Nobody was surprised to see the man who stood on top of the podium after 50 miles of mountain bike racing Sunday in Nevada. The surprise came on the fourth step, and it was a doozy.
While Utah’s Keegan Swenson maintained his grip on the domestic pro men’s mountain bike scene in 2019, it was 17-year-old Riley Amos of Durango who captured the attention of the more than 50 racers in the Carson City-Off Road race during the third of four events in the Epic Rides Off-Road Series.
Swenson won in 3 hours, 4 minutes, 41 seconds with a nearly three-minute gap on second-place Russell Finsterwald of Colorado Springs. Durango’s Benjamin Sonntag was third in 3:09:10, and Amos placed fourth in 3:09:14 with a 2:46 gap on fifth-place Ryan Standish, a Fort Lewis College alum who completed the pro men’s podium Sunday in Carson City, Nevada.
“Riley races like a grown up,” Sonntag said. “He’s pretty mature racing-wise, and he was pretty smart about it. Once we got to the last 15 miles of the high point of the course, Riley and I started moving up. We passed fourth place and got third in sight. We caught Standish at the end of the Flume Trail overlooking Lake Tahoe. Riley didn’t get a bottle at the next feed zone, and him and I went together and worked well together. It was really cool to see him riding so well.”
Amos did it all with a fracture in his right arm. He finished 14th in the Friday night criterium race and had his legs tested against the older and more powerful professionals. Saturday, he woke up and went for an hour-long easy spin to stretch his legs before Sunday’s 50-mile race, the longest yet of his young career. That’s when he had a crash.
“I was cruising on easy singletrack, blew a corner, lost the front wheel and slid on my belly Superman style. I could tell right then that the wrist was a little sore, but I’ve had sore wrists from plenty of crashes,” Amos said. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. It swelled up a bit, and that worried me, and Sunday morning it was hurting. I made a brace with athletic tape and took Ibuprofen and didn’t feel it during the race.”
Amos taped a small piece of wood to his handlebars to help put more of his weight on the inside of his arm instead of the outside where he felt pain. Paired with the adrenaline of riding with the lead group, Amos rode as if nothing was wrong. It wasn’t until Tuesday that Amos had an exam that revealed a chip fracture in his right ulna, a long bone on the outside of the arm that joins the humerus to make the elbow joint down to the carpal bones of the hand. The ulna enables the wrist joint to rotate.
“Adrenaline is a powerful thing,” he said. “I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect because I’ve never raced a 50-mile race like this before. All of the XC races I do are like an hour or hour and a half max.
“There was a dirt road going up before it funneled into singletrack climbing. Russell and Keegan hit that so hard. It was like Mile 5 of 50, and these guys are destroying us. I didn’t go crazy hard there, hung back the first 45-minute climb and stayed in the top 15 with a big group of guys. I started amping it up a bit 10 miles in, and at the feed zone at Mile 20, I was with a pretty big group of guys on a big climbing road and felt strong. During the last big climb up before the flat and the downhill back to Carson City, I opened it up. Sonntag caught me there, and I was able to hold his wheel and work together with him the rest of the race to pick off a couple more people. Having Ben’s wheel to hold and pace me was a huge asset.”
The Epic Rides series has made it possible for mountain bikers to make a decent paycheck. The winner of each race picks up a $5,000 check, while $3,000 goes to second, $2,000 to third, $1,500 to fourth, $1,000 to fifth and additional payouts to the top-12 riders. It also awards an additional $5,000 purse to the top-three in the overall series standings, with a $2,500 bonus for first, $1,500 for second and $1,000 for third. Epic Rides also offers equal payout for men’s and women’s riders.
At only 17, Amos was thrilled to hoist his first big Epic Rides check while on a star-studded podium.
“It was kind of unreal, honestly,” he said. “When I realized I was in contention to get on the pro podium, it fired me up a ton. I didn’t know what it was like to ride among the top guys and didn’t think I could really ride with them and challenge them. To get on the podium, shake their hands and hold up a check was an unreal feeling.
“We are so lucky to have Epic Rides in the U.S. stoking the fire and giving the top mountain bikers a chance to somewhat make a living. $1,500 for a 17-year-old helps pay for some gas money, for sure.”
Amos said his injury doesn’t seem to severe, and he plans to be fully ready for USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships starting July 23 in Winter Park. It will be his first chance to compete in the junior men’s age 17-18 category after he won the short-track and cross-country national titles last year in the races for riders age 15-16.
“I might have to wear a cast for a few weeks, but nobody is making too big a deal out of it,” he said. “Maybe I will need to mold something to my handlebar, but I made it through a 50-mile race pretty pain free, so I’m hoping it won’t hold me back too much for nationals.”
For Sonntag, the result kept him in the mix for the overall series bonus. He was fourth at the Whiskey Off-Road in April and fourth at the Grand Junction Off-Road in June. He is in second in the series behind Finsterwald, who was second at the Whiskey 50 and won in Grand Junction. Swenson skipped the Grand Junction event while racing World Cups in Europe and will not be eligible for the series overall.
Sunday’s podium came one year after Sonntag won the Carson City-Off Road.
“This year, there were course changes,” Sonntag said. “I don’t feel like it’s necessarily a course made for me. But this time of the year, I’m always finding good form. My allergies and breathing are under control. It really doesn’t matter the course when you’re in form and riding well.”
Also at last weekend’s race in Nevada, Durango’s Stephan Davoust placed 12th to remain in the overall series podium hunt. Cal Skilsky of Durango was 13th, and Durango’s Payson McElveen was 16th after he placed fifth in the Friday night short-track.
Swenson also won the short-track, followed by Virginia’s Bryan Lewis and Texas’ Tristan Uhl before Finsterwald and McElveen finished fourth and fifth, respectively, ahead of sixth-place Sonntag.
McElveen was hopeful for another podium Sunday but didn’t find the legs.
“It seemed I’d found that sustained climbing power last week in training that could deliver a front group ride here in Carson City like I’ve had twice before, but it wasn’t in the tank (Sunday),” McElveen said in a post to Instagram. “Instead I spent the 3+ hours using every pacing, self-talk, and fueling trick I know to get through it the best I could.
“(Amos) deserves a shoutout for an absolutely incredible 4th place finish. We’ve seen plenty of talent come out of Durango, but to do that at 17 is unlike anything I’ve seen. I can’t wait to see what he does next.”
FLC rider Henry Nadell placed 23rd. Durango’s Troy Wells was 30th, followed closely by FLC riders and Durangoans Jason Rowton and Keiran Eagen in 31st and 32nd, respectively. Durango’s Lucas Rowton was 44th out of 51 riders who finished the race.
Sunday’s pro women’s race was won by Montana’s Rose Grant in 3:39:20. She edged teammate Chloe Woodruff of Arizona by one second in a sprint. Reigning world champion Kate Courtney was third in 3:41:18. Utah’s Sofia Gomez-Villafañe, an FLC alumna, was seventh.
Durango’s Ellen Campbell placed 20th in the pro women’s 50-mile race.
During the Friday’s night criterium, Haley Batten of Utah won the women’s race followed by Woodruff and Courtney, respectively. Gomez-Villafañe turned in a powerful early effort but finished up 12th. Campbell was 16th. Ashley Carelock of Dolores was 21st.
The final race of the 2019 Epic Rides Off-Road Series is Oct. 11-13 at the Oz Trails Off-Road in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Most U.S. riders will turn their attention now to the national championships, while McElveen and Sonntag are off to the BC Bike Race held July 6-13 in Canada.
“Riding there is so amazing. It’s like a race-cation,” Sonntag said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
