Local, Visiting Mountain Bikers Brave Soggy, Muddy Conditions in Alpine 50

Extremely variable weather — clear and sunny conditions one minute, followed by pounding rain and sleet at other times — failed to deter out-of-town and local mountain bike riders participating in last weekend’s sixth Annual Alpine 50.
Sponsored as a fundraiser for Lake Fork Conservancy, this year’s Alpine drew a total of 109 bike racers who registered. A total of 99 men and women bike racers were at the starting gate Saturday morning, of whom 82 finished, according to organizer Mike Fleishman. Top place men’s and women’s finishers departed the town park starting line in Lake City at 6:30 a.m. August 24, proceeding up valley to maneuver past Lake San Cristobal and then the upper Lake Fork.
The rain-soaked and muddy course took racers through descending clouds of mist on the Shelf Road above Sherman as they braced for the grueling, steep climb up 12,620’ Cinnamon Pass, then a brief respite after the summit as they dropped down into San Juan County near Animas Forks before the vertically-challenging climb back into Hinsdale County at 12,800’ Engineer Pass. Engineer Pass, which was cited by nearly every bicyclist in the race as the most demanding in the race, was followed by the speedy generally downhill descent on Henson Creek and back to the town park finish line.
Commenting on the challenging 16 percent gradient up and out of the upper Animas Valley, first place men’s finisher Brian Elander caught his breath, saying it was perhaps the most challenging race of his entire life.
The reward after summiting both Cinnamon and Engineer Passes, according to Elander, was the scenery, “above treeline,” he said, “you can see forever.”
Elander, age 22 and a native of Evergreen, Colorado, who now lives in Moab, Utah, finished the mountainous 50-miler with a time of three hours, 34.11 minutes — compared to last year’s first place finisher Olympian Todd Wells who completed the race in three hours, 24.49 minutes.
Following in Elander’s muddy bike tracks were second and place men’s finishers, Nathaniel Schneider, Wheat Ride, Colorado, time three hours, 43.18 minutes, and Anthony Iannacito, Denver, three hours, 53.43.
Also exhausted but ecstatic at race end was first place women’s bike race finisher Liv Geer, from Salt Lake City. A first-timer in the race, Geer was barely breathless at her five-hour, 11:53-minute finish, describing the race as “fantastic” while noting that the most difficult section of the route was the last “couple of miles… I was tired.”
Following in close pursuit of first place finisher Geer were Denver racer Maura McGovern, in second place among women at five hours, 18.58 minutes, and Katie Branham, third place, five hours, 25.52 minutes.
Unprecedented in this year’s race were a total of 11 Lake City area bike athletes, including several with Lake City ties.
Tops among locals was 6th place male finisher Jaden McNeese, piloting a Kona Raijin for four-hour, 11.06-minute finish in his fourth Alpine 50. McNeese said he experienced low energy levels — “my legs fell apart” — after starting out too fast up Cinnamon Pass.
McNeese was re-energized after downing a combination of pickle juice and peanut butter at the Cinnamon Pass aid station, further stimulation being cold temperatures and “grippy rocks” over which he and bike rattled.
McNeese’s mother, Lake City School special education instructor Lydia McNeese, was once again a competitor in this year’s race, riding a Niner mountain bike and finishing ninth among women, time six hours, 28.32 minutes. Challenges in this year’s run, according to Lydia McNeese, were excessive moisture and “mud everywhere.”
At age 12, Lake City 7th Grader Landon Rhodes was the youngest participant in the six-year history of the bike race, finishing the 50-mile circuit with his father, Lake City GCEA lineman Logan Rhodes, finish times respectively seven hours, 4.52, for Landon and Logan’s time seven hours, 4.54.
Also unprecedented was the fact three generations of the Rhodes family competed in Saturday’s bike race, Landon’s father, Logan, and grandfather, Trinidad, Colorado, resident Lonny Rhodes, seven hours, 36.02.
A fourth member of the Rhodes family competing on Saturday was Landon Rhodes’ uncle, Cameron MacDonald, from Castle Rock, Colorado.
Close family connections also included the two Hartman brothers, repeat Alpine 50 participant Silas Hartman, who characteristically finished the race by riding his bicycle backwards across the finish line, time six hours, 37.23 minutes, and his Lake City 10th Grade brother Levi Hartman, who completed his inaugural entry in the Lake City 50, time seven hours, 27.18, on his Yeti mountain bike.
In the Lake City father and son category, Hinsdale Commissioner Greg Levine crossed the finish line on a Guerilla Gravity after eight hours, 13.46 minutes’ strenuous pedaling. At the finish line, Levine reflected on just two prior practice sessions, calmly observing “one should have a little more training before the race.”
Levine’s son, Lake City School Alum Bennett Levine, 27th among Alpine 50 men, time five hours, 21.51 minutes riding a full suspension Yeti. Succinctly commenting that the race was “nice,” Levine sustained energy by happily feasting on Cheerios, rice crispy treats, Take 5 candy, and potato chips – best part of the race summiting Cinnamon Pass, most difficult the steep climb up Engineer.
In addition to multiple members of the Hartman, Rhodes, McNeese, and Levine families, other Lake Citians competing in Saturday’s bike race included Dan File, and Brant Cunningham.
The Sheldon Little Fastest Time Award — appropriately consisting of a curved chunk of rubber bicycle tire — was presented for fasted cumulative finish times by bikers from a specific town. This year, both Little Awards went to teams from Colorado Springs — for the women, Branham and Galgano, Balliett, Juneau, and Abbas for the men — prompting announcer John Coy to note, “all that Olympic training is really paying off.”
Other awards which were presented on a slightly more light hearted note were: Best Finish Line Display to Silas Hartman; So-Far-Away Award, Tom Cosgrove from Naples, Florida; Best Beard to Joe Miller; Telluride’s Pete Dahle, Most Enthusiastic; Best Dressed to Jennie Gerard; Stasha Sockwell garnering the All Smiles Award.
Landon Rhodes, Youngest Rider Award; 71-year-old Sam Voorhies has the distinction of being the oldest bike athlete to enter and finish the race, and appropriately received the Oldest Rider Award.
Men’s and women’s roster for this year’s Alpine 50:
Brian Elander, Moab, Utah – time 3 hours, 34.11 minutes; Nathaniel Schneider, Wheat Ridge, CO, time 3 hours, 43.18 minutes; Anthony Iannacito, Denver, CO, time 3:53.43
Michael Grajeda, Mancos, CO, 4:09.19; Gregory Strokes, Aspen, Colorado, 4:10.53; Jaden McNeese, Lake City, 4:11.06; Bryan Balliett, Colorado Springs, 4:17.29; Elijah Reagh, Durango, 4:27.47; Dave Steiner, Park City, Utah, 4:28.03; Jayson Hurd, Highlands Ranch, CO, 4:30.39; Pete Dahle, Telluride, CO, 4:34.27; Chris O’Connell, Park City, Utah, 4:36.04; Michael Baird, Highlands Ranch, CO, 4:42.18; William Pankonin, Boulder, CO 4:43.25; Miles Juneau, Colorado Springs, 4:45.39; Vladamir Chizhov, Monument, CO, 4:45.47; Herman Avella, Avon, CO, 4:50.29; Laith Abbas, Colorado Springs, 4:55.19; Bryant Money, Colorado Springs, 4:56.14; Stephen Crumpler, Colorado Springs, 5:10.07; Jim Lovelace, Gunnison, 5:12.25; Joe Miller, Colorado Springs, 5:13.49; Sam Lee, Durango, CO, 5:14.48; Mark Bollman, Ohio City, CO, 5:16.07; Robert Bennett, Lakewood, CO, 5:20.28 Damon Huber, Durango, CO, 5:20.50; Bennett Levine, Lake City, 5:21.51; Dave Gribble, Lafayette, CO, 5:25.11; Brant Cunningham, Lake City, 5:29.39; Dean Kennedy, Florissant, CO, 5:30.57; Josh Dyar, Littleton, CO, 5:32.16; Brad Priebe, Colorado Springs, 5:41.34; Tom Hiser, Los Alamos, NM, 5:49.31; Cody Chevalier, Durango, CO, 6:00.59; Cameron Hanlin, Erie, CO, 6:02.22; Todd Schweitzer, Lake City, 6:05.50; Gabriel Sherman, Durango, CO, 6:05.57; Daniel Ramse, Loveland, CO, 6:11.56; Eddie Rogers, 6:12.34; Jason Maher, Buena Vista, CO, 6:17.54; Kevin Reidy, Denver, 6:18.50; Mark O’Neill, Crested Butte, 6:19.39; Michael Matergia, Denver, 6:20.04; Gary Van Guilder, Gunnison, 6:21.29; Roger Watson, Steamboat Springs, CO, 6:23.53; Tom Cosgrove, Naples, Florida, 6:36.37; Silas Hartman, Lake City, 6:37.23; Daniel File, Lake City, 6:39.21; Hector Reyes, Denver, 6:43.15; Colin MacGregor, Chattanooga, TN, 6:52.27; Landon Rhodes, Lake City, 7:04.52; Logan Rhodes, Lake City, 7:05.19; Cameron MacDonald, Castle Rock, CO, 7:10.13; Devin McCauley, Manitou Springs, CO, 7:16.07; Dan Glardina, Denver, 7:21.31; Clint Gray, Colorado Springs, 7:24.36; Levi Hartman, Lake City, 7:27.18; Jon Cox, Durango, CO, 7:29.30; Lonny Rhodes, Trinidad, CO, 7:36.02; Andrew Jensen, Broomfield, CO, 7:44.35; Adam Florland, Golden, CO, 7:44.41; Matthias Learned, Colorado Springs, 7:50.34; Russell Verhey, Colorado Springs, 7:50.36; Sam Voorhies, Hilton Head Island, SC, 7:52.35; Joe Marcotte, Loveland, CO, 7:53.17; Courtney LaZier, Creede, 8:00.00; Greg Levine, Lake City, 8:13.46; Bryan Boyle, Gunnison, 8:37.54.
Liv Geer, Salt Lake City, 5:11.53; Maura McGovern, Denver, 5:18.58; Katie Branham, Colorado Springs, 5:25.52; Erica Hoover, Los Alamos, NM, 5:42.48; Jordie Karlinski, Basalt, CO, 5:57.33; Jessica Galgano, Colorado Springs, 5:57.39; Jaclyn Roberson, Colorado Springs, 6:05.54; Sara Stewart, Center, CO, 6:22.03; Lydia McNeese, Lake City, 6:28.32; Jamie Thomas, Denver, 6:43.16; Jenni Gerard, Crested Butte, 6:44.09; Micki Harris, Arvada, CO, 6:44.31; Tiege Rugland, Grand Junction, 6:48.02; Samantha Parker, Palisade, CO, 7:47.13; Jennifer Hoover, Fort Collins, CO, 7:48.10

View all photos taken of the race and participants, HERE.