Alpine 50 Race Biking Success
The Alpine 50 mountain bike race started with a field of 114 racers who were registered, 97 men and 17 women, 101 of whom actually began the race at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, August 22, with a total of 92 who completed the race by crossing the town park finish line. This year’s 114 registered racers compares to 127 who registered last year and 108 who finished the mountainous 50-mile course. Fastest times for the three top men’s finishers were Durango racers Ivan Sippy and Ian Brown, three hours 14.38 minutes and three hours, 25.57 minutes, in first and second place, and Glenwood Springs racer Eric Mahoney, in third place with three hours, 31.28 minutes. Among a bevy of speedy women mountain bicyclists, Durango racer Brittany Cowan was fastest, four hours, 33.59 minutes, followed by Annika Rips, from Bavaria, five hours, 3.4 minutes, and Heidi Lauterbach, Telluride, Colorado, in third position, five hours, 19.27 minutes. Added to Saturday’s winning roster were a record 11 Lake City mountain bicyclists who started the race, nine men and two women, nine of whom finished the race. First Lake Citian across the finish line was Lake City High School Sophomore Joseph Tubbs, four hours, 50.43 minutes, while the sole Lake City woman to cross the finish line was repeat Alpine 50 bicyclist Lydia McNeese, five hours, 35.38 minutes. Comaraderie, bell ringing and whistles were evident throughout the late morning and afternoon on Saturday as announcer John Coy chronicled each racer’s arrival at the finish line. Boulder racer Adam Sher, who finished 43rd, was gleefully met at the finish line by his wife, daughter, son and bulldog displaying a hand-lettered poster, “Dad’s High 12,960 Ft” in reference to his successful ascent of Engineer Pass. On the sidelines and cheering were David and Rosie Whitelock from Inn at the Lake, Rosie especially cheering with a hug to her second cousin, Cody Brewer, Aledo, Texas, who crossed the finish line seven hours, 19.05 minutes. Michael Fleishman, who co-coordinated the 9th annual Alpine 50 with John Coy on behalf of Human Powered Endeavors, says weather for the up Cinnamon and down Engineer race route was near ideal, identical to last year, with a spot of rain on Friday, clear throughout the majority of the day for the race, and then a rain shower on Sunday morning. “Overall,” says Fleishman, “it felt pretty good.” The upper Lake Fork start of the race followed the east side of Lake San Cristobal and then proceeded up valley in progressively lower gear up and over Cinnamon Pass, one huffing racer on the Shelf Road portion on the approach to Cinnamon observing “it might have been quicker to walk.” All finishers completed the 50 miler without incident, Fleishman noting that logistically “it was one of our best years.” He credits part of the success to communications, a key link being Tom Carl’s mobile StarLink which allowed communication from throughout the mountainous terrain. Coy and Fleishman will enumerate a long list of volunteers responsible for Alpine 50’s success this year in an upcoming letter, although racers were unanimous in their praise for the Cinnamon Pass aid station, this year manned by Tom Carl, Patrick Woods, John and Mary Kay Jergens, and Tim McClary, where Hammer nutrition products and an assortment of food including fruit, peanut butter, and pickles were cheerfully dispensed to racers on the long uphill stretch on Cinnamon Pass. Mountain bike athletes from Durango, Colorado, not surprisingly were once again predominate in Saturday’s race led by Fort Lewis College student Ivan Sippy in first place. Sippy was among nine Durango men who finished the race, one of whom, 17th place finisher Phil Cowan, is married to this year’s first place women’s finisher, Brittany Cowan. Speedy times by the three top-place men’s finishers and two women bicyclists resulted in Alpine 50’s Fastest Town Awards going to Durango in both 2025 and 2026. A Lake City rider, Frieda Allen, received Underwood Photography’s True Grit Award for her ferocious determination to keep pedaling and not quit the race until near American Basin on Cinnamon Pass. While racers from Durango once again dominated the events, but there were outstanding performances from across the state, including numerous mountain bike racers from Colorado Springs, Denver and metro area, Grand Junction and even from as far away as Bavaria and Costa Rica. In addition to Frieda Allen who was hailed for gritty determination and Fastest Town Awards to men’s and women’s Durango racers, other awards on Saturday were “All Smiles” of Tyler Micek, from Golden, Colorado, for his sunny race disposition, “Best Dressed” to shorts-wearing Bryan Ortiz, Boulder, Colorado, and youngest and oldest accolades to two Lake City racers, Lake City Community School Freshman Landon Rhodes and 70-year-old Dan File. With luxuriant facial hair, Dennis Johnson received the palm for “Best Beard.” Fashionably dressed Ortiz commented on the calmness of Lake City compared to Boulder, Colorado, where he is utilities manager overseeing water, waste water, and storm water for the 120,000-population front range city. Mounted on his Specialized Epic-Evo mountain bike, Ortiz reflected on his first-ever Alpine 50 and the fact “this won’t be my last… it’s so much fun, so much to see.” Based on proceeds from this year’s race, $500 was donated to Lake City Arts, Lake Fork Conservancy raising in excess of $2,800 on a mountain bike raffle which was won by Arris Slaughter of Shreveport, Louisiana. The first man, and the first overall across the finish line, was 22 year-old Ivan Sippy with a course record of 3:14:38. He rode an S-Works mountain bike. A member of the elite biking club, Segment 28 based in Durango, Ivan started riding at age four with his family and has continued to grow and become stronger and faster. When not in the saddle Ivan keeps busy with the recent launch of his own digital company, Waterfall Digital. In an echo heard from other riders throughout the day, Ivan stated that the views were the best part of the
