One of my priorities this season is to check out some new races, so for April I decided on the 12 Hours in the Wild West in Ruidoso NM, put on by Zia rides. I kind of had a picture in my head of how the both riding and the town would be. I was totally wrong about both, Ruidoso is about 2 hours south of Santa Fe and I was not expecting mountains or a ski town but it was both. The race venue is located about 30 minutes from town with great camping and cool high desert riding making this a great spot for a 12 hour race.
The course was 14 miles of almost all single track with mostly climbing for the first half and then fast flowing mostly downhill with a couple of rock gardens for the second half. Race day weather was perfect with a high of 71 and a bit of breeze to keep things cool. On the first lap I jumped out to the lead and rode with a duo team rider for the entire lap we had a good pace going and I felt great, after the first couple fast laps I settled in to a good pace and turned lap after lap. I really wasn’t sure how far ahead I was but I new Brian Sells was somewhere behind me, and he has been riding very strong so I just stayed on the gas all day.
Near the end of my 8th lap I saw Brian ahead of me and I was about to lap him with only 3 hours left in the race I knew I only needed one more lap and I would have enough for the win. On the last lap I felt great I definitely could have done a 10th lap but I got a great workout in and was very happy with the race.
I had a great time hanging out with all the locals from Ruidoso and vibe was very great all around. I guess that’s why I like mountain bikers because I haven’t meet to many that are not great people and fun to be around. 12 Hours in the Wild West was a great race and I highly recommend this event to anyone looking for a good time at a race..