Back to Oct. 98 Cover cycling utah October 1998
Tim Brown completed the Park City to Guardsman Pass Tour des Suds Sept. 19 nearly two minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.
But the hill climb race provided some frustration for the Canyon Cycles racer. He was disappointed that he was caught by the field half way through the race. It wasn't because of a mechanical. It was due to a biological, a moose that is. And a moose that wasn't intimidated by a little old mountain bike racer. Brown finally convinced it to move off the single track trail by throwing rocks and yelling at it.
Prior to that Brown had sprinted away from the field and passed the pace truck heading up Park Ave. But he had to stop when he got on the Daly Canyon single track.
The 21-year-old reached the finish line in 40:45, almost two minutes ahead of second-place finisher Cary McNeely at 42:39.
Wild Rockies Intermountain Cup series champion Mindy Gillespie claimed the women's title with a time of 48:16. Jennifer Spinti was the second at 49:41.
After placing fourth in the Vail Ultra 100, Matt Ohran made plans to go to Big Bear, California for The 12 Hours at the Summit Endurance Race the following weekend Aug. 29.
Accompanied by Isaac Wilson who also competed at Vail, the racers arrived to hear everyone at registration talk about all of the Titanium Class competitors this year, 45 solo racers. The course was 8 miles long with 1400 feet of elevation gain per lap.
Both riders were unsupported and had to set coolers on the side of the trail by the start/finish area with over 20 bottles filled with Sportalyte energy drink.
After 5 hours of racing Ohran had built a 20-minute lead. Then the wall hit and it hit really hard on his seventh lap. This lap was 20 minutes slower than his usual 38 to 42 minute laps. After several laps of fluid replacement and Power Gels his body woke up and decided it was time to go into overdrive.
Ohran stopped at the end of lap 14 lap knowing that nobody would complete 15 laps before the 12 hours was up. Wilson came through the finish area and also decided to throw in the towel. The gamble did not pay off because Todd Brown who was in 3rd at the time completed his 14th lap to move into 2nd place. The format was new for both racers.
" I think the key for me in Endurance Racing is to never stop for more than a minute or 2 at a time" Ohran said. "He who eats and drinks the most will win!"
" The key in my opinion, is to race against only yourself," Wilson concluded. "Never get drawn into another persons race. Generally, people don't know how fast they can go for that length of time, so to follow them is silly."
Ohran has been officially accepted to race in the 24 Hours of Moab as a solo rider.
"I'm very nervous about this race because it is 24 hours," Ohran said. "But I am hoping to do well and I am going to ride this race like I am going for the win. If those plans fall apart at hour 16 or something like that then I will just try and finish because I think even finishing 24 hours will be a great accomplishment."
Park City mountain bike racer Todd Henneman used his experience with the Mont Saint Anne course used for the World Mountain bike Championships at Quebec, Canada for a ninth-place finish in the Masters 40-49 age group out of 70 racers. Henneman finished 41st last year in the 30-39 division at Chateau Doex, Switzerland.
Henneman qualified for his second Worlds with a second-place Veteran Expert finish at the August National Off-road Bicycle Association Finals in Vermont.
The Masters cross-country race consisted of three laps of a seven-mile circuit. Henneman known for his climbing skills was competitive on the rolling, technical single-track course.
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