The youngest team in the Golden Two-Four this year was made up of four boys, with a combined age of 60 years.
Ben Gadd (17), Iain Frazer (now 15), Ethan Allenbach, and Odin Sinclair (both 14) teamed up to compete in their first Golden Two-Four, an all day and all night trail riding mountain bike race here in Golden.
Over the course of 24 hours of nearly nonstop biking, the young athletes barely had time to sleep more than an hour at a time.
The lack of sleep provided an interesting challenge, but they were also faced with riding terrain lit by mobile lamps along the way, and a few bumps here and there. In the middle of the night, it is easy to lose track of what time it is, Gadd said.
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Gadd kicked off the first lap for the team. Just after he started out down the trail, he crashed, busting his brakes and dropper post. He wasn’t able to finish the lap before getting some repairs done, which set the boys back in time.
Despite a few hiccups along the way, the team still came in first place in their age category. The race is split up according to age category, and these athletes on the Derailed team were the only ones that young to compete.
Participating in the race came as a suggestion from one of their high school teachers, Ron Ainsley.
The four young athletes began to train for the event a few months before it was set to take place, and spent their time riding the trails in and around the Mountain Shadows area.
“This was our first time, so it’s really a learning experience,” Gadd said. “Barring mechanical problems, next year will go a lot better.”
Staff from Derailed attended to race to watch the team compete, and were on hand to help with bike repairs when they were necessary. Not long after their first run, Gadd experienced three flat tires in one lap, so it was good to have a team of mechanics around to help out.
Next year, Allenbach plans on being the technician for the team.
As an employee at Derailed, he is getting a lot of experience repairing bike problems, and will be a huge asset to the team.
While the team was working hard to do their best on the trails, they were also celebrating Frazer’s birthday.
He turned 15 on the day of the race, and was happy to spend the day with his friends doing what he loves.
