2019 Season Recap: Steamboat Stinger


Two laps of a 25-mile loop, this race course had everything MTB racing can offer; tight and twisting single track, lung busting climbs, gravel roads, boggy creek crossings, modern flow trail, as well as treacherous rock gardens that fully exhaust the 120 millimeters of travel on a lightweight cross country race bike. 




I started fast. The course wound around the start village to a short steep climb that made a sharp turn at the top directly into single track. My goal was to be first to that turn and to carry what I could for the remainder of the race. I succeeded in entering that turn in first position.

The course then climbed for five miles in single track to the top of a ski mountain. I was in second position cresting that summit. From the summit, two miles of tight single track dropped the course down the backside of the mountain.

Once on the valley floor, the course followed a gravel road for several miles tracking slightly uphill before reentering the single track. From there the course wound through a myriad of terrain types for roughly ten miles climbing to the summit of the mountain once again.


At the summit the course descended sharply for five miles. The descent had little to comment on besides being highly technical. 

Through the start/finish at the base village I was with one other rider, together sitting in third and fourth place. We were ten minutes back from the first-place rider and five minutes back from the second-place rider.

My legs started to improve climbing the five miles back to the summit at the beginning of lap two. I grew stronger as I climbed. I dropped the rider I was with before reaching the summit, securing my third place spot.


The descent down the backside was much smoother the second time around. My speed increased on the gravel road on valley floor too. I smiled. I knew I was gaining time.

On the long single-track climb back to the summit I kicked into high gear and the 5-mile descent to the finish gave me no troubles. I sped through the base village to the finish line, finishing in third place, one minute and thirty-five seconds down from second place.

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