:37. 4—Mike
Harris 1.02:55. 6—Ryan McCauley 1.12:20. 10—Rob Morse 1.02:51. 11—Jonathan
Neeley 1.03:38 and Phillip Neeley 1.13:30.
-
3
miles: 2—Zach Thornton 21:47. 7—Chelsea Broadie 27:23. 10—Broadie
Burrell 37:12.