The 2015 Whiskey Off-Road - Photo Essay
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 The Whiskey Off -Road is named for this one block of Montezuma street in downtown Prescott known as Whiskey Row. At one time Whiskey Row contained over 40 saloons, however a fire in 1900 burned them all to the ground. Most of the existing buildings in the block were built between 1900 and 1905. |
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| No matter what your speed the Whisky Off-Road has a spot on the start line for you. |
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| Camelbak brought water for all the athletes, and also this awesome cardboard camel. Unfortunately he didn't do so well with all the water falling from the sky... |
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| Keeping everyones bikes in proper shape. Andy bleeds a charger damper for one of the racers. |
Friday - The Fat Tire Crit
The Fat Tire Crit rules are fairly simple, if you want to race in Sunday's main event you need to race in the Crit, on the same bicycle. The only change allowed is tires.
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| Friday started out with a lot of rain, luckily by mid afternoon it started to dry out for the Crit. No one likes to race on pavement wet with water and oil... |
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| The athletes were given an authentic western send off for each of the races. |
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| Pretty in Pink, Rose Grant and Emily Shields of the Stan's No Tubes team exchange a few words before warming up for the crit. |
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| Home town hero, Chloe Woodruff spent a bunch of time before both races chatting with friends and fans. |
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| Alison Dunlap retired from racing XC a few years ago, but the past World Champ came out to say a few words to the women before the start of the Crit. |
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| TJ Woodruff leads out the neutral start for the Women's Crit. |
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| The group of Rose Grant, Chloe Woodruff, and Georgia Gould took the lead fairly early on in the race and that never changed. |
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| Evelyn Dong, Maghalie Rochette, Serena Bishop-Gordon, and Katerina Nash playing catch up. |
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| As the women's race progressed the crowds on the streets grew substantially. |
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| Chloe Woodruff taking the win over Georgia Gould in a hard fought battle. |
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| Neutral start for the men. |
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| At the end of the first lap it was Keegan Swenson out in front. |
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| On the third lap a group of riders broke away on the climb, and when the group slowed a little, Team CLIF Bar rider Menso De Jonge just kept on going. |
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| At the turn to go downhill on the 6th lap Menso had so much of a lead that he was already out of sight around the next corner. That lead was short lived however as the group of Sam Gaze, Todd Wells and Derek Zandstra bridged the gap on the next climb. |
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| The chase group was growing, and now contained some fairly heavy talent including last years winner Christoph Sauser, Geoff Kabush, Cole Oberman and Howie Grotts. |
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| Todd Wells takes a turn at the front, followed closely by Sam Gaze, Derek Zandstra, and Menso De Jonge. |
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| As riders in the lead group took turns at the front, the chase group began to close the gap. |
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| Sam Gaze winning the battle on the last lap to take the win in the Whiskey Off-Road Fat Tire Crit. |
At the end of the day it was
1. Sam Gaze
2. Derek Zandstra
3. Christoph Sauser
4. Menso De Jong
5. Geoff Kabush
for the men and
1. Chloe Woodruff
2. Georgia Gould
3. Maghalie Rochette
4. Katerina Nash
5. Larissa Connors
for the women.
Sunday - The Whiskey 50 Proof
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| Sara Sheets, third place in Saturday's women's single speed event, and winning a spot on the cover of the local newspaper. |
Saturdays Results can be found here.
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| Checking out the competition... |
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| A Prescott local checks out some fresh rubber for his commuter at the Maxxis tent. While the weather put a solid damper on the planned Saturday evening festivities the crowds still showed up in force on Sunday morning. |
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| Members of the Prescott Regulators & Their Shady Ladies were on hand at the festival, with the Regulators providing some shotgun assistance to the starter. |
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| All lined up and ready to go... |
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| The first and last parts of the course were on the pavement... |
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| Flat tires were definitely a factor in the race for some riders. |
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| Team Tactics. It's not often that we see this kind of tactic in MTB, but after winning the Crit on Friday it seems that Sam Gaze's role in the XC may have been to support Christoph Sauser in his attempt at the podium. It was reported that when Sauser flatted early on Gaze sacrificed the race, trading wheels with Sauser before dropping out at the turn off to Skull Canyon. |
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| Larissa Connors seemed to have a smile on her face the whole weekend, even when suffering. Asked about how her race went she proclaimed that she'd even had a beer on the course, because it was the Whiskey after all, and that was a part of it. 5th place, and spot on the podium for her effort. |
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| With all the rain the course was in amazing shape. Amy Beisel enjoying a corner on her way to 9th place. |
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| Fernando Riveros Paez and Todd Wells led the early part of the race, but at the first feed station it was Keegan Swenson out in front. |
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| Katerina Nash was in second spot at feed station number one, but after fighting a cold all week she wasn't able to hang with Georgia and Chloe on the climb and ended up in 4th spot. |
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| About 40 seconds back of the leaders going into the first feed Station, Rose Grant managed to make that up, passing Katerina and catching Georgia and Chloe by the top of the hill. Her effort was good enough for third spot on the podium. |
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| Howie Grotts pulled away on the long climb, about 12 miles of it. By the time he got to the singletrack at the top of the hill the next rider was almost a minute back. He continued to extend that lead in the last sections of the course, winning by over a minute and a half. |
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| Sauser was in second at the top of the hill but he flatted again during the last leg and was passed by Zandstra, Swenson and Fernando, ending up in 5th spot. |
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| Fernando with a solid race, finishing in fourth place. |
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| Todd Wells and Ben Sonntag, fighting it out for 6th spot. Ben eventually passed Todd but couldn't quite make it onto the podium. |
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| Geoff Kabush, always a contender, but missing the podium here and finishing in 8th place. |
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| Barry Wicks got a little surprise as he entered the singletrack at the top of the hill... |
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| Carl Decker. The man with the best moustache in the race may not have made the podium this time, but he still won something. Kurt Refsnider just ahead of him completely missed it... |
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| Chloe Woodruff leads Georgia and Rose onto the singletrack at the top climb. At this point they'd been climbing for about 12 miles. |
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| Chloe and Georgia traded the lead back and forth several times, but when it came down to the finish it was all Chloe. |
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| Racing family. After finishing the mens race TJ Woodruff got cleaned up and made it back to the finish line in time to watch Chloe cross the line. |
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| Whiskey Off-Road Pint glasses for all finishers. They initially came full of water.. |
The XC podiums were:
1. Howard Grotts
2. Derek Zandstra
3. Keegan Swenson
4. Fernando Riveros Paez
5. Christoph Sauser
Complete Mens Results
1. Chloe Woodruff
2. Georgia Gould
3. Rose Grant
4. Katerina Nash
5. Larissa Connors
Complete Womens Results
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| Until next year... |
You can find more info on the Whiskey Off-Road at the Epic Rides website and more event photos in their Pinkbike gallery.
Author Info:
Member since Jan 4, 2013
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Mountain bikes being raced on the road ?
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www.leelikesbikes.com/chloe-woodruff-shreds-the-2015-whiskey-off-road-criterium.html
•Tires must have a minimum width of 1.5" or 38mm. Width is as measured, not as may be stated by manufacturer on tire.
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