Todd Wells has seen and done quite a bit from the seat of a mountain bike since turning pro in 1997 after collegiate national championships in 1995 and 1996 for Fort Lewis College.
At age 37, he’s set to ride for the U.S. at this weekend’s UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, another in a long line of appearances for his country. Wells is a three-time Olympian, representing the USA in 2004, 2008 and 2012 and has won multiple national championships in cross country, cyclocross and short track.
And as he gets closer to two decades of riding professionally, Wells is showing few signs of slowing. He recently won the overall title at the Breck Epic stage race, claimed the national title in short track, was runner up in cross country at nationals, has racked up several other victories and was third at the Leadville 100, a race he won in 2011.
The difference between this year and last year, which Wells called “frustrating” before finishing a career-best 10th at the Olympics, is all about health.
“Last year I had a bad crash at the first World Cup in South Africa (the same course we are racing World Champs on),” Wells said in an email to The Durango Herald. “That took me a while to recover from physically but much longer mentally. To be competitive with the best athletes in the world, I need to be on top of my game, and if I’m even just a little timid, I can’t compete.
“This year my form has been good. I have been focusing more on domestic racing then World Cups, and I have had some great success. My World Cups have suffered because of my domestic focus, but my domestic results have improved.”
The goal for this week is a spot on the podium. Wells’ best finish at the World Championships is seventh, and he’s fixated on ending his medal drought on a familiar course halfway around the world.
“I placed 10th there in a World Cup a few years ago, so I know I can have a good race there,” he said. “Last year, I crashed out on a new section and never even made it to the race. It goes from completely smooth to rough, man-made sections, so it doesn’t have much flow but is very challenging. There are sections you either ride perfect or have a huge crash. It’s definitely a ‘new school’ course.”
The definition of new school has changed several times in Wells’ lengthy career. Perhaps the most new school of the bunch is the shift of emphasis from mountain bikes to road racing. Fat tires were where the fanbase, growth and the money was in 1997 when Wells started. That’s since switched, lowering the ability for riders to make a full-time living on a mountain bike, and with the sport’s inclusion in the Olympics, the battle for those jobs is much more intense.
“Now it is very hard to make a living racing cross-country mountain bikes,” he said. “There are a few people that can make it work, but there are far less jobs than their were when I started.
“The races have also become shorter over the years to make them easier to film. ... At the World Championships, we will probably do six or seven laps, whereas in the past, we would do two to four much longer loops.”
And it’s the shorter courses and the type of riding they take that potentially could keep Wells from making a run at the rarefied air of a fourth Olympic appearance in 2016 in Rio de Janiero, when Wells would be 40.
“To be part of the Olympic Games is something that is such an immense honor and amazing thing. The sport of cross-country mountain biking is changing; the races are becoming shorter, and my focus has switched to longer events,” he said. “I don’t think I will have that short explosive power needed for the Olympic distance of the sport in three more years given my new focus and training.”
Whether or not he makes a fourth Olympic appearance, it’s odd to think that this run on the mountain bike almost never happened. Wells said he had trouble finding a new contract after turning professional and decided after to go back to school, getting a degree from the University of Arizona and working at IBM before realizing cycling was his true calling. And it still is.
“We all have hard days, and I have quite a few tough ones on the bike, but it’s what I love to do,” Wells said. “When you can make something your job that you love, it’s not work.
“I realize how lucky I am to have the opportunity to do what I love and get paid for it. I just try to make the most of that.”
rowens@durangoherald.com
