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Race reports have been few and far in between lately. However, some GAS riders have been extremely active and this past weekend’s results show it. The biggest and baddest cyclocross event in Montana and surrounding states is the Rolling Thunder. Saturdays’ race attracted riders from all over the Northwest.
The Cat 4 race showcased the largest field with 53 riders battling it out on a twisty and technical course, making for exciting and challenging racing. The Master’s race included Bill Cochran competing in the A group and Jim Nallick taking a strong second place in the B’s. Jim took second again in Sunday’s Grease Lightning’s race. Benji Nallick an upcoming junior GAS rider was sidelined with an elbow injury on Saturda but gritted his teeth through Sunday’s race to take third place. Trey and Mariah Morgan rocked the kids’ race with Mariah schooling the competition through the barriers, only to step right back up to the line for the start of the junior race.
In the women’s event Lisa Curry rode with cool confidence to recover from an early hiccup on the barriers before turning it on to ride away from her competition. On the third lap she made a move to the front before a technical bermed turn. Riders behind her bobbled and she got a small gap. She capitalized on it, increasing it to over 30 seconds by the finish. Her outstanding riding skills proved to be an asset on the technical and bumpy course. Lisa wowed the crowd by riding the run-up several times, a feat only a handful of the elite men could achieve.
By the time the men’s 1-2-3 race started it was dark enough that Jedi riding skills would have been an asset. With 43 adrenalin-fueled riders gunning for the best possible position in the peleton the start was nothing short of furious. The technical turns strung out the field early.
John Curry got a good start and made the lead group of five on the first lap. But the pace was a little too much at the front, and on the third lap Curry cracked and fell back. He was joined briefly by teammates Brian Frykman and Brad Morgan, who were both having excellent races. In the end Kevin Bradford-Parish and Sam Schultz battled it out until the finish with Schultz winning by a few bike lengths. Sam Kreig, who led the first serious attack, ended up third. John Curry recovered from his third lap meltdown to ride in solo for 4th. Brian Frykman held off a hard charging Ben Parsons to round out the podium in 5th, arguably his best ‘cross result to date.
Mike Curtain, who was unable to finish the Saturday race, found redemption on Sunday by riding a solid race in the Cat 4’s. Alex Lussier, who flatted and ran most of the last lap on Saturday, also had a better Sunday race in a heated battle with Elliot Bassett. Jason Delmue represented with consistency in the Cat 3’s after a sporadic road biking season.
Craig Richey, a top Canadian rider who finished 20th earlier this year at Cross Vegas, but suffered an early mechanical on Saturday, won the Sunday race. He rode with authority, finishing ahead of Sam Krieg and John Curry who added a third place to his fourth place finish on Saturday, rounding out a strong and consistent weekend.
The 4th annual Rolling Thunder, along with the inaugural Greased Lightning (Sunday race) has quickly become a major event in the Northwest. Our thumbs up go to promoter Shaun Radley and local Missoula business sponsors for creating an event not to be missed. While we’re pointing thumbs, here are a few more snippets worth pointing out:
Again, thumbs up to Shaun Radley and the entire Montana Cyclocross Crew for generating the hype and putting on one of the coolest cycling events in the Northwest.
Thumbs up to the fans! We know it’s a cliché, but they were out big time with bonfires and drums, generating enough Decibels to replenish riders’ dwindling energy reserves. Thumbs down to the particularly drunk fan who, ignoring his friends pleading and ample verbal warning, staggered in the path of a 25 mph Curry missile and barely lived to talk about it. Lucky for him he didn’t stumble in front of “Freight Train" Frykman. Thumbs up to anybody who Thriller danced. Thumbs up and thanks to all out-of-state riders who made the trip to rub elbows with Montana’s best. Thumbs down to Owen Gue for cheating his way up to the first line after being called up in the third. Thumbs up to Dan Pierce for putting together a killer video of the race. Thumbs way down to Owen Gue for blatantly false starting to steal the holeshot. Enthusiastic thumbs up to Dan Pierce for catching it on video. Thumbs down for the spooky scary dark sections on the course Thumbs up for the challenging run up and spiral of death Thumbs down for the broken stakes and ribbons, and whoever was taking advantage of them to cut the course. Thumbs up to Lisa Curry for riding the run up. Huge thumbs up go to Missoula bike shops for stepping up with amazing merchandise prizes for winners and neutral support for riders. Thumbs up to whoever shows up for next weekend’s MuleCross in Bozeman. See you there. |
The Mile Nordic Ski Club hosted their annual nordic ski race this saturday, Feb 13th. Formerly known as the Ben Ali Haggin Nordic race, the Legends of the Wulf Nordic race is a freestyle, mass start event that takes place on the Mt Haggin nordic ski trails south of Anaconda. There were 2 GAS/Intrinsik athletes, Tom Owen (Master's A) and Sebastian White (Cat. 3) participating in the 19km event, which was described as "hilly and technically challenging". The weather was near perfect with temps of 28 F, calm winds, and mostly sunny skies with a few snow flakes flying at race start. The trails were well groomed and there was an excellent turn-out from the nordic ski scene. The race began with a double-pole section, then a short flat into a steep 25meter climb. We looped out through the narrow trails which seemed to dip and dive though the woods with no clear pattern. Calling the event "technically challenging" was an understatement. I followed the skiers in front of me back through the start/finish area and this is where the "hilly" course began to really live up to its reputation. We started to climb, and climb and climb almost relentlessly. My legs, arms, and lungs were burning like a TT effort x 2, as I suffered through each stair-step, hoping it would be the last. Reviewing the map, it appears the climb may have been only 1.2 km, but it seemed like 10 to me. I was seeing stars at the top. The remainder of the event was damage-control time for me, as we looped back out again through the woods. I limited my losses to finish in 1:15. The event was won by MSU nordic fast-man Ryan Scott in an amazing time of 59:37. Bozeman local, Chad Anderson, came in a close second at 59:58. Tom Owen skied strong to finish at 1:12. We celebrated our efforts with a hot-spring soak at Fairmont. Count me in for next year. 
