Mountain Pedaler teammates repeat as champions at Colorado’s longest-running mountain bike race

Josiah Middaugh might humbly say he’s only “doing damage control” when he races these days, but the clock tells a slightly different story.

The 46-year-old former XTERRA World Champion sliced off 53 seconds from his 2024 time at the Davos Dash on Wednesday night, good enough for a runner-up finish, just behind champion Sam Brown.

“Just trying to not have my worst time ever was kind of the goal,” Middaugh — the course record holder — remarked with a smile. “Sam started so hard.”

Brown blasted out of the gate, essentially creating his 18-second finish-line gap on the steep Cortina Lane pavement preceding the roughly 3.6-mile, 998-foot gravel ascent. Middaugh looked down at his Garmin and realized he was pushing 600 watts, but Brown was still getting away.

“I was like, well, this is kind of it for me,” Middaugh said.

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Brown reached the radio tower in 17 minutes, 25 seconds to win the longest-running mountain bike race in Colorado for the second-straight year. Coming off some illness prior to Unbound Gravel, where he placed 10th in the 100-mile race, the 25-year-old was happy with his tune-up for Bighorn Gravel on Sunday.

“This is definitely an opener and I’m definitely feeling open now,” he said. “After Unbound I was feeling good and had a few good weeks of training.”

Middaugh and Cristhian Ravelo battled throughout the course, but Middaugh (17:43) pulled away late to claim silver while Ravelo (18:13) rounded out the podium. After making headlines employing a gravel bike for the hill climb, Brown said he is still tinkering with the perfect personal-record set up.

“I wanted to kind of make my gravel bike more of a mountain bike for it. So maybe next year I’ll go for that and see how that goes,” he said. “Maybe a little bit smaller cassette. Some weight savings will be made.”

Brown’s Mountain Pedaler teammate, Haley Dumke, ditched the gravel steed altogether for Wednesday’s race, though it wasn’t necessarily for strategic purposes. The LifeTime Grand Prix rider opted for the mountain bike this time because when she got home from work, it was the clean option with inflated tires.

“It was just the bike that was ready to ride today,” Dumke said after covering the course in 22:29 to win for the second-straight year. After starting more conservatively, the 32-year-old picked it up in the shady sections of the course.

“I knew I would have a little more fun and play on the rolling stuff with some of the ditches, so I thought I’d take advantage of that this year and try to get some speed and time on the last mile,” she said. “I’ve been in recovery mode since Unbound, so today was really just the first time I’ve put down a solid effort in a while. It was good to see where the body and the lungs were at — and it tests you every time.”

Dumke gutted out a 20th-place elite women’s finish at Unbound Gravel, despite dealing with illness going into the race. Her placement qualified her as a wildcard entry into the remaining LifeTime Grand Prix events. While that inherently takes care of much of the remaining summer schedule, her biggest upcoming event is Bighorn Gravel.

“This women’s field is insane. It’s so awesome to see this race start to blow up,” she said of the fourth-annual off-road race, which heads out of Gypsum on Sunday morning at 7 a.m. “I’m excited to get in the mix with these ladies.”

Middaugh didn’t wear his usual “Middaugh Coaching” kit on Wednesday. Instead, the 15-time XTERRA national champion’s jersey represented Vail Health, where he recently started a new gig as part of the Vail Healthspan team.

“Doing a lot of physiological testing, a lot of VO2 max and metabolic rate and directing the health coaches and putting people on behavior and lifestyle change programs,” he said of the program. “It’s pretty cool. It’s really stimulating for me. It’s a brand new program and is right up my alley with this next phase.”

The “next phase” involves scaling back the racing a bit. While he placed fourth at The Hundo last week and plans on joining his two sons, Sullivan and Porter, at the XTERRA World Championships in Italy in September, most of Middaugh’s competitions are going to be nearby.

“I’m trying to do just local stuff,” he said. “There’s plenty of that.” 

While Middaugh, Brown and Dumke are veterans of the perhaps the most historic local event, Wednesday marked the first full Davos Dash for young Reese Davis.

“It was good. I had a lot of fun. The last section was definitely longer than I remember,” said the recent Battle Mountain graduate, who completed the shortened youth course when she was 10. Davis didn’t have a time goal coming in, but was hoping to top the sport division, which she easily did.

“I just kind of went for it,” she said after finishing in 27:11.

Davis plans to study and compete at Fort Lewis College next year. For now, she’s enjoying riding with her current and former Vail Junior Club teammates a couple times a week and racing the town series for Mountain Pedaler. She’s entered the 50-mile race at Bighorn Gravel on Sunday and is eying a potential appearance at the SoHo Bike Fest the following weekend. Even though the final hill Wednesday night was a gut punch, Davis plans to return for another Davos Dash, too.

“Oh yeah, I’ll be back,” she said. “For some sick reason, I still like climbing.”