Quite the ride; Local riders impress in Arizona 24-hour bike race

PALMER — It started as vacation, but evolved into a showcase of Alaska talent.

Eight riders from Palmer and Anchorage traveled to southern Arizona to compete in the 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo mountain bike race last month. The initial goal was to get a break from the Alaska winter. But the 49th state contingent turned out to be the surprise of the event, which featured upward of 1,800 people. All eight riders placed in the top 8 of their respective divisions. Palmer’s Tony Berberich finished fourth in the 24-hour solo men’s race and Anchorage’s Mark Davis was eighth. Anchorage’s Janice Tower was second in the 24-hour women’s division.

Palmer riders Julie Berberich, Jill Valerius and Kristin Wolf, and Anchorage’s Darcy Davis teamed to finish fourth in the women’s four-person relay.

Another Alaska rider, Pete Basinger, was sixth in the men’s solo single speed class.

Everyone in the group couldn’t have dreamed of the amount of success.

“We had no expectations like that at all,” Julie Berberich said. “Most of us haven’t been to anything that big ever. The sheer number of people is really intimidating.”

Not only was the number of riders intimidating, but the race was also flooded with sponsored athletes.

“We got there and there’s extravagant stations. All of these pro teams have their canopies,” said Tony Berberich, who owns Backcountry Bike and Ski in Palmer.

Berberich joked that some of the aid stations for other teams were as big as his bike shop. The Alaska team had more of a modest setup.

“We had a 2 feet by 4 feet plastic table with an Alaska flag duct taped to it,” Berberich said.

Berberich said he didn’t know a ton about the event organized by the group Epic Rides, staged on a 16.4-mile single-track loop in the Sonoran Desert near Oracle, Ariz. It’s the location that was appealing.

“I wanted to go somewhere in February were there was dirt. Obviously, there are a lot of winter races up here, but I wanted to go somewhere it was warm,” Berberich said.

Before he made his plans, Berberich was out on a ride with Tower. He told her about the race and asked if she had any plans.

“About a month later she texted me,’ just signed up , have you?’” Berberich said.

The trip was built from there.

Half the group competed in the solo races. Each rider raced the 16.4-mile single track, trying to complete as many laps as possible during a 24-hour time span. The more laps, the higher the place in the standings.

Berberich said the terrain was not bad.

“It was pretty mellow, pretty easy, a 1,200-foot climb per lap,” Berberich said. “We did the 24-hour course here in Palmer and the Palmer course is way harder. There were a lot of trees and real narrow.”

The Arizona course also featured something absolutely foreign to the Alaska riders.

“Instead of snow on both sides (of the trail), there was a lot of cactus,” Berberich said.

The Alaska team had its aid station set up along the trail, a station managed by Tower’s husband, Steve, who was a definite key to all the success, according to all on the team.

“We’d do a loop and stop at the station. You got to the station and that’s where Steve was. He was right on it,” Berberich said. “You’d roll in there, he’d sit you down, put a new water bottle in the bike and see what kind of food you had. It’s the first time I’ve ever had that much help.”

Berberich finished with 15 completed laps, good enough for about 246 miles. The winner completed 18 laps, Berberich said, and the runner-up logged 17.

Berberich’s original goal was 12. But after battling a cold and sinus infection during the weeks before the race, the longtime Palmer rider figured he’d be content with 10 laps.

“My original goal, I thought it would be killer to do 14 or 15, but if I got to 12 I’d be happy,” Berberich said. “When I left I here, I thought if I do 10 that’d be great. I was really trying to do was be in the top 20.”

Berberich didn’t realize he’d placed as high as he did until long after he finished.

“Julie was looking at it on her phone and it said fourth,” Berberich said. “I thought there’s got to be something wrong. It was pretty neat. I was speechless really, considering there’s a lot of pros.”

Like Berberich, Tower also exceeded expectations.

“My goal was a top 10,” Tower said. “I haven’t done one of these for eight years. I didn’t know how I might stack up against the other women. I was pretty pleased to see a fairly deep field.”

Tower said he entered the race with a fairly modest goal, hoping to finish 10 laps and grab a top-10 finish.”

Tower ended up finishing 14 laps. Davis finished with 14 laps in the men’s solo race.

While Berberich, Tower, Davis and Basinger opted for the solo races, Julie Berberich, Valerius, Wolf and Davis competed together in the relay.

Each member of the team would hit the track for the 16.4-mile loop individually, finish the lap and send the next member of the squad down the trail.

While it may appear like riders will have very long stretches of time off the bike, Julie Berberich said, the time races by much faster than expected.

“By the time you get the wet stuff off, get some dry stuff on and eat some food, you’ve got to change back into new clothes and get ready for the next lap,” Berberich said.

Berberich said there was not much time for sleep, and the team still ended up staying awake for the 24 hours.

Wolf said competing in the relay event was an adjustment for her. Normally, Wolf — the women’s winner of the Fireweed 400 long-distance race in Alaska last summer — is normally accustomed to longer rides.

“Sixteen, 17 miles is a really short distance for me,” Wolf said. “It’s a completely different kind of racing.”

Like Julie Berberich, Wolf said the time, when not racing, goes by much faster than expected.

The members of the relay team said they never expected to go down and earn and fourth-place finish and complete 17 laps.

“I thought we’d go down and have fun,” Wolf said. “I think we really surprised ourselves by how we ended up finishing.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.