Grotts, a 25-year-old Durango native, had a two-year window to compete in the IHBC coming off his 2016 Summer Olympics, where he represented USA Cycling in Rio de Janeiro. The Specialized Racing team rider was able to skip World Cup races in Europe held during the same weekend as the Iron Horse, with the new points cycle for the 2020 Olympics not set to begin until June. It is likely he won\u2019t be back to the IHBC until 2021, after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.<\/p>\n
Grotts, the three-time defending cross-country mountain bike national champion and reigning short-track national champ, was untouchable in the 6,700 feet of climbing Saturday. He put in attacks and made Swirbul, the 2015 Iron Horse road race champion and Jelly Belly-Maxxis Pro Cycling Team rider, suffer along the way.<\/p>\n The two came to the top of Molas Pass at 10,910 feet above sea level together. Swirbul was stronger in the descents Saturday, but he wasn\u2019t able to build a gap on Grotts big enough to prevent an all-out sprint finish on Greene Street.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t feel great,\u201d Swirbul said. \u201cI was kind of suffering all day.\u201d<\/p>\n Swirbul, a 22-year-old from outside the Aspen area, said it was his first true sprint finish with a win on the line. Grotts has grown accustomed to sprint finishes with close friend Payson McElveen, the 2016 IHBC road race champ, who had beat Grotts in a sprint at the last two marathon mountain bike national championship races.<\/p>\n \u201cI led it out, which wasn\u2019t my plan,\u201d Grotts said of the sprint. \u201cI wanted to kind of be second wheel. \u2026 He for sure was coming up on me, but luckily, I had enough gas.\u201d<\/p>\n Swirbul looked like he would come around Grotts if the race went another 10 yards. Still, Grotts held him off by half a wheel.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I was one gear too high when he started his last sprint, and he got a little room on me, and I had to close it,\u201d Swirbul said. \u201cI just ran out of ground.\u201d<\/p>\n Swirbul also didn\u2019t attack on the climbs because he hoped Jelly Belly teammate Cormac McGeough of Fort Lewis College would bridge the gap up to them so the pair could work together against Grotts. Had McGeough been able to bridge the gap, Grotts would have been in trouble. McGeough wasn\u2019t able to catch the break riders at altitude, though, as they maintained a solid 20-second advantage.<\/p>\n McGeough finished third in 2:20:30.8.<\/p>\n \u201cKeegan and Howard went, and I sat and let it go,\u201d McGeough said. \u201cWhen they got a bit of gap, I tried to bridge. I was stuck in the middle just dying. The altitude was really killing me. \u2026 Guys came up to me, but I was able to drop them at the very end and come in for third at least.\u201d<\/p>\n Durango\u2019s Levi Kurlander was third at the top of Molas. He finished fourth in 2:21:06.1. Albuquerque\u2019s Fortunato Ferrara was fifth in 2:21:11.6.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to ride smart today, not get in any trouble and try to control the pace as much as I could on Coal Bank,\u201d Kurlander said. \u201d<\/p>\n Kurlander said he saw Grotts and Swirbul from the top of Molas, but he didn\u2019t have the mass to descend fast enough to catch them.<\/p>\n \u201cI just don\u2019t weigh enough,\u201d he said. \u201cCormac is a big dude. He had more inertia to get him down the hill for third.\u201d<\/p>\n Durango\u2019s 62-year-old cycling legend Ned Overend, the record-holder with five IHBC men\u2019s road race titles, finished sixth in 2:21:20.8.<\/p>\n Grotts went on to win Sunday\u2019s IHBC mountain bike race for the second consecutive year and retained his title as the King of the Mountain, the IHBC\u2019s only omnium championship for a rider\u2019s combined results in the road race and mountain bike event. It was a special sweep for the Durango star.<\/p>\n