Fresh snow turns the Merry Masher into a spirited slog for fat-tire bikers

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 9

Jason Lamoreaux leads the pack off the start line at Mirror Lake during the Merry Masher fat-tire bike race on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

Zac Cole called it quits 5 miles into a 15-mile bike race Saturday at snowy Mirror Lake.

He picked the wrong wheels for the conditions, he said with a smile and a shake of his head.

Josh Baida made it all the way through his 10-mile race, but only because he made a lengthy pit stop halfway through.

“I’m lowering the air pressure,” he said as he knelt in the snow to deflate his front tire. “I kept slipping every time I went up a hill.”

The challenge of the second annual Merry Masher — a fat-tire bike race that served as a fundraiser for the Chugach Mountain Bike Riders — was finding the merry amongst all the mashing.

Fresh snow turned the race into a slog for most of the 40 participants. The 5-mile course was hard-packed Friday, but that changed when an overnight storm delivered two or three inches of snow. Instead of getting ideal conditions for the Saturday race, riders got a grind.

“As soon as I hit the lake, it was mashed potatoes,” Cole said.

Riders had their choice of racing one, two or three laps around the 5-mile course. The route was changed at the last minute to eliminate a technical hill deemed unrideable because of the deep snow.

A snowmachiner and a couple of bikers rode the course before the race started at noon in an attempt to pack the snow, but racers still confronted soft, difficult conditions.

Racers started in waves, with the elite, 15-mile riders going first. Will Taygan, a volunteer with the Chugach Mountain Bike Riders who was running the show, figured two minutes between waves would be plenty of separation time, but he miscalculated — it took nearly two minutes for some of the most skilled cyclists in Alaska to travel the 400 yards or so from the start line to the shore of Mirror Lake.

The elite riders were just hitting the lake when racers in the 10-mile race began, but no chaos ensued. It was slow-going all the way around.

“It was pretty hard,” said 19-year-old Tamara Brabson, who marked her fat-tire racing debut by placing third overall in the 5-mile race. “The snow was pretty soft on some of the uphills. I was a little lucky, because a lot of the fast people were ahead of me and packed it down. I could see where people had gotten off (their bikes) and walked.”

Brabson also had to walk her bike on a couple of occasions, but again she considered herself lucky to be following the leaders. “I was using their footsteps on the uphills,” she said.

Not everyone struggled. Jason Lamoreaux, a 40-year-old who is one of Anchorage’s top bikers and triathletes, won the 15-mile race by seven minutes with a time of 1 hour, 39 minutes, 14 seconds. As he rode through the start/finish area after his second of three laps, he made it look like he was cycling on pavement.

It wasn’t a day for fast times, Lamoreaux said prior to the race. “These are good conditions for technical riders and efficient riders,” he said.

And for riders who made the right decisions the night before the race.

Cole, 28, is a bike expert who works at Chain Reaction Cycles and 9:Zero:7. The night before the race, he chose wheels to accommodate 3.8-inch-wide tires on his bike. The morning of the race, he saw the new snow and knew he would be hampered.

“This is a 5-inch day,” he said.

When it comes to choosing which tires to use in soft snow, “the fatter the better,” Cole said, because when more tire touches the surface, there is better traction.

Baida got a similar effect by reducing the air pressure in his tires.

A newcomer to fat-tire biking who described himself as a summer-sport person, Baida saw enough in his first fat-tire race to be impressed.

“It’s tough,” he said. “I definitely have a lot of respect for it.”

Jon Blenkush, who won the 5-mile race, was another fat-tire race rookie. He’s a 34-year-old member of the Air Force who got into mountain biking when he was a student at Montana State University, and now that he’s in Alaska, he’s getting into fat-tire biking.

“You need to adapt to where you live,” he said.

Like many, Blenkush was challenged by the conditions and said he wished he had let air out of his tires. But the first-time Merry Masher said he discovered what makes the race merry.

“The fun part was just seeing everyone out here,” he said. “I’ll be back next year.”

2nd annual Merry Masher at Mirror Lake

Men’s 15 miles (3 laps) – 1) Jason Lamoreaux, 1:39:14; 2) James Stull, 1:47:14; 3) Oliver Sternicki, 1:47:47; 4) Tom Peichel, 1:48:24; 5) Paul Hosmanek, 1:49:41; 6) Andrew Brabson, 1:56:57; 7) Jacque Drumm, 2:00:11; 8) Kevin Kelly, 2:03:34; 9) Luke Kiskaddon, 2:04:53; 10) Jeremiah Bell, 2:05:18; 12) Nick Dallaportas, 2:16:30; 13) Eyal Salet, 2:17:36; 14) Jeremiah Eldridge, 2:24:47; 15) Jamey Stehn, 2:29:58.

Men’s 10 miles (2 laps) -- 1) Tony Hardwick, 1:20:08; 2) Jason Slemons, 1:34:04; 3) Matt Lemons, 1:38:51; 4) Steven Holloway, 1:40:17; 5) Ron Kuzina, 1:40:52; 6) Ken Best, 1:56:56; 7) Dan Eck, 2:10:17; 8) Joshua Baida, 2:21:09. Dropped out after two laps -- Chris Brewer, 2:14:43.

Men’s 5 miles (1 lap) -- 1) Jan Blenkush, 1:05:53; 2) Jeff Toth, 1:08:18; 3) Nathan Levine, 1:10:09;

4) Rick Tankersley, 1:25:40; 5) Jeffrey Kelly, 1:34:23; 6) Bryan Wentz, 1:44:21. Dropped out after one lap -- Zach Cole, 0:45:07; Jason Dennis, 1:09:26; Luke Almon, 1:11:55; Tim Toth, 1:58:29.

Women’s 15 miles (3 laps) -- 1) Susie Hosmanek, 2:07:48.

Women’s 10 mile (2 laps) -- 1) Cathe Grosshandler, 1:42:51; 2) Lisa Drumm, 1:47:29; 3) Sheryl Loan, 2:00:36.

Women’s 5 mile (1 lap) -- 1) Jessica Tasselli, 1:07:05; 2) Tamara Brabson, 1:10:34; 3) Casey Mapes, 1:13:33; 4) Cathleen Kelly, 1:34:13; 5) Linda Remaley, 1:34:42; 6) Shannon Oliver, 1:35:11. Dropped out after one lap -- Leisha Nolen, 1:10:42; Andrea Toth, 1:59:05.

Correction: This story was edited to clarify that Zac Cole picked the wrong wheel size rather than the wrong bike for his race.