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Will Surbaugh, on the left, and Payson McElveen take a photo together. Payson is a five-time collegiate mountain bike title winner and a US national mountain bike champion. Photo submitted by Mike Larson
Lutsen mountain biker Will Surbaugh, 19, is young, but he’s already shown he can compete with some of the best competitive mountain biker riders on the planet. Recently Will placed 37th at the prestigious Stages Cycling Leadville Trail race held in Colorado.
Will clocked 7:30:45 for the arduous, challenging race. He was third in his age group, and he was the first Minnesotan to cross the finish line.
The Leadville 100 (it’s 104 miles long) is considered America’s toughest mountain bike race.
Mountain bikers traverse high altitude through the Colorado Rockies, climbing to 12,516 feet. The out and back race is on forest trails with some mountain roads and a bit of asphalt. The low point is 9,200 feet.
This year’s winner was Keegan Swenson, 27, of Herber City, Utah. Keegan finished in 6:11:26. The first-place women finisher was Rose Grant, 39, from Columbia Falls, Montana. Rose, a five-time national champion and four-time world champion team competitor for the USA, completed the course in 7:23:57. She placed 31st overall in a field of 1,419 entrants.
Many entrants couldn’t complete the rugged course with a lot of steep climbs, high altitude, and heat.
Now back in Boulder, Colorado, to attend college, Will called and answered some questions about his training, plans, and thoughts about the Leadville race.
Q- Will, have you recovered from the race?
Yeah, it took a couple of weeks. The first week after the race, I went out and rode my bike for a couple of easy rides, but mostly I rested. I’m feeling good now.
Q- What did you do to prepare for Leadville?
I rode my bike 15 to 20 hours per week for three months. Most of the time, I rode by myself. During covid, it’s been hard to meet people to train with. So, I did a lot of long, slow endurance rides. I would also run once a week to keep my legs fresh, but I didn’t do any other cross-training.
Q- Tell me about the race?
The course is out and back, and there are three major climbs both ways. They take between thirty minutes to an hour or more to climb. There are maybe ten miles of flat places to ride on the course. The race started in the low 40’s in the morning and temperatures reached the mid 80’s. It wasn’t easy.
Q- Are you going to compete in college?
Yes, I am joining the club team and race with them. The races are shorter, one and half hours long, and more technical. It will be fun to train with a group, and there are some really accomplished riders on the team.
Q- You started riding a mountain bike when you were 14. In your junior year of high school, you ran a 4:37 mile and then graduated early. Your hard work, natural talent, and determination have pushed you close to the elite riders in the country. Any thoughts about one day catching them?
Maybe someday I will get good enough to attract some small endorsements and go from there. But, for now, I am preparing to race Chequmegon (Fat Tire Festival) in Wisconsin in September and then train and race with my college club.
Q- Have you been able to stay healthy?
I have had a few small injuries, a wrist injury, and bumps and bruises from crashes, but that’s part of the sport. You’re going to crash occasionally. So yeah, overall, I’ve been able to stay pretty healthy.
Here’s wishing Will the best of luck as he begins a new phase of his sport.
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