By Ryan Barrett
The Bear Lake Classic has grown to one of the premier races in Utah. With three separate events— a Friday night hillclimb time trial, a long and flat road race on Saturday, and a 50-mile TTT on Sunday, the event truly provides something for everyone.
“Stormin’ Norman” Bryner won the Men’s Pro 1-2 event on Friday night- a 3 mile hillclimb time trial, crushing 2nd place with a 12:01 time. Disappointingly, no Pro 1-3 women chose to take part in the hillclimb time trial.
Saturday’s 106 mile Pro 1-2 men’s road race got off to a quick start with attacks running from the gun. After only about 4 miles, the early break got away consisting of Ryan Barrett and Garrett Burbidge (Barbacoa-Mi Duole), Billy Allen (FFKR-Sportsbaseonline), and Joe Waters (Canyon Bicycles-Draper). These four worked well together, building a five-minute advantage. However, back in the field the Cole Sport team, having missed the move, went to work and brought the breakaway group back into the fold approximately 70 miles in the race.
Once again, the fireworks started. After an aggressive few miles, Tyler Riedesel (Canyon Bicycles-Draper) and Alec Sim (FFKR-Sportsbaseonline) got a gap. With the wind out of the fields’ sales, the two built up a sizeable gap before sprinting to the line. In the end, Riedesel got the better of Sim and UCA points leader Dave Harward (Canyon Bicycles-Draper) took out the field sprint for 3rd.
The women’s Pro and Category 1-3 event ran a single lap around the lake for 53 miles. Despite an aggressive race, the women came together for a field sprint finish, which was marred by mixing with a men’s field inside the last kilometer. Nicole Evans (Millcreek Bicycles) took the win in front of Kirsten Kotval (PCIM) and Laura Howat (Ski Utah). However, later Evans and Howat were both relegated for centerline violations, with Kotval being declared the winner in front of PCIM teammates Stephanie Skoreyko and Chantel Thackeray.
Sunday provided a unique 50-mile team time trial event for all categories. The Pro 1-2 men’s event was topped by Barbacoa-Mi Duole in a time of 1:41:12, nearly four minutes in front of 2nd place team ICE-Rob’s Ride on Bike and Ski and a further five minutes in front of third place team FFKR-Sportsbaseonline. After a solid field in the road race, only one women’s team took part in the event; the mixed team Wives on Wheels finished in a time of 2:17:31. C’mon ladies, get out and race!
For results, see page 9.
