Ellen Campbell descends Wheeler. Colorado Rocky Mtns = BIG. Image: Eddie Clark

Words: Shauna Farnell
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Stella Hobbs hit a high point Thursday – both physically and mentally – after an emotional low earlier this week.

After opening her inaugural Breck Epic with a Stage 1 victory and finishing a close second in Stage 2, succumbing to fatigue during Stage 3 and bouncing back in Stage 4, the 31-year-old Montana native pulled off another win in Stage 5 on Wheeler.

‘This year with more riding and more training, the highs are high and the lows are low,” said Hobbs, clearly on a high after crossing the finish line. “I take it, acknowledge it and move through it.”

With the Wheeler race starting in waves, Hobbs, who swapped out her 34-tooth front ring for a 30-tooth, started behind race leaders Kaysee Armstrong, Ellen Campbell and Andrea Dvorak, but knew things were going well when she spotted them on the horizon.

“I got to have my own start basically, get into my own groove and feel out the day,” said Hobbs, who is new to mountain bike racing and rides for the shop she co-owns with her husband, Great Northern Cycle & Ski. “I thought I’d be there by myself most of the day. We got into the hike-a-bike and I saw the three gals ahead of me. I was like, oh nice. This is good. We clunked up to the false summit and Kaysee, Ellen and I started to ride. I was like, yes! This is what I want! I get to ride with my heroes. I’m new, so I’m kind of a fan of the sport.”

Kaysee Armstrong, turning on the gas after her flat. Not pictured: Stella Hobbs. We missed her. Dangit. Image: Jace Stout

Not long after that, Armstrong, who came into Stage 5 with a 15-plus-minute lead on Campbell and considerably more on the rest of the field, punctured a tire. Hobbs and Campbell continued together until Hobbs started to pull away up the Peaks trail to the finish line.

“We had a really solid battle to the top-top, partly because I had this smaller ring, so I tried to ride. But she’s SO strong. It’s unbelievable,” Hobbs said. “While we were traversing to that second summit we were riding together and that was just the best. It’s this gorgeous, gorgeous section. Then we rode the whole descent mostly together. We hit this last section and she told me I should lead. I led, got a little bit of adrenaline and a gap. I said, let’s go for it.”

Campbell, celebrating her 27th birthday Thursday, ended up second, 2:44 behind Hobbs.

“I had views to celebrate,” she said. “Stella and I had a good ride today. It was a fun time.”

Dvorak notched her second straight podium, finishing third, about eight minutes off the winning pace. Haley Dumke came in fourth about a minute and a half later and then Armstrong in fifth, just over 10 minutes back, making up considerable time after a complicated flat tire fix.

“It was a sidewall tear. I put a plug in, but when I put the CO2 in, it came out. So I had to put a tube in, but I didn’t have enough CO2,” she said. “It took 15 minutes or more to change it. I had nowhere to stand up on those rocks, in the way on the side of the mountain. I was doing the math and not liking the math. One thing I’ve gotten good at, though, is not panicking. Just say, it’s something I can’t control. Reset. Put it behind you. It obviously gave me a little more adrenaline. I liked that big descent because I knew I was stronger there. I was trying to make up as much time as possible. When I got to the climb, I was like, alright. Hammer it!”

Going into the final stage on Friday, Armstrong still has nearly an 8-minute overall lead on Campbell and more than 20 minutes over Hobbs, who sits in third and Dvorak in fourth.

Does that mean she can relax now?

“Fuck, no,” Armstrong said, laughing. “I could get another flat. Anything could happen. Every day, anything could happen.”

Rider: unknown. Image: Eddie Clark

Armstrong setting the pace up Wheeler’s notorious hike-a-bike section, followed by Andrea Dvorak and a string of dudes. Image: Devon Balet

Grotts picking his way through Wheeler’s rock gardens. Image: Eddie Clark

By Shauna Farnell

On another level altogether, Mega Epic winner Chase Caughey blew through the Stage 5 Wheeler finish area without pausing on his way to crushing all six stages of the 2024 Breck Epic in one day, six hours and 32 minutes. The 22-year-old superhuman only spent 3 hours and 35 minutes of it stopped. Next. Level.

Race Director Mike McCormack, citing incoming weather and the race’s elevation noted that Caughey was given official permission to take a bit of support while out there. 

“I have two boys myself,” offered McCormack. “When Chase showed up to get his tracker, it was looking grim out there and he seemed so, so young. In the moment, I made a decision in the interest of his safety, one that I hope an adult would make for my children if they were in my position.”

McCormack’s decision effectively split the Mega Epic field into two categories, one with support and one without. The latter was decisively won by Topeak-Ergon’s Yuki Ikeda, who stated, “That was fucking HARD,” at the following evening’s awards cermony.

In the world of lesser superhumans, Howard Grotts was the first regular Epic competitor across the finish line on Thursday. The 31-year-old Specialized Off-Road rider tackled the steep, technical, 25-mile course in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 30 seconds.

“Lance and Robbie kept me honest. I could see them the whole time,” Grotts said of Lance Haidet and Robbie Day, who finished the stage second and third, respectively. “If you can see someone, it’s never over.”

Taking riders up Wheeler Pass, which tops out above 12,500 feet and where many riders hike with their bikes on their shoulders, the trail consists of a narrow, sometimes non-distinct path weaving through scree fields and large, loose rocks.

Grotts said he stayed in the saddle for an impressive “75 to 80 percent” of the course.

“Up on that alpine trail, it’s not as obvious. It’s like, I’m not where I’m supposed to be. You get a little loopy. It was a ‘you versus the mountain’ sort of day. You have to go the pace the terrain dictates.”

Mega Epic FKT winner Chase Caughey having a very human and appropriate moment on the steeps of Wheeler. Image: Cort Muller

A Cyclocross National Champion from San Luis Obispo, Calif., Haidet rides for Specialized/SRAM/Velocio/Fat Tire and has exceled at every two-wheel discipline. He crossed the line a minute and 15 seconds after Grotts as Bear National Team’s Robbie Day punched his way back onto the podium, nearly two minutes off Grotts’ winning pace.

“Up there on that whole rocky thing, you’re so cross-eyed,” Haidet said among the lead pack, who grouped together to discuss their rides after the finish. “Cyclocross helps with loading up your legs to pedal after walking.”

“There would be some steep sections you could only pedal 45 seconds apart,” Day added. “Did anyone take the bacon?”

Notably absent from the race was Trek Factory Riley Amos, who opted out in order to stay healthy for the upcoming World Championships.

“The races I’m used to riding are one day, an hour and a half at peak form. To do 3- to 4-hour stages back-to-back at altitude is such a different physical endeavor,” Amos said at the finish line, where he came to cheer on fellow athletes. “I had so much fun, but yesterday was a hard day. I didn’t want to get too deep into a hole I couldn’t get out of. This race kicked my ass … in a good way.”

Grotts, who earned $1,000 in prize money put up by a Breck Epic racer Andy Arkfeld, founder of Arkfeld Wealth Strategies, now has more than a 20-minute lead in the overall with a total time of 13:37:43. Yeti Cycles’ Zach Calton, who thanked Amos for “dropping out” and commented that the Wheeler stage was “hard as hell … fun though” sits in second in the GC at 13:59:39. Day sits in third at 14:12:20.

The 2024 Breck Epic wraps up with Stage 6 Gold Dust Trail on Friday, a 29-mile course that takes riders up and over Boreas Pass.

Zach Calton (Yeti Cycles) eking out a few last pedal strokes with Mt Helen, Father Dyer Peak and Crystal Peak in the background. Image: Devon Balet

“Another BANGER from Eddie.” – David Clifford