Howard Grotts watched Specialized Factory Racing teammate Kate Courtney get a flat tire with a massive lead in the women’s short-track cross country race Friday, ending her hopes of claiming this year’s national championship. With a little more than three laps to go, he saw a fellow Durangoan and his biggest challenger suffer the same fate. He wouldn’t let it happen to him.
Grotts, a 24-year-old from Durango and 2016 Olympian, rode solo the final three laps Friday in the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championship professional men’s short-track cross country race at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia. He claimed his second consecutive national title in the discipline.
“It’s obviously super cool to defend the title,” Grotts said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Riding with the No. 1 plate as the defending champ puts a target on your back early on.”
It was the fourth national title for Grotts in the elite pro men’s category. He claimed the cross country national championship in 2015 as a 22-year-old, opting to forgo his final year of 23-and-under eligibility. In 2016, he doubled up by winning the short-track and cross country titles.
There is no 23-and-under category for short-track, with riders 18-and-over sharing the course. Christopher Blevins, a 19-year-old from Durango, is used to racing against the elite pros, and he showed his ability yet again early in Friday’s race. Blevins and Grotts built a big gap on the rest of the field, with Washington’s Stephen Ettinger, Durango’s Todd Wells and Durango’s Payson McElveen chasing along with Keegan Swenson, a former Fort Lewis College rider who resides in Park City, Utah.
Blevins, who had beat the same names in the US Cup cross country race and was second to Grotts at the US Cup short-track event a weekend earlier in Vermont, was in position to claim a Stars and Stripes national championship jersey before suffering a flat tire in a man-made rock garden with only a little more than three laps to go.
“I was hurting for sure,” Blevins said of the early laps he rode with Grotts. “I would climb hard every time. It was a big 1-minute effort and then I’d try to recover after that each lap. I would have had to fight to stay with Howard, but I was willing to dig deep.
“I got a rear puncture on a sharp rock garden, which wasn’t surprising.”
Blevins was using a hard-tail Specialized bike with no rear suspension. There was no smooth line through the rock garden, and he was aware of the risk of a flat tire each pass through the obstacle. He was initially able to partially seal the tire so it would hold some air and held his ground, but it eventually lost all pressure and he rode the remainder of the race with a completely flat rubber tire. Official results were not available at press time Friday, but Blevins said he finished outside of the top 15.
“I was too stubborn to quit,” he said. “Any race I enter, I want to make it to the finish. The last lap, I was barely moving. I was the last person not pulled off, and I rode that last lap completely alone.”
California’s Courtney suffered the same fate in the women’s race with a little more than one lap to go after holding a lead of more than one minute. She rolled in for fifth place with the flat tire, while the women’s national title went to Erin Huck of Boulder. Lea Davison of New York was second, and Haley Batten of Utah was third. Rose Grant of Montana placed fourth.
“That flat rock garden, every lap I could tell that would be the place that could end your race,” Grotts said. “It was hard to see Kate have that big lead and lose it like that. Chris told me with four laps to go he had a flat, and I was super bummed because we had a proper battle on our hands. These things can happen, it’s a shame.”
Swenson claimed second place behind Grotts. North Carolina’s Luke Vrouwenvelder placed third, and Wells placed fourth. McElveen claimed fifth.
Grotts will try to win a third-consecutive cross country mountain bike national title Sunday. He knows it will be hotly contested, even if Blevins is racing in the U23 race.
“The course won’t be like Mammoth last year with big climbs at altitude,” Grotts said. “It’s at 4,500 feet, not 8,000, and the climbs are short and punchy. It will be more dynamic of a race and a fun race on a World Cup-style course. With how well Keegan rode today, I think it will be a good battle.”
Blevins will drop into the U23 category and look to claim his first national championship jersey outside of the junior level.
“It’s always an honor to race and learn against the top pros,” Blevins said. “I’ve gone further than I expected this year, and I realize where I am at this stage as I enter the pro ranks.”
In Thursday’s junior men 15-18 short-track race, Durango’s Quinn Simmons placed second and was eight seconds behind champion Caleb Swartz of Wisconsin. Durango’s Cobe Freeburn placed 23rd, and Durango’s Lucas Robbins placed 42nd.
In the junior women’s Category 17-and-uprace, Durango’s Katja Freeburn placed fourth, 46 seconds behind winner Savila Blunk of California.
Junior cross country races will be held Saturday, with the pro and U23 cross country races scheduled for Sunday.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
