The account of the race, August 30, 2009

Cranking up Leverich
Stories by SEAN FORBES Chronicle Sports Writer There’s a new race in town. And it’s already popular. The first edition of what will hopefully be an annual race, the Leverich Canyon Crank Up, started Saturday morning from the top of Moser Creek in Hyalite Canyon. Racers laid their bikes on the sandy, yellow surface of the Forest Service road, then walked away. In an effort to spread out the field of 52 registered racers before they hit the narrow single track comprising the majority of the course, the race began with a Le Mans start, where riders run to their bikes then climb on and start pedaling. And that’s when the fun really picked up.
“Highlights were the running start, the Le Mans start,” said Ben Elias, the men’s category 2 (2 laps over the 5-mile course) race winner. “Trying to find your bike in a pile of metal and spokes out there, jumping over other bikes and then getting out.”
Much of the first mile was on a gravel road, which led racers to the single-track trail in Leverich Canyon proper. The wider beginning section allowed for passing and the natural sorting of competitors by skill and speed before dropping into the course’s long, twisting descent through the tall pines. While the start already seemed a bit hectic, things were made a little more complicated for Bozeman’s John Curry.
“Well first of all this joker Andrew … I lined (my bike) up in the front and I go run up there at the start and my bike is gone,” Curry said. “He moved it all the way to the back and pointed it the other direction. So I had to run back and get my bike and start in last
“It was pretty funny, so I’ll get him back one of these days, I think.”
Starting at the rear of the group didn’t seem to hinder Curry. He took top honors in the men’s cat 1 race — the event’s most talented category — finishing four laps in about 2 hours, 12 minutes.
“The descent is really fun,” Curry said. “It’s designed to be a downhill trail so … you just have to really watch it, ’cause you can get going really fast pretty easily and it’s pretty exciting. But as you get tired after each lap, you get more tired and more tired, you’re starting to kind of see a little cross-eyed and you just have to watch it to make sure you don’t go flying off the trail.”
The banked turns carved into the hillside through the tight trees are the newest part of the Leverich trail and, surprisingly, developed out of environmental concerns.
“The Forest Service knew that we’d been wanting to do something with the trail and it really started out because they were concerned about the fisheries and the erosion that was introduced by mountain bikers to the trail,” said Rich Shattuck, a member of Team Muleterro, which helped to administer the race. “They wanted to do something different to save the creek.”
So the Forest Service approached the Gallatin Valley Bicycle Club for help, and with the aid of local volunteers — including Team Muleterro — created a descending trail that avoids the water.
As though fated to happen, it was at the same time that Muleterro was looking for a venue to host a race to fulfill its obligation as part of the Montana Bike Racing Association. And with the blessing of the Forest Service, a cross-counrtry mountain bike race unlike most was born.
“It was awesome,” said Lydia Tanner, women’s cat 1 race winner. “It was a lot of down and a lot of up. That’s also rare. Usually you get like kind of rolly, but this was descending, descending, descending and then climbing, climbing, climbing. There was nowhere to hide. There was nothing in between.”
Tanner finished her three laps in just over two hours.
But it was the beginner class and cat 2 men who were the first to cross the finish line and start the buzz. Nathan Paulick came across first, notching a time of 51 minutes in the men’s beginner category, followed shortly by David Denny.
“It was a fun time. I knew I could do one loop, just kind of sprinting,” Denny said. “Did well. No major crashes. This was from the last time I did it.”
Denny still bore the tender pink marks on his upper arm from a previous crash on the trail.
“It was intense. Adrenaline going,” Denny continued. “(I) used to play football in college so it’s fun to have that rush again.”
Elias, also a member of Team Muleterro, was as excited as anyone that the downhill section was appreciated more than feared.
“I think probably the best part about it was just having all the people on the downhill cheering you on and knowing the safety was there for it,” Elias said. “We had an amazing turnout for the first time this thing’s ever been put on, on a somewhat controversial race course (because of its difficulty) too, seeing that most people that use it are the downhill bikers.”
Only moments after Elias crossed the line, single-speed winner Jesse Palmer, from Red Lodge, came into the finish area. Despite a steep, sustained climb and with only one gear on his bike, Palmer finished in 1 hour, 20 minutes.
“It was a challenging climb, long duration,” Palmer said. “There were a couple spots I actually had to jump off and run up but overall I love the course, the downhill was super-fun with the jumps and banked turns.”
But for the single speeders, the competition didn’t end with the race. As part of a three-part duel for the gold spinner-hubcap on a chain trophy, Palmer still had to face the hardest challenge: the mystery contest. The Little Debbie decider. The single-speed riders lined up at the podium had to grab a plateful of wrapped Little Debbie snacks and be the first to devour all of them. As the racers crammed chocolate treats into their mouths, someone from the crowd joked: “That’s just cruel after racing, to have to eat that.”
Sean Forbes can be reached at sforbes@dailychronicle.com  .

Late August update

Team Muleterro pulled it off. The first race ever on Leverich. Ever. Called it the Crankup. Good article in the Bozeman Chronicle outlined how it worked out. It's good that people recognized how unusual the setting is, and also how they liked it. Congratulations to Team Muleterro!!!

As a measuring yardstick for us mortals, John Curry cranked up 4 laps in 2 hours and 12 minutes! Thats around 10 miles per hour. That's also covering almost 21 miles and 4,400 ft of climbing (conservatively). Lydia Tanner smoked the women with 3 laps in a similar time. Still a goddesslike pace!

For those of you how haven't had the eyeball rattling pleasure of rocketing down Leverich, here is a link to a video Carl Strong made just the other day. He did a pretty fair job of keeping up for an old guy on a hardtail! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhLIGsBY5C8