From Deseret News archives:
Thrills and spills are at cyclists' heaven
There were three days of racing at Deer Valley with some of the best mountain bikers in the world. The roadies got their speed fix during the High Uintas Stage Rage, and recreational cyclists were able to find long — or short — rides to support cancer research or simply log a bundle of miles amid ideal cycling weather.
The NORBA National Mountain Bike Series at Deer Valley was the highest-profile event with hundreds of athletes hitting the dirt trails and peddling hard for cash and national championship points.
Heber City's Kathy Sherwin had what might have been the best weekend of racing in her career as she landed on the podium with a 5th-place finish in the women's pro cross country race and then finished seventh in the short-track race.
The races saw hundreds of fans line the mountainside to watch the thrills and spills of the weekend with lots of speed, power and technical mastery on the slopes. Deer Valley hopes to host a World Cup mountainbike race in the next year or two and the successful weekend with the national series indicates it might indeed be time to shift a race or two from Europe to North America — where the sport was invented.
A little farther into Summit County, a couple hundred road cyclists gathered in Kamas for the High Uintas Classic. The two-day, three-race event challenged even the best with a grueling 80-mile climb from Kamas over the Bald Mountain Pass's 10,700-foot summit near Mirror Lake and then into Evanston, Wyo., on Saturday.
That was followed by a time trial and a criterium through Evanston on Sunday.
Local pro cyclists Burke Swindlehurst and Jeff Louder were taking a little break from the national racing circuit and showed up to show the others how it's done. Swindlehurst (Toyota-United) took top honors with Louder (HealthNet-Maxxis) just a step below on the podium.
Still, some of the local Cat 1 racers gave it a strong effort. Sandy Perrins (Sienna Development/Goble Knee Clinic) decided to go out with a splash as he attacked on the climb and won King of the Mountain honors as the first to reach the summit. Perrins has had a strong season but will be cutting it short as he heads off to medical school in Vermont.
The next big races locally are the state criterium championships at Pioneer Park on Sunday where the fastest cyclists in the state will ride dozens of laps around the block in pursuit of a championship jersey.
Action begins at 8:45 a.m. with the juniors' and women's Cat 4 racers and keeps going until the pros and Cat 1-2 cyclists begin their 90-minute race around the park at 3 p.m.
