Trish Thomas of Durango had raced her mountain bike in some big regional races against national fields, but she never competed for the stars and stripes jersey at a national championship before this year.
After her performance Oct. 23 in Frederick, Maryland, at the 2022 USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike National Championships, Thomas is now a two-time national champion.
Racing on Frederick’s rocky, rooty and technical hills, Thomas won the women’s 45-49 division. She finished first in the 32-mile race in 3 hours, 48 minutes and 33 seconds, about 4:27 ahead of Beata Wronska in second.
“I was ecstatic,” Thomas said. “I’m a full-time working mother of two boys and I put in a lot of dedicated training so it was really rewarding to finish first.”
Over the summer, Thomas (2nd Ave Sports/Stans Cycling Team) also scored the women’s cross-country national title in the women’s Cat 1/2 45-49 division at Winter Park by 1:13 in 1:25:42.
At Winter Park, she had to do three, five-mile laps. In Maryland, the race was over twice as long and was comprised of two, 16-mile laps.
“The marathon was tougher, more so because (the terrain) was technical,” she said. “I like endurance, that’s more of what I’m good at. The shorter ones, you have to go all out.”
At the marathon nationals, Thomas said she wanted to get out in front early and stay in front of everybody in her wave.
That’s exactly what she did.
Thomas said she got out of her wave in third entering the singletrack, about a half mile into the race. Within the first two miles, she had taken the lead.
“The first part of the singletrack was a technical, rocky descent,” she said. “That’s where I knew I could get around the other females in my wave with some good technical skills.”
Thomas was then able to pull away from her competitors. She said she didn’t look back for a while, but when she looked at the end of the first lap she didn’t see anyone behind her.
“My strategy was to stay consistent, ride smart and try not to get a flat,” Thomas said about the second lap.
She said the course was like “30 miles of Sailing Hawks,” a rocky and technical trail in Durango so the big lead didn’t guarantee victory, but she stayed focused and won the national title.
“It was a really fun course,” she said. “Very challenging, but really fun.”
Thomas didn’t start mountain biking until she moved to Durango when she was about 30. She grew up in Florida, attended the University of Colorado in Boulder and then moved to Durango when she got a job here as a dental hygienist.
As she got more into mountain biking, she started racing and getting some good results. Recently in her division, she won the Cactus Cup in Arizona and the Ironhorse Bicycle Classic Queen of the Mountain title twice here in Durango.
Last year, she said a friend put the idea of racing for a stars and stripes jersey into her head, and she decided to try.
“I just wanted to see if I could do it,” she said. “It was the next level of racing and it sounded fun.”
Thomas hired a coach, Chad Beyer, who helped her structure her workouts, nutrition and recovery days.
She then put in the work, and it all paid off.
“In the end, I just really love riding my bike fast,” she said. “It’s really fun.”
She also thanked her friends and family and her partner, Mike Hurst.
“I’m not sure I would have been able to accomplish this without his support,” she said. “He traveled to every race with me, even if he wasn’t racing.”
In the pro men’s marathon race, on a slightly different course, two riders from Durango were at the front of the pack challenging for the win: Stephan Davoust (Giant Factory Off Road Team) and Cody Cupp (Fezzari Bicycles – Floyd’s of Leadville Racing).
Davoust was attempting to defend the title he won last year at the event when was able to ghost ride his bike through the finish.
This year, however, Davoust’s teammate, Luke Vrounwenvelder, won the title in 3:20:05 while Davoust reached the podium in second (3:23:12).
Cupp ended up finishing fourth in 3:32:09, just missing the final spot on the podium.
Erin Huck (Scott-Shimano-Arnicare) won the elite women’s national title in 4:08:31).
