12 Hours of Mesa Verde

Posting a write-up on an event when you are still cooked from the effort is akin to a restaurant critic doing a review on an all-you-can eat buffet when they are still sweating gravy, provided there exist buffet critics.


This last Saturday Trevor Simper and I competed as a duo team in the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde. The race course is in Cortez Colorado just outside of Mesa Verde and about 40 miles from Durango. It consists of a 17 mile circuit of some of the tastiest, flowing-est, techi-est singletrack that exists in the western states. It would be hard to craft in your imagination such a perfect loop of singletrack. Unfortunately I have no pictures, as I was either racing on the course or racing to recover before I tagged-in for the next lap.

The race draws some of the best talent from Colorado (especially Durango), New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.

From MTB Race News: "....the Mesa Verde race is so much fun it brought together one of the most accomplished 4-person race teams ever assembled. Mountain biking's version of the Dream Team included Travis Brown, Daryl Price, Dave Weins, and John Tomac."

After 12 hours of racing we finished 3rd in the Male Duo class and 5th place overall, with about 600 racers competing. The toughest part of the whole day may have been jumping in the car after the awards ceremony and driving 5 hours home, arriving about 3am.