Saturday’s Dolores Mountain Bike Race featured a new course, a new course record and a 90-year-old finisher.
Starting in downtown Dolores, the 18th annual event drew 79 competitors, including 10 that registered for the newly added 50-mile endurance course.
The 50-mile route – which included an elevation gain of 5,100 feet – was won by Erich McAlister in the men’s division and Ingrid Alt in the women’s.
In the 31-mile expert course, Caleb Thompson of Durango set a new course record, finishing the race in 1:59:30 and toppling McAlister’s record set last year.
Thompson said that it was his first time at the Escalante Days race, which made the ride even more thrilling.
“It’s definitely a little more exciting because there are a lot of blind corners so you don’t really know what’s in front of you,” he explained. “I definitely went off course a couple of times, but it worked out pretty well.”
Thompson won his age group in the expert division, won the expert division overall, set a new course record and won the King of the Mountain award, given to the rider that first reaches the cattle guard at Boggy Draw Road.
Winning the women’s division of the expert course was Lauren Wolford of Pagosa Springs. Wolford and her husband Mat – who took second in the men’s expert class – taught in Cortez two years ago before relocating to Pagosa Springs.
Now, they’re hoping to bring some of the bike culture they enjoyed in Dolores and Cortez to their new hometown.
“Here in the southwest between Dolores and Cortez, they’ve done so much with so few people – with Phil’s World and the trail system here,” Mat said. “And if you look around at this event, it’s packed. There are a lot of people that come out at all levels to have a good time. We’d like to see something like that in Pagosa.”
Stefan Grievel was the top finisher in the men’s division of the 18-mile sport course and Amy Haggart was the first female finisher.
And in the 13-mile beginner course, Liam Foody won the men’s division and Kelsey Nicholson and Ainsley Haggart tied for first in the women’s class.
A fan favorite at the event was 90-year-old Ray Dalen, of Cahone.
Dalen said that he’s been riding for over 25 years, mostly for leisure and exercise, but that this was his second consecutive year completing the Dolores Mountain Bike Race.
After taking a spill during last year’s race, Dalen was much happier with his ride on Saturday.
“Last year it rained the night before and there were some muddy spots,” he explained. “I was going up the trail on the edge and all of a sudden I just sank and I rolled over and my bike landed on top of me and I cut my arm.”
“But I didn’t fall this time!” he concluded with a chuckle.
Avoiding any stumbles, Dalen improved on his time from last year by nine minutes, finishing in 1:56:16.
