Fat Tire race draws cyclists of all skill levels

SPRINGVILLE — Sunday’s Fat Tire Classic Mountain Bike Race at the Apple Festival saw the crowning of two new rulers of the hill.

With the sun out and a breeze blowing, Jeremiah Root and Emily Georgeson made it to the top of the hill first, winning them King and Queen of the Hill, a distinction that comes with a $100 cash prize.

Beck Henry, the race organizer, predicted this would happen, mainly since the previous yearÂ’s champions, Grace Ogawa and Stephen Ray, both sat out this year.

The Fat Tire Classic Mountain Bike Race, Henry said, is an 8-mile, mountain bike race that was started nine years ago in conjunction with the Apple Run. It currently runs off-road on trails through Sequoia Ranch, a working cattle ranch owned by the Borror Family.

"This is a little bit different than riding your bike on the road," Henry said. "The hills are real steep up and down. You try not to go flying off your bike."

Henry started the races because he thought the setting would be perfect for a bike course.

"I always enjoyed going around to bike races," Henry said. "Somebody from the Apple Festival approached me and I thought this would be a great place to have a race."

There are various skill categories that the riders compete under, with winners also being broken down by age group. The "experts" do three laps around the course and are made up of the top riders. The "sports" riders do two laps around the course. While most riders have bikes with multiple gears, some ranging up into 28 gears, one category of competition is set aside for those who ride single-gear bikes, which makes it more challenging.

"You canÂ’t put it in a high gear to go faster down hill or in a low gear to conserve energy going up," Henry said about the single-gear bikes.

The other categories are beginners, who do one lap around the track; juniors, who do a two and a half mile lap, with the category being reserved for children ages 12 to 16; and the "Clydesdales," a category reserved for bikers who weigh in over 200 pounds, and who do one lap around the 8-mile course like the beginners.

Along with the adult race, a childrenÂ’s race for children younger than 11 takes place prior to the main event. Children 7 or younger do a short lap on their own, and children 8 to 11 are able to do an actual one-mile lap on the mountain bike trail.

The race attracts riders from all over the state, in different age and skill categories, riding for various reasons.

Root, who is from Fresno, was not only King of the Hill, he also came in first place overall in the expert category.

"ItÂ’s an amazing course, to say the least," Root said.

The course is similar to courses around the Fresno area, he said.

Root rides for StephenÂ’s Bicycles, and this year is the first time heÂ’s participated in the Fat Tire Classic. Root said he owes his win Sunday to trainer Stephen Ray, who also rebuilt one of his wheels right before the race began.

Ray has taken King of the Hill multiple times in the past, but sat out this year because of an injury. Root has been riding bikes his entire life. He raced BMX bikes when he was a child. He quit for a while, and then when he began to cycle again in 2006 he did it with competition in mind.

Root said he hopes to return to the Fat Tire Classic next year and do well in the expert category again.

"Maybe someday I will be semi-pro," he said.

This yearÂ’s Queen of the Hill, Georgeson, also came in first overall in the womenÂ’s sports category. SheÂ’s only competed in the race once before, in 2005, and returned this year at the insistence of her boyfriend.

"He pushed me to ride hard to get this win," Georgeson said.

She said the course was a challenge, but an enjoyable ride nonetheless.

"I feel like itÂ’s well-earned," Georgeson said about coming in first. "I pushed pretty hard. Tough climbs but fun downhills."

Syd Newsom, who came in first overall in the menÂ’s sports category, said the best thing about mountain biking is going places where others donÂ’t.

"ItÂ’s just a super fun sport," he said. "It opens your eyes to a lot of the world that others donÂ’t get to see. ItÂ’s an adventure."

Newsome agreed with Georgeson about the courseÂ’s level of difficulty.

"ItÂ’s a good course," he said. "Tons of technical stuff. It was well put together."

Dyann Graber, who came in second overall in the womenÂ’s beginner category, has been riding off and on for 20 years. SheÂ’s participated in the race before.

"ItÂ’s a great race," Graber said. She said biking is really good for her health. "I can eat what I want."

The overall first-place winner for the menÂ’s beginner category, Kyle Rowland, a California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo student, saw the race advertised in a bike shop in San Luis Obispo. He said he wasnÂ’t disappointed in the course.

"Lots of uphills and downhills," Rowland said. "It was more than I had hoped for."

Springville resident Richard Miller, who said he is a neighbor of Beck Henry, and who came in second overall in the menÂ’s beginner category, said he wouldnÂ’t have participated this year if it wasnÂ’t for his experience last year.

"I helped out last year and it looked so fun I bought a mountain bike six months ago and thought IÂ’d whip everybody," Miller said.

There was some confusion among the junior category riders, Preston Whitehead, 14, Torre Tahan, 13 and Jack Funnell, 13, all of Fresno, which made determining which places they fell into difficult. However, the three friends said they had fun.

The track was "definitely confusing," Funnell said. "Otherwise it was really fun. Technical."

WhiteheadÂ’s main goal was to "finish good," and he was happy with the outcome. He said heÂ’s had a lot of practice cross-country racing in the past by riding on cross-country trails around Fresno.

Tahan said racing was an activity the three of them often do together.

"I just like to race and have fun with my friends," Tahan said. "We just thought about racing so we just came out."

Chris Henry, who manned the childrenÂ’s race, said one of the best parts about it was that it was free.

"I think a lot of people donÂ’t know about it," Chris Henry said. "All you have to have is a helmet and be under 11 years old."

The childrenÂ’s race offers numerous prizes to the children, including, this year, three bikes which were raffled away before the main adult race. The children also got to participate in a California Highway Patrol skills clinic and everyone, children or adult racers, was treated to a free lunch.

"Everybody always has a good time," Beck Henry said.

Contact The Recorder newsroom at 784-5000, Ext. 1044.