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BRECKENRIDGE — The crowd that lined the finish area in Carter Park anticipated just one thing Saturday at the Breckenridge 100 Mountain Bike Race: a win by five-time defending champ Josh Tostado.
So it was expected by all when the announcer first called out the Breck rider's name as he made his way across the Sunshine Trail to the finish line. That is, it was expected by everyone but Tostado himself.
“To be honest with you, every year, I expect to lose,” he said, still gassed minutes after taking the title. “I just go into it to ride as well as I can and whatever happens, happens. Every year, I've ended up winning, and that's great, but that's not what I'm expecting.”
Although, he didn't seem to surprised by his time of 8 hours, 23 minutes and 47 second, which kept his clean sweep of the 6-year-old race intact.
He took the lead early in the race, and not even a flat tire on the second lap of the three-loop course could slow him down.
He eventually won by a whopping 8 minutes over second-place finisher Joey Thompson.
Jeff Schalk was third at 8:42:51.
“I'd rather be ahead than behind, because at least you know how fast you're going and you can push it,” Tostado said. “No one else really knows if you're pushing or slowing up.”
Also, no one else in contention could have known the grueling course as well as the hometown winner.
Starting in Carter Park, racers take three loops, each totaling more than 30 miles and each taking riders on the surrounding trails of Breckenridge.
The 100-mile race is part of the National Ultra Endurance race series, and most riders consider the Breck 100 to be the toughest of any they compete in.
“It's the hardest course on the series,” Tostado said. “It's a mountain biker's course. There's single track, it's technical. You're not going to put a fit road cyclist on this and they're going to win. You need mountain bike skills to race this course.”
And that makes the finish of Breck's Mark Thompson even more impressive. Thompson, a perpetual winner of all things singlespeed in Summit County, rode his gearless bike to an astounding 10th-place overall finish and easily won his category.
“I dropped a whole bag of hammers out there today,” he said. “I felt really good.”
Thompson didn't match his sixth-place finish from last year's race but still rode more than a half hour faster this year.
The winner on the women's side of the race was former Breck resident Jari Kirkland, who finished the race in a time of 9:59:07, more than 20 minutes ahead of Eszter Horanyi.
Cheryl Sornson was a distant third with a time of 11:20:31.
The race also consisted of a 68-mile course and a 32-mile course.
But the main attraction was certainly Tostado's quest to stay unbeaten. Now, the expectations are for a seventh win in a row.
“Any time you race 100 miles on a mountain bike, it's hard, but this course is just something else. At this second, I'm not looking forward to next year, but it's a long way away and I'll probably forget about all the pain pretty soon. I don't have that good of a memory,” he said.
For full results, visit www.warriorscycling.com.
So it was expected by all when the announcer first called out the Breck rider's name as he made his way across the Sunshine Trail to the finish line. That is, it was expected by everyone but Tostado himself.
“To be honest with you, every year, I expect to lose,” he said, still gassed minutes after taking the title. “I just go into it to ride as well as I can and whatever happens, happens. Every year, I've ended up winning, and that's great, but that's not what I'm expecting.”
Although, he didn't seem to surprised by his time of 8 hours, 23 minutes and 47 second, which kept his clean sweep of the 6-year-old race intact.
He took the lead early in the race, and not even a flat tire on the second lap of the three-loop course could slow him down.
He eventually won by a whopping 8 minutes over second-place finisher Joey Thompson.
Jeff Schalk was third at 8:42:51.
“I'd rather be ahead than behind, because at least you know how fast you're going and you can push it,” Tostado said. “No one else really knows if you're pushing or slowing up.”
Also, no one else in contention could have known the grueling course as well as the hometown winner.
Starting in Carter Park, racers take three loops, each totaling more than 30 miles and each taking riders on the surrounding trails of Breckenridge.
The 100-mile race is part of the National Ultra Endurance race series, and most riders consider the Breck 100 to be the toughest of any they compete in.
“It's the hardest course on the series,” Tostado said. “It's a mountain biker's course. There's single track, it's technical. You're not going to put a fit road cyclist on this and they're going to win. You need mountain bike skills to race this course.”
And that makes the finish of Breck's Mark Thompson even more impressive. Thompson, a perpetual winner of all things singlespeed in Summit County, rode his gearless bike to an astounding 10th-place overall finish and easily won his category.
“I dropped a whole bag of hammers out there today,” he said. “I felt really good.”
Thompson didn't match his sixth-place finish from last year's race but still rode more than a half hour faster this year.
The winner on the women's side of the race was former Breck resident Jari Kirkland, who finished the race in a time of 9:59:07, more than 20 minutes ahead of Eszter Horanyi.
Cheryl Sornson was a distant third with a time of 11:20:31.
The race also consisted of a 68-mile course and a 32-mile course.
But the main attraction was certainly Tostado's quest to stay unbeaten. Now, the expectations are for a seventh win in a row.
“Any time you race 100 miles on a mountain bike, it's hard, but this course is just something else. At this second, I'm not looking forward to next year, but it's a long way away and I'll probably forget about all the pain pretty soon. I don't have that good of a memory,” he said.
For full results, visit www.warriorscycling.com.
