Durango mountain biking is having a moment. Segment 28 is hoping to make this moment last a lot longer with its development of local talent.
Anywhere you look on the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup scene, Durango riders are competing in and winning events. Christopher Blevins is the men’s elite World Cup leader after winning the first five men’s elite short track races and two cross-country Olympic men’s elite races. Asa Vermette is the men’s junior downhill world champion and is coming off back-to-back men’s junior downhill World Cup podiums.
Durango resident and former Fort Lewis College mountain biker Savilia Blunk has been consistently in the top 10 of the women’s elite mountain biking field over the last year. Durango’s Riley Amos dominated the men’s U-23 mountain bike field last year and is in his first year of men’s elite. Fellow Durangoan Bailey Cioppa has made great strides in the women’s U-23 field and former Segment 28 rider Lauren Aggeler is also battling in the women’s U-23 mountain bike field.
All of this success could be amplified if Durango wins the bid to host the 2030 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, 40 years after Durango hosted the first UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in 1990. The host of the 2030 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships is expected to be announced in September.
If Durango hosts the 2030 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, it would also host a national championship event in 2028 and a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in 2029. This could potentially bring in $10+ million into the community, 10,000+ fans from around the world.
“It'd be a dream, for sure,” Blevins said. “It would probably be my retirement party at that point. But what a way to celebrate the origins of mountain biking and to really remind people that Durango has mountain biking written in its DNA and is an international destination. So I'm really excited about that.”
Just like in 1990, the world championship events in Durango could give up-and-coming local athletes a chance to shine. This is where Segment 28 comes in.
Rotem Ishay was a part of the Southwest Cycling Coalition with some friends like Sarah Sturm and Dylan Stucki. The goal of the Southwest Cycling Coalition was to help kids and people who wanted to race get to races. Then, in 2019, the Southwest Cycling Coalition disbanded and Ishay had to ask those who were still interested in the goal what they wanted to do.
Ishay then founded Segment 28 in 2021. He had four racers on the team and Ishay acted as the team director, going to races with the team. Ishay then hired Keiran Eagen to be the team director and after Eagen went down a different path, Ishay hired Nik Johnson to be the team director of Segment 28. Johnson now takes care of all day-to-day operations, including going to all the races with the team. Ishay and the board of directors focus on the big picture and keeping their mission alive.
“We still have this need for helping racers to get to those bigger races,” Ishay said. “Not just the ones that you can drive from Durango but also to the U.S. national series and also creating opportunities for them in Europe. Our biggest mission is to create this step between fast amateurs, graduates of Devo or Fort Lewis College, and give them the opportunity to race at a higher level so they can get on becoming a professional athlete.”
Two riders Ishay cited as examples of Segment 28’s mission working are former Segment 28 members Michaela Thompson and Lauren Aggeler. Thompson rode for Team Segment 28 and is now a professional gravel/mountain bike racer with her own privateer contracts. Aggeler went from being a part of Segment 28 to being signed to Trinity Racing’s development team and racing around the world in the women’s U-23 mountain bike World Cup.
Thompson came to Durango to race for the Fort Lewis College cycling team in 2020 and joined Segment 28 in 2022. She knew a lot of their riders at the time and had been coached by Ishay.
Along with numerous other riders around her age at the time, Thompson recognized there weren’t a lot of opportunities to join teams in the U-23 field and develop into a professional athlete who could be signed by a factory team.
Segment 28 provided that opportunity for Thompson and she said it was a very important part of her trajectory in becoming a professional cyclist.
“It's a very family-like team because there are really not many athletes on the team and everyone gets very close,” Thompson said. “Traveling together, especially long road trips across the country to different races, you really get to know one another. The energy at races is incredible too. Rotem would make dinners for all of us and be there in the pits; the constant support was really great.”
The small Segment 28 team is showcasing Durango’s talent in Europe as Durango tries to convince the European talent to come to Durango for the world championships. Segment 28 riders Dane Grey and Ivan Sippy have been competing in the men’s U-23 mountain bike World Cups in Europe against the best young talent in the world, wearing the Segment 28 jersey on their chest.
Sippy has been part of Segment 28 since the start and, therefore, has seen the growth of the team. He remembers when he, Eagen and Guy Leshem were the only riders on the team. Sippy had a breakout season as a junior with Segment 28 and credited the team and Ishay with helping him understand UCI racing.
“One thing that's really cool about Segment is it also develops you to be a more well-rounded athlete and person,” Sippy said. “There are so many lessons I've learned from just traveling with the team, with my first year being when I was 17, traveling without my parents. It really grows you as an athlete, being able to balance travel, school and all that stuff.”
Other members of the team include Ruby Ryan, Austin Beard, Carson Beard, Landon Dendy Owen Deale. Ishay wants to keep the team small to keep that family feel and have that personalized coaching.
Ryan first learned about Segment 28 at Colorado Mesa University. She was a part of the cycling program there and had some teammates like Austin Beard, Sippy and Dendy who were a part of Segment 28. She liked the vibe of Segment 28 and was spending a lot of time in Durango with her boyfriend, Amos. She also now works at Animas Chiropractic, one of the team’s sponsors.
The New Zealand native started riding for Segment 28 in 2024 and enjoys the chill vibes while everyone is focused on development. She likes how it’s not too big a team and that she can feel like she’s doing her own thing while having the support of Segment 28.
Ryan complimented the team’s professionalism and how much Ishay and Johnson know about what to supply their athletes on race day.
A local legend also realizes the value the team brings to Durango. Ned Overend, the winner of the 1990 UCI Mountain Bike World Championship in Durango, has seen plenty of world-class athletes develop in Durango since his time at the top of the sport.
“The unique thing about Segment 28 is they put so much focus on the riders being good ambassadors,” Overend said. “Teaching them how to do that is also helping them to get and maintain sponsors in their future. Because with all the sponsors, social media is super important, and you can see how those guys do so well with social media.”
Ishay hopes the team can continue to fund its athletes’ European pursuits, especially since the team is now a nonprofit, which allows the team to get more funding through grants. He wants his riders to have all the equipment and the support team necessary to succeed at these high-level races.
He also hopes the potential world championship in Durango could attract more funding for Segment 28 as the country and the world see how much Durango riders and the town have to offer the sport.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
