Eagle County cyclist wins combined Bighorn Gravel and Bighorn Road title

Good things come to those who wait.

After finishing one place off the podium at Bighorn Gravel the last two years, Haley Dumke took the top prize at the inaugural Bighorn Road event on Saturday. She also captured the overall Bighorn crown, which combined cyclists’ Bighorn Gravel and Bighorn Road times.

“It feels good. I think the best part of it is that this is our local community,” the 32-year-old Minturn athlete said. “Maybe I just had to wait a little longer for a very sweet moment that I wasn’t thinking about at the time in June. But it was really nice to do it today.”

The winner of the Bighorn Road race was determined by combining athletes’ times on two Strava segments placed along the 80-mile loop, originally part of the now defunct Colorado-Eagle River Ride. Dumke soloed the opening 8.2-mile climb from the turn onto Highway 131 at exit 157 to the top of the Wolcott Divide, in 31 minutes, 45 seconds. Katie Elena (32:03) and Leanda Cave (32:17) came in second and third, respectively. Dumke extended her lead by two minutes over the next section, a 32-mile rip across Colorado River Road’s packed gravel and fresh ribbon of pavement into the Roundup River Ranch aid station.

“This was the first time I’ve ever ridden road tires,” admitted Dumke, who competes in the Life Time Grand Prix, the country’s top professional off-road cycling series. “Everything was in good shape. When you look up and look around, it’s beautiful from start to finish. That helps, too.”

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It was a successful Saturday for the Mountain Pedaler-Dusty Boot team, too. Dumke’s teammate Sam Brown finished second for both the road event and overall combined competition on the men’s side. Seth Hirsch took the overall win and Marc Spratt rounded out the podium in third.

Organizers pleased with first installment of Bighorn Road

Earlier this summer, Mike Brumbaugh rode each stage of the Tour de France one day prior to the pros. He said he was more exhausted after organizing Bighorn Road than at any point along the 21-day, 2,000-plus mile European adventure.

“But also, so full,” he said. “Humbled by the turnout, by the people who come up and thanked (co-organizer) Jake (Wells) and I.”

About 140 cyclists completed the long route and another 30 or so did the short ride. Organizers also surpassed their goal of raising $2,000 for Roundup River Ranch. As Brumbaugh sat on a picnic table near the finish, one participant yelled from across the park.

“Thank you for almost killing us,” she said with a smirk.

“Well you know,” Brumbaugh replied. “That’s my job.”

The vision behind both Bighorn Gravel and Bighorn Road was to provide “a safety net” for cyclists creeping out of their comfort zones as they enjoy an epic loop they might not otherwise try. On that front, Brumbaugh and Wells felt Saturday’s event was a success.

“That’s the really cool part,” Brumbaugh said. “The people who say, ‘man, that was one of my best days ever on a bike.'”

Wells rolled out of Gypsum at 7 a.m. with the group before turning around near Costco to get back to the finish area.

“You look back and there’s more than a hundred people behind you — that’s awesome,” he said before adding that the bigger highlights for him came at the end. “Just to see the vibe here at the expo, after the ride and hear the stories of how many people who hadn’t done that ride were super glad they came.”

Aubrie Hull got into cycling a month ago, bought a bike, heard about the event and drove up from Salt Lake City the day before. She rode the “Dall Sheep” ride, a 30-mile out-and-back from Gypsum to Roundup River Ranch.

“She’s super happy to be welcomed into this new community she found,” Wells said. “So that’s the kind of stuff I love: to see people come in, pretty spent and pushed themselves and pushed beyond what they thought was maybe their capacity — and now they’re telling stories about it.”

Earlier this summer, Wells and Brumbaugh hinted at their ultimate goal of turning the event into a point-to-point road race. Using the gran fondo style — wherein athletes are timed for certain segments but free to ride at their pace in-between — this year was done partially to work out the logistics, particularly on Highway 131. Brumbaugh said on that front, things went smoothly.

“The police presence was incredible; those guys helping us on 131 was huge,” he said. “All in all, it was great. We had some pretty prolific riders from other towns within the state who were amazed that we can do what we do in Gypsum.”

Moving forward, it’s hard to report the consensus on whether or not a true race or Strava segments are the way to go.

“At this point I’d say it’s a 50-50 split of people who really like the fondo format we did today and people who really wish it was a start-to-finish road race,” said Wells. Brumbaugh’s “hot off the press” take is that he’d like to do both next year.

“How do you be all things to all people?” Brumbaugh rhetorically asked. “It’s tough. But I think particularly with this course we have the ability to do both.”

Brown said he enjoyed the gran fondo’s inherent laid back atmosphere, something he doesn’t experience being caught up with the pointy end of the peloton at most pro gravel races.

“I think it went well,” the Eagle cyclist said of the event as a whole. “Even this format could keep going for a couple more years and they could eventually figure out where they want to go with it.”

Local cyclist Ron Gruber, who also took part in the soft launch of the event last September, was all smiles after the inaugural ride.

“I think Jake and Mike just work hard, they know everyone, they talk to everyone and it’s so personal,” he said. “That’s what makes it a great event.”