Cyclist hits spectator, still wins race

DEER VALLEY — On her first descent coming out of the starting gate, Melissa Buhl ran into trouble.

Thanks to a confirmation from an official at the gate, Buhl knew there were some fast times being posted by other mountain bikers in the women's pro downhill. That knowledge made her give it a little extra effort.

"Coming off the first little hill, I ran into a tree and hit a spectator," the 25-year-old from Chandler, Ariz., said. "When I crashed, I had to come from a dead stop and get started again."

That little delay didn't prove to be too costly, however, as Buhl flew down the hill at Deer Valley posting a time of 3:15.93 — more than six seconds faster than the time posted by Kathy Pruitt.

The victory, coupled with her win Saturday in the slalom, made for a successful weekend for Buhl.

"Pulling out a couple of wins here," Buhl, riding for KHS Mountain Bikes, said, "I'm very happy."

Buhl may be only 25, but she's been racing bikes in one fashion or another for more than 16 years. A veteran of the world cup circuit in Europe, she's struggled a bit overseas and is happy to be on home turf as she piles up the points on the National Mountain Bike Series tour.

"I feel like my window is closing," said Buhl, who also had the fastest qualifying time. "I want to give it all I can before I retire."

Retirement, especially if she keeps posting big-money wins like the ones at Deer Valley, may be a few years down the road.

Another cyclist not ready to think about retirement any time soon is Duncan Riffle.

The winner of the men's pro downhill had spent the previous two months biking through mud and slick trails on the European world cup tour without a lot of success. Riffle was plenty happy to be back on a dusty, rocky course Sunday afternoon.

"I had a loose run in qualifying," Riffle, riding for Honda Ironhorse, said. "I really wasn't able to get a full run down the course in until today because there was so many people riding on it during training. So it felt good to break one free."

Riffle, who sailed down the course in 2:39.07, had to wait a few minutes before he could celebrate though, as two more cyclists — including New Zealander Justin Leov, who had the fastest qualifying time — were still on the course. Leov pushed it to the very end but was six one-hundredths of a second off Riffle's pace.