World-class mountain bikers flocked to remote Snowshoe, West Virginia, last weekend to compete in the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships.
Durango riders Christopher Blevins and Cole Paton competed on Sunday against some of the best in the world around the 68-mile Snowshoe course.
Blevins finished second out of 79 finishers in the men’s elite race. Paton finished ninth.
Simon Andreassen, a former teammate of Blevins, won the race in 4 hours, 33 minutes and 8 seconds. Blevins wasn’t too far behind, finishing in 4:33:18.
“It was kind of an add-on goal to the year,” Blevins said. “It's cool to race a world championship in the U.S. You get that opportunity once in your career, hopefully, another time. Marathon is a different ball game and I hadn't done any long gravel races or Cape Epic this year, so it was the longest race I've done this season. The training still suits it and it's a good course for the cross-country racers and I really enjoyed it. Getting a medal there was definitely the goal and I'm glad I could come away with it.”
Blevins has a special connection with Snowshoe. He won his first UCI Men’s Elite World Cup race in Snowshoe in 2021.
He also said he’s had some of the muddiest races of his life at Snowshoe where rain is a staple. It rained in the days leading up to the men’s elite race. Blevins said it was a classic East Coast race where the ground stays wet and there are a lot of roots on the course. He’s learned how to race on that type of course throughout the years racing on the East Coast and in Europe and Blevins enjoys it now.
The start of the race wasn’t easy for Blevins because he had to start at the back since he didn’t have any UCI marathon points. He and Andreassen worked their way through the field together to the top group.
Toward the end of the race, Andreassen attacked and was strong enough to finish on his own.
“We were in a group of five or so before Simon attacked,” Blevins said. “Then from second to fourth place, we were sprinting for it. So definitely good to win that one and get second rather than fourth. That's where my strength comes in is having that last sprint.”
The 26-year-old Durangoan said he had an advantage with the suspension setup on his new Specialized Epic bike. Blevins said his team spent so much time on the bike setups for the World Cup races that it wasn’t too different.
Blevins felt quite good after racing in Snowshoe and didn’t want to pass on the opportunity to race in a world championship in the U.S. He feels like he has good momentum from Snowshoe to compete for the win at the lone World Cup race in the United States this year in Lake Placid, New York.
While Blevins has the World Cup in Lake Placid this weekend, Paton also has a quick turnaround to compete in the Life Time Grand Prix event The Rad Dirt Fest in Trinidad this weekend. Paton finished in ninth in 4:37:39 at Snowshoe.
“I'm really happy with it,” Paton said. “That's my first top 10 in a world championship and it being an elite World Championship is even more special. I performed really well and I was riding super well there all week. It was a really technical course to start out with and really physically demanding. In the race calendar that I'm doing with the Life Time Grand Prix, I never really get to showcase my technical skills. With this course, I really got to use them to my advantage, which was fun, but also just really nice to race a proper mountain bike race.”
Despite the good result, it wasn’t smooth sailing for Paton in the tricky wet and muddy conditions. Around halfway through the race, Paton was in the chase group of 10-12 riders. Blevins attacked heading into some single track and Andreassen got around Paton to respond. Paton was riding over the limit and clipped a stump with his pedal and that sent him flying over the handlebars. He took some time to recover from the hard impact.
Then, Paton was with a smaller group after the crash and the group took a wrong turn due to some poor course markings. This loss Paton even more time and he then had to put his head down to finish strong.
Like Blevins, Paton had to start toward the back because he didn’t have many UCI marathon points. He strategically moved through the field and eventually led the main chase group for the first two hours.
Paton was very happy with his setup and said it was similar to what he raced before in Chequamegon for the Life Time Grand Prix.
He had a lightweight suspension setup with a light fork and fast-rolling low-knob tires. Paton used lower air pressure to have more grip in the wet. He knew those tires would be fast on gravel so he rode a calculated race in the single track. Then Paton knew he’d have a fast setup for the second half the race in the gravel part of the course where the winning moves would be made.
Paton said the 110-mile The Rad Dirt Fest course doesn’t suit him very well with its gradual climbing and high speed. He said he’ll have to be to smart to get a good result.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
