Take to the mountains

While it’s not a multi-week marathon like the Tour de France, Sunday’s Walnut Creek Chimney Chase at Walnut Creek Park did its part to bring cycling to the forefront in Central Virginia.

The event, which benefits the Charlottesville Area Mountain Biking Club, is in its third year of existence.

“We’re devoted to maintaining and building trails, educating riders on proper trail etiquette, and how to interact with trail users,” said CAMBC president Will Sanford.

Co-host Charlottesville Racing Club, meanwhile, is more about setting up races.

“We’re mostly a racing club,” said James Gist, president of the CRC. “It’s kind of the place to go if you want to ride fast. There are a lot of really competitive and really strong cyclists in the club.”

The race, run on a 10.5-mile course, had 10 different divisions. All racers started at 10 a.m. but each different skill level completed a different number of miles with beginners completing about 11 miles, intermediates completing about 16 miles, and experts completing about 22 miles.

The appeal of both the race and the club is wide-spread among different age groups.

“We’re sort of a developmental club,” Gist said. “We’re pretty meager in terms of our budget, but a lot of times if there are junior riders aged 14-18 that want a venue to train and race and get to ride with faster people, a lot of times they’ll start with us.”

Jake King, 14, of North Garden said he took up mountain biking at the beginning of this year.

“I like it better than running because it’s faster and you never really get bored,” King said.

The race also attracts racers from other states.

The husband-and-wife duo of David and Margaret Kelberger, both 49, came all the way from Leonardtown, Md., nearly three hours away, to compete in the race.

“The mountain bike community is a lot of fun,” Margaret said, while David added, “I used to be a runner, and Monday mornings are a lot nicer coming off a mountain bike race than running.”

Though it is a friendly bike race, there are winners. The overall winner for the experts was Mike Walling, 35, of Ruckersville, who raced in the veterans division. His finishing time was 2 hours, 4 minutes.

“This is probably one of my favorite courses in Virginia,” Walling said, noting that he has mountain biked since he was 12. “I used to ride in BMX, and there were a lot of trails where I grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. If you want to do a 10-mile ride, its hard to do it on a BMX. And then mountain bikes came out and I saved some money and bought my first mountain bike.”

Of course, a number of locals also made it out to Walnut Creek. Besides the CRC and CAMBC, the Bike Factory store based in Charlottesville fields a team with a number of riders.

One of the Bike Factory riders is Denelle Grant, 33, who moved back to Charlottesville from Colorado.

“The trails and the weather are so much more conducive to riding on a regular basis [here than in Colorado].” Grant said. “[Virginia] has some of the best trails. And it has lots of great people who mountain bike. You’ll see people who are cheering on people who aren’t maybe as fast. You’ll see people sitting around barbecuing, grabbing a beer, talking about their experience on the trails [after the race].”

That’s not to say these riders aren’t competitive, too.

The winner of the expert men’s division, Kyle Rodland, 26, of Charlottesville, told a story about closing in on the finish line and wanting to pass someone he wasn’t even competing against because they were in different divisions.

“Can I get by you?” Rodland said he asked the other biker. “If you’re fast enough,” said the other biker, according to Rodland.

The two then sprinted toward the finish line, creating what looked to be a photo finish but turned out to be just a little friendly competition.

Rodland, who has mountain biked off-and-on since he was 12, said Walnut Creek is his home course.

“I’ve ridden this course a million times,” Rodland said. “This is my backyard. I don’t want to brag or anything but I probably have home field advantage over some of these guys. I’m here at least once a week if not more.”

Rodland, whose finishing time was 2 hours, 8 minutes, commended the CAMBC for the upkeep of the trails.

“It was a little dry today. With all the humidity and afternoon rains, in the low spots, it was wet, but in the high spots it was dry, so the corners were washed out a little more,” he said. “CAMBC did a lot of trail work. Not making them easier, but they put in a lot of new bypasses in places where it was totally washed out. They did a great job.”

Several Richmond bikers also made it out to Walnut Creek for the Chase. They found out that the more mountainous terrain proved to be more of a challenge than the somewhat flatter land around Richmond.

“The climbs in the beginning of the first five miles are killer for me,” said Jon Lowman, 28, winner of the beginner men’s division. “The stuff at the end kind of resembles Richmond — short and steep. It’s pretty technical in some parts. Nothing too crazy, though. Walnut Creek is awesome just because the climbs are good.”

Sean McDonough, who came in second after Lowman, agreed, but also praised the course.

“Some brutal climbs at the get-go,” he said. “We don’t have quite as many continuous climbs [around Richmond]. I live [close] to the bike trails near my home. As far as the trails outside of my hometown trails this is the best.”

Another Richmond native, Amy Coleman, had to overcome hardship at the beginning of the race, but pulled out the win in the intermediate women’s division.

“Right at the start we were all grouped up and I got bumped into and I fell down on the pavement,” Coleman said. “So when we got to the woods, I was next to last person, so I had to pick my way through.”

Other winners Sunday were: Jennifer Whedbee (beginning women); Chris Cunningham (intermediate men); Clark Tanner (intermediate veteran); D.D. Winfield (expert women); and Whit Zirkle (junior).