Durango’s finest mountain bikers were in hot pursuit of the Iceman on Saturday in Michigan.
Many of the top riders from North America attended the 2017 Iceman Comenth Challenge, the unofficial finale to the race season. This year, nobody could chase down Canada’s Geoff Kabush, who won the 30-mile race in 1 hour, 36.19 seconds. Behind Kabush was a vaunted list of Durango talent.
Payson McElveen was second in 1:36:23, and Howard Grotts was third in the same time as McElveen. Benjamin Sonntag had a strong return to form after a season full of injuries, and the German who calls Durango home was fourth in 1:36:26. Durango native Christopher Blevins was fifth in 1:36:33, Troy Wells was seventh in 1:36:35, and Todd Wells placed eighth in 1:36:37 despite an early crash.
“That race just shows what a cool community we have in the mountain bike world,” Grotts said. “We can go full gas against each other for 90 minutes and have some impressive results. It’s a cool scene.”
Grotts was in front of Wells when the crash happened, but McElveen was behind the downed riders. McElveen then had to give everything he had for 20-plus minutes to close down a 20-second gap between him and the leaders. McElveen then lost his bottom three gears, which are pivotal in a race that does not feature much climbing or descending.
“It was a tumultuous race for me,” McElveen said. “I burned so many matches trying to get to the lead group that I thought my day was done at that point. I started feeling better, rekindled, but toward the end of the race, my bottom three gears stopped working because of the grime and muddiness. Most mountain bike races, that’s not a big deal, but the average speed of this race is so high that you use those gears. Toward the end, that was debilitating. I dropped a handful more times in faster sections, but hung tough and held position coming into the final hill. I kicked it as hard as I could, but I didn’t have the real estate to get around Geoff.”
The large payout of the Iceman has helped bring in top pros for years. Kabush won $6,000 for his win, McElveen earned $4,250 and Grotts took home $3,000, which is considered a strong payout for winning many races. Sonntag earned $2,000 for fourth place and Blevins took home $1,500. Troy Wells earned $750, and Todd Wells took home $500.
“The best part of the race other than the big payout is the Ice Trophy that goes to the winner,” Todd Wells said. “I’ve never been fortunate enough to earn that giant chunk of ice, but it’s the closest thing we get to the Stanley Cup. ... If you win the race, you get to lug a huge block of melting ice around with you wherever you go and are treated like a king or queen for the night. Drinks flow freely, reservations magically appear, and you basically get whatever you want and don’t have to pay a thing for it. By the next morning, it’s all gone and the only thing to show for it is the hangover you’ve no doubt ably earned.”
Kabush earned the trophy by holding off McElveen and Grotts. Grotts was on Kabush’s wheel during the only big climb of the race, which Grotts estimated was only one minute long.
“I hit that climb in perfect position second right on Kabush’s wheel,” Grotts said. “But he was stronger than me for that short, hard effort. He pilled a gap and it was enough to let Payson slip around me.”
Grotts and McElveen have become good friends and training partners. Though they don’t compete for the same team, they enjoy sharing each other’s successes.
“He really stepped up his game this year,” Grotts said of McElveen. “He’s done that every single year, and this year he found a level of consistency. In Durango, we all push each other to go harder and be a little better, and now we have such a good, fast crew of mountain bikers here in town that I think it’s just going to get better from here.
“I’m excited for plenty of more good battles with Payson.”
McElveen also was happy to see Sonntag finish fourth after such a trying summer full of crashes and injuries.
“It made us all happy to see Ben,” McElveen said. “We ride for different teams, but there is a lot of pride there in our Durango family. We’re all friends. If we don’t see a true teammate win, the next best thing is seeing a Durango rider do well.”
Todd Wells, who announced his retirement from full-time professional cycling in October, still had great form going into the Iceman. He took the hole shot and led for the early part of the race before his crash.
“Nothing was broken, but my wrist was hurting, and my quad felt like I got punched by Mike Tyson,” he said.
Grotts and McElveen will take a bit of an offseason. McElveen said he plans to travel to his hometown of Austin, Texas, in December to compete in a few local series races he grew up riding in. Grotts will turn his attention to training for the Turkey Trot 5-kilometer running race over Thanksgiving week in Durango and then will head for warmer weather to begin training at the beginning of 2018.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
