The "Toast" with the most
Horyani masters the long haul
Anytime a racer returns to defend a title, there is an added bit of pressure resting on his or her back. That pressure increases exponentially when your winning streak stretches for four years. That was Josh 'Toast' Tostado's (Bach Builders / Santa Cruz) cross to bear as he entered his fifth Breckenridge 100 this past weekend and faced new competition on home turf. Last year's winner and the current leader of the NUE series Jeff Schalk (Trek Racing Co-Op) had not yet been to the high altitude climates of Breckenridge, but had chosen 2009 as his year to test the dominance of Tostado.
For Tostado, living at 10,000 feet elevation gives him a distinct advantage over the competition in a race that repeatedly crests the 12,500ft mark, but the shear perseverance and accomplishment of defending a title over five years has to be commended. Tostado managed to stay focused and confident in the face of the powerhouse that is Schalk, who has brought a new level of riding to the NUE series since he dominated in his first year on the scene in 2008. From the gun, Tostado and Schalk distanced themselves from the pack and spent the rest of the day together.
The Breck 100 has the longest finishing times of any of the NUE series races and Toast was ready to use his 24-hour racing abilities to his advantage. "I figured that he (Schalk) was usually finished after the seven-hour mark, and I figured I might have an advantage as the race stretched into the last hour and half." His prediction held true as he was able to drop a fading Schalk at the 80-mile mark in a more technical section of woods.
Yuki Saito (Topeak/Ergon) followed in third place. He has has had a jam-packed few weeks. On July fourth, he raced the Firecracker 50, then followed that up the next day by racing the inaugural Breck Epic for six days.
New faces in the women's class
Ester Horyani arrived Sunday on the scene as an unknown to the normal circle of women endurance riders, but came out leaving an impression on many of the top men in the field for her finishing time of just over 10 hours. That time put her in the top 12 overall of one of the most technically challenging 100 milers on the schedule. Unable to match her power were fellow Boulder resident Sonya Looney (Topeak/Ergon) and third place finisher and Breckenridge local Erika Tiezen (Bach Builders).
The question to ask is weather or not we'll see Horyani or Looney again, or are they satisfied with their 100 miler experiences?
Singlespeeders tackle big climbs
13,000 feet of climbing in a 100-mile race is a big day for anyone, but take away the advantage of gears and you've set yourself up for a possible suicide mission. A key ingredient to success at the Breck 100 this year was the winner's choice of a relatively easy gear of 32-22, while the second place rider chose not only a debilitating 32-20, but also tires that were virtually impossible to remove and reinstall when changing a flat.
Singlespeed winner Mark Thompson (Wilderness Sports) also conveniently chose to settle in Breckenridge. Unfortunately the NUE series singlespeed leader Gerald Pflug (Speedgoat/SPK) ruined his chances to take the top spot after flatting on the initial downhill of the race, and then spending a half hour with a complicated flat change.
Despite the problems for Pflug, he managed to hold off the third place finisher Joseph Gratcofsky (Twin Six) by four and a half minutes.
The National Ultra Endurance Series heads next to Pennsylvania's Wilderness 101 on August 1. Stay tuned to Cyclingnews for coverage.
1 | Eszter Horanyi | 10:07:19 |
2 | Sonya Looney (Topeak-Ergon) | 1:06:46 |
1 | Michael Simonson (Gary Fisher 29er cre) | 9:49:05 |
2 | Andrew Carney (Big Wheel Racing) | 0:44:43 |
3 | Daniel Nelson (Racers Cycle Service) | 0:58:46 |
4 | Stewart Gross (Go Big Sports) | 1:10:11 |
5 | Nathan Miller (Dales Pale Ale/TFW) | 1:15:07 |
6 | Stephen Carney | 1:22:15 |
7 | Gabe Klamer (Fitzeralds Bicycles) | 1:39:39 |
8 | Steven Clipperton | 2:18:17 |
9 | Lucas Chandler (Lucas Chandler) | 2:39:05 |
10 | Joe Slonecki (Founders Ales) | 2:39:34 |
11 | Brady Adams (byrds) | 3:07:42 |
DNS | Bret Zimmerman | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Michael Chavez (michael chavez) | Row 12 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Nathan Wangerin (Derby Bicycle Center) | Row 13 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Brandon Newcomer (Trek Boulder Store) | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Greg Parham (Caveman Productions) | Row 15 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Steve Bartzen (Founders Ale Alger) | Row 16 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Matthew Hamann | Row 17 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Brent Gorman (Speedway-Humpy's) | Row 18 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Luke Kuschmeader (Team Kuat) | Row 19 - Cell 2 |
1 | Erika Tieszen (Bach Builders/Sitnah) | 12:31:44 |
2 | Bethany Elson (Jan's) | 0:02:14 |
3 | Danielle Musto (Kenda/Tomac/Hayes) | 0:48:14 |
DNS | Shalyn Gates | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
1 | Josh Tostado (Santa Cruz/Bach) | 8:33:50 |
2 | Jeff Schalk (Trek Racing Co-Op) | 0:10:28 |
3 | Yuki Saito (Topeak-Ergon) | 0:39:21 |
4 | Cale Redpath (3D Racing) | 1:10:36 |
5 | Garth Prosser | 1:22:56 |
6 | Mike Cubison (Waltworks/Fuentes) | 1:23:03 |
7 | Doug Johnson (Bandwagon Racing) | 1:29:02 |
8 | Steve Reiter | 1:30:01 |
9 | Rob Lockey (Optimize Endurance) | 2:00:49 |
10 | Ryan Hamilton (CoMotion/Yeti) | 2:23:23 |
11 | Patrick Coady | 2:29:10 |
12 | Ian Smith (Waltworks) | 2:35:51 |
13 | Paul Wells (Melrad racing) | 2:37:30 |
14 | Brian Narajowski | 2:52:54 |
15 | Dominic Garcia | 3:10:16 |
16 | Michael Melley | 3:10:36 |
17 | Joseph Warner | 3:33:32 |
18 | Christopher Button | 3:40:09 |
19 | Dan Larocque (Tiger Cycling) | 3:41:41 |
20 | Tony Song | 4:03:48 |
21 | Kevin Cole | 4:05:16 |
22 | Jon Haftel | 4:14:18 |
23 | Sam Brede (Carvers) | 4:19:43 |
24 | Ken Kreidl (Spare Tire Racing) | 4:34:53 |
25 | Andrew Paradis | 4:44:27 |
26 | Shane Sandman | 5:17:55 |
27 | Brett Hawkins (Kangaroosh) | 5:19:31 |
DNS | Andy Cessna (Salty Nuts) | Row 27 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Randles Ryan | Row 28 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Brad Hunt (The Clammy Shammy) | Row 29 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Dan Grube | Row 30 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Eric Salstrand | Row 31 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Lance Loehding (Chipotle/Titus) | Row 32 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Michael Mcgawn | Row 33 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Mike Nichols | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Scott Demers | Row 35 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Scott Wollaston | Row 36 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Shawn Davison (Founders Brewing) | Row 37 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Travis Underwood (The Alpineer) | Row 38 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Patrick Kline (Bicycle Outfitters) | Row 39 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Daniel Hamann (Hamann) | Row 40 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Beau Moonoyham (Team Kuat) | Row 41 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Brad Walleen | Row 42 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Jerry Buck | Row 43 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Jesse Tibbetts | Row 44 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Mike Plansker | Row 45 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Miles Venzara (Directory Plus/Trek) | Row 46 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Shawn Meredith (ALL MTN Racing) | Row 47 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Stanislav Vrba (wilderness) | Row 48 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Warner Smith (Salty Nuts) | Row 49 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Lonn Hart (NRC/Kona) | Row 50 - Cell 2 |
1 | Audrey Oberlin | 13:54:15 |
1 | Kimo Seymour (Landis/Powerbar) | 9:26:44 |
2 | Ted Macblane (hub of aspen) | 0:28:29 |
3 | Matt Woodruff (BrokenSpoke Cycling) | 1:04:31 |
4 | Jeffrey Rank | 1:20:03 |
5 | Mark Gouge (Velonews/Titus) | 1:35:56 |
6 | Peter Piccolo (KHG Brain Tumor Foun) | 1:55:07 |
7 | Richard Brown (Noreast Cycling) | 2:01:26 |
8 | Jay Lewandowski | 2:11:38 |
9 | Ernie Johnson (OES/Bike Source) | 2:20:09 |
10 | Philip Briere | 2:22:04 |
11 | Thomas Wallace | 2:22:43 |
12 | Chuck Ray (sidetrack'd / Sports) | 2:24:28 |
13 | Kirk Telaneus | 2:33:31 |
14 | Ron Harris | 2:54:05 |
15 | Esteban Lipsher (Wilderness Sports) | 3:01:46 |
16 | Brad Grohusky (Wilderness Sports) | 3:07:43 |
17 | Glen Meader | 3:19:49 |
18 | Scott Hirst | 3:53:01 |
19 | Chad Townsend | 3:57:09 |
20 | Mac Johansen (Eyes Only) | 4:13:40 |
DNS | Chris Speck | Row 20 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Colin Trueman (Truesports) | Row 21 - Cell 2 |
DNS | John Lien | Row 22 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Edward Spears (VDN) | Row 23 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Daniel King (Adreline Titus) | Row 24 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Peter Dunn (Team Bums) | Row 25 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Dean Hill | Row 26 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Don Henson (Higher Power) | Row 27 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Jay Hynek | Row 28 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Cyril Bohachevsky | Row 29 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Rob Wallach | Row 30 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Ralph Oppermann (AFD) | Row 31 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Vance Mcmurry | Row 32 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Robert Woolf | Row 33 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Daniel Marsh | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Michael Malecki | Row 35 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Sean Clifford | Row 36 - Cell 2 |
DNF | David Goldberg (solo) | Row 37 - Cell 2 |
DNF | David Schulhofer (Team Waste Management) | Row 38 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Derek Scott (Scott Energy) | Row 39 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Jeff Trujillo | Row 40 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Ryan O'dell (Endura/Kenda) | Row 41 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Jeff Van Blarcom | Row 42 - Cell 2 |
1 | Rob Burgard | 11:15:21 |
2 | Mike Olichney | 0:52:09 |
3 | Tom Liebl (Hammer Nutrition) | 1:44:24 |
4 | Andy Forbes (georges boise) | 1:55:13 |
5 | Leon Fetzer | 2:02:20 |
6 | David Kelnberger (Fisher29er Crew) | 2:47:29 |
DNS | Edward Adams | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
DNS | William Cross | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Brad Peterson | Row 8 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Russell Peterson | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
DNF | David Grauer (orthopro) | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Greg Turner (RBM/Velo Voodoo) | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
1 | Mark Thompson (Wilderness Sports) | 9:51:56 |
2 | Gerald Pflug (Speedgoat/SPK) | 1:14:53 |
3 | Joseph Gratcofsky Boulder (Twin Six) | 1:19:25 |
4 | Mark Elsasser (Independent Fabricat) | 1:52:48 |
5 | Danny Gnojek | 2:07:16 |
6 | Cameron Gallegos | 2:52:01 |
7 | Brad Wagner | 3:04:05 |
DNF | Dan Berglund | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Dave Lyons | Row 8 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Matt Turgeon (Big Wheel Racing) | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Mike Vanderberg (Team Dirt/Twin Six) | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
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