Durance Cycleworks of Ketchum sent a Masters team to compete in the $1,000 Lyle Pearson Team Challenge bicycle race Saturday, June 2. And there were six other Ketchum foursomes, two in the top five.
Fifty teams rode the 190-mile distance from Boise to Sun Valley/Ketchum via Highway 21, through Idaho City, Lowman and Stanley. And the weather was changeable, at best.
Race director Mike Cooley of Boise's George's Cycles & Fitness said, "We started out with a perfect day in Boise, close to 70 degrees, then we had brutal heat up Banner Creek Summit. By Galena Lodge there was a complete downpour all the way into the finish at Smith Sport Optics in Ketchum."
By far the oldest team in the race, averaging 68 years old, the cyclists from Durance (10 hours and 22:48 minutes) finished a respectable 46th in a field that included many teams and cyclists from the Wood River Valley. They started at 6 a.m. and finished at 5:13 p.m.
"They were amazing," said Cooley about the Durance four.
Durance Cycleworks team members Mike Wrobel, John Swyers, Charley French, and Patty Puz have been dubbed the "Medicare Masters". They beat four teams in the field.
Remi McManus' Razzignators team with Alex Gardner, Josh Oppenheimer and John King of Ketchum won the Lyle Pearson team race and the top $500 prize with a time of eight hours and 3:10 minutes.
Cooley said, "They put together an unbelievable day with average speeds of 25 miles per hour. Keep in mind that we had 10,000 feet of climbing."
Right behind at 8.15:34 for $300 was Jon Gould's Tamarack Resort squad.
In fourth place, just out of the money with a time of 8.21:36 was the Sun Valley Road & Dirt team of Billy Olson, Danny Albright, Greg Randolph and Matt Luhn. Ketchum's Smith Sport Optics featuring Tracy Anderson, Scott Robinson, James Chilson and Whit Albright was fifth at 8.23:20.
Finishing ninth in the completely full field of 50 teams for Saturday's event was Sawtooth Velo with Kris Thoreson, Reed Melton, Bill Nurge and Marc Driver (8.26:21).
In 11th place was Team Lumberjack of Ketchum with Eric Kafka, Matt Fethke, Joe Kafka and Christ Cook (8.30:59).
Zenergy/Jensen & Stern (8.37:31 for 12th place) with Kyl Samway, Brandon Lynch, Josh Wells and Bill McCann, and Scott USA captained by Ladd Williamson (9.47:00 for 36th) were other Wood River teams in the field. Other Scott USA riders were Tom Elder, Moses Mexia and Brian Marcouiller.
The second annual Team Challenge raised $4,000 for the new Velodrome Cycle Park to be built in Eagle, Idaho.
Charley French
