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By KEVIN CARMODY, THE GAZETTE
The allure of sleeping in during Thanksgiving break didn’t exactly jive with Kyle Bloesser.
“The earlier the better,” said the 15-year-old Doherty sophomore, shortly after winning the junior 15-18 division title Saturday at the 2011 Pikes Peak Supercross at Rock Ledge Ranch. “I don’t sleep in.”
Neither did race organizer Bob Stellick, who was among 30 members of Pikes Peak Velo who spent the early-morning hours making last-minute preparations to the new course, including placing cones and stretching yellow tape to mark boundaries.
The race, previously held at Bear Creek Regional Park the past eight years, moved to the historic ranch with just weeks to spare.
“This is one of the first places we thought about,” Stellick said. “We plotted out a course that also included Garden of the Gods and had a good experience working with the city. Typically, you would have six months to plan a race. We didn’t get the OK for this race until six weeks ago, so that’s a credit to the city. With all the feedback, people seemed to like the course.”
The new venue featured a two-mile loop with double track, single track through Garden of the Gods and challenging run-ups in which riders carried their bikes across obstacles.
“Maybe some of the riders were getting bored at Bear Creek,” Stellick said. “Rock Ledge is an interesting course. You had people riding between barns, past horses, chickens and old trees with Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak in the background. It offers a lot of different and varied terrain.”
Saturday’s event attracted more than 150 riders of different ages and abilities, from kids, juniors like Bloesser and more seasoned riders, such as 36-year-old New Jersey native Kervin Quinones, who claimed victory in the 35-and-over open race.
Quinones, who works at a cycling company that imports bike parts, moved to Colorado Springs a decade ago, intrigued by the region’s year-round active lifestyle and rapid cycling community. He also gave the course at Rock Ledge two thumbs up after competing at Bear Creek the past three years.
“It was a really fun course with a lot of single track, rocks and logs,” Quinones said. “I do a lot of mountain biking, but I love cross. For this race, it was a longer loop than usual, so there’s time to separate. But it’s not as hilly as Bear Creek, so you’re on the gas all the time with a mostly short, flat loop.”
Bloesser, whose competitive mountain bike season started in March, finally has a chance to rest before cranking things up next spring. But he figured he’d try his hand at cyclocross as a way to end his season much closer to home.
“This was actually my first cross race ever,” Bloesser said. “I raced in California and at nationals in Sun Valley, Idaho, so it was good to race here where I live. I’ve been in Colorado Springs all my life, and racing is the only sport I do.”
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