24 Hours of Steamboat

Chipotle-Titus took 2 teams to the Rio 24 Hours of Steamboat this weekend & brought home 2 wins! Saturday noon, Mike Hogan set off on the Le Mans running start for our 4 man open/pro team. Scott Pavlakovic headed off for the duo mixed team. Hogan was only 3rd in the run but had grabbed the lead after 200 meters on the bike & the team never looked back.

Each 11 mile lap climbed up the the top of the Mt. Warner gondola - 2300 feet at 6% to 21% climbing. This was fireroad climbing but was relentless. There was a short single track loop at the top before flying down the mountain on twisty single track with no less than 50 S turns.



Hogan handed off to Mark Gouge after a sub 1 hr lap - including the 5 minute run. Scott handed off to Kay Levesque already with a commanding lead. Drew Geer was next up for our 4 man team, followed by Thomas Dooley. Dooley, testing his power for the firt time after breaking his leg 6 weeks ago. Kay & Scott just had to pass the baton back & forth & suffer the climb over & over.


Hogan was searching for the fastest lap, which Dooley had just stolen from him, & captured this on his 2nd effort. Dooley & Hogan continued to battle back & forth, increasing the team lead.



The night laps is where things get interesting. A huge lead can change rapidly with a mishap in the dark. The single track was particularly fun & exciting in the dark. One bonus is that a HID beam warns riders ahead you are coming in hot. Scott pulled a double lap to give Kay a short nap. Mike put in the fasted night just 3 minutes slower than his day lap.

Working support may be harder than riding & requires a 36+ hour effort. Our support team worked all night with precision, brewing espresso & cooking up Ramen supplemented by Mix 1. Special thanks to Adrian, Dean, Toni, Wesley & Garrett. Garrett & Wesley also manned the cameras all day & night. We had our Kelty Basecamp dialed in and were refueling in comfort.

By morning Kay & Scott had a 3 lap lead, while the 4 man team was closing in on a 2 lap lead.



Sunup is always welcome & the laps got faster again. Everyone on the 4 man team notched up 5 laps for a solid overall win. Scott & Kay won the mixed duo with 13 laps.Hogan won the fasted day & night laps as well as the fastest overall average. Scott had the fasted lap for duo mixed & Kay had the fastest average for the duo.

The Titus' were perfect. Our 4 man team as well as Scott were all on the Titus Carbon X & Kay was riding the Racer X aluminum. This course was a great test of bikes. It was hard on them on the downhills & they were noticeably faster than any other bikes on the course. The Carbon X's were buttery smooth on the chatter & extremely quick in turning. It was a treat to ride them. There was only 1 mechanical in over 30 laps of racing - Thomas broke a brand new chain & had to ride down & start again on another bike. This cost us 20 minutes & added a 2nd climb for Thomas which we considered good training time for him.

2 teams, 2 overall wins