The Pierre’s Hole 100 takes place at Grand Targhee Ski Area in Alta Wyoming. This is definitely one of the most scenic backdrops in the country to have a bike race! Along with natural beauty, the vibe at Targhee is very laid back, perfect place for a bike race. They have been putting some serious effort into their trail system at Targhee and it shows with a mix of switchback climbs and descents, screaming high speed downhills and flowy bermed out roller coaster runs are what you will find on this 3 lap 33 mile course.
With heavy rain the night before, the course was a little slick for the first lap. At the start, I jumped out to an early lead along with Carry Smith and Sam Sweetser. We all stayed together for the slippery first lap, and then near the end of lap one Carry hit a soft spot and crashed hard, breaking his shifter off taking him out of the race. Sam and I continued into the first aid station where Cary was now helping out with neutral support and was trying to get everyone what they needed. This is a huge reason why I love mountain bike racing one minute you’re trying to put the screws to your fellow racers and the next minute he is helping you out, it definitely makes you feel like you’re part of a family. My good sportsmanship award goes to Carry on that one, he was there all day and helped for the rest of the race and, very cool man!
Coming out of lap one, I got a small gap on Sam and slowly started to pull away. The trails were drying up now and the riding was phenomenal to say the least. By the 3rd and final lap I had built a lead but wasn’t sure of how much the gap was so I stayed on the gas till the end. One thing I’ve learned in 13 years of racing is there’s always someone coming from behind hard charging for you and you never let up! That person was Jamie Lamb putting in a strong effort overtaking Sam and finishing in second place. I finally got the win that had eluded me so many times! I am never unhappy with second place, I’ll take that any day of the week but nothing is better than getting the win and standing on the top step.
