MOUNTAIN BIKING: Rock Steady

Keegan Swenson was caked in mud as he pedaled across the finish of the Oz Trails Off-Road mountain bike race on Sunday.

With both arms raised and his smile hidden underneath Ozark Mountains muck, Swenson, 23, claimed the richest purse on the Epic Rides pro mountain biking circuit. Swenson's win earned him the $10,000 check, marking his second triumph of the four-race series.

"It feels great," Swenson said Monday as he was preparing to travel back to his home state of Utah. "These are the top races in the US, plus the great paycheck is nice."

Swenson was able to avoid the pitfalls that knocked a lot of riders off their bikes on Sunday, specifically the sharp rocks that caused a large number of flats and a few spills. Swenson said he added more air pressure to his tires to combat the sharp flint rocks on the course that were shredding tires.

Rains in the area Sunday morning added another obstacle, making the course more slippery on the climbs and the wooden bridges that dot the Back 40 course in Bella Vista.

"There were a lot of sharp rocks, so you were trying to be careful to avoid flats," Swenson said. "The rain definitely made it more interesting. I think maybe the rain made the soil a little softer and exposed the rocks a little more."

Swenson said he and Epic Rides series points leader Howard Grotts rode together for a little more than half of the 50-mile race before flats and a couple of crashes took Grotts out of contention. Grotts was able to finish, crossing the line in third place behind Swenson and Luke Vrouwenvelder to claim the overall Epic Rides series title.

The rain was something Swenson said he was used to after racing in Europe, and he used that as an advantage, he said.

"I'm pretty comfortable with the rain," he said. "You just have to stay loose and not tense up when your bike is sliding around."

On the women's side, a show of sportsmanship helped Erin Huck claim her first Epic Rides series victory on Sunday.

Huck blasted out to a big early lead, but around the 20-mile mark, she gashed her rear tire.

"It wasn't even particularly rocky where it happened," Huck said. "I think what got me was maybe a root or a branch that might have been sticking out."

Huck said it gashed a hole in her sidewall, so she was likely done at that point as far as contending for the win. Then Chloe Woodruff, a 2016 Olympian, stepped in an offered Huck the rear wheel off her bike.

"It took several minutes for the riders to catch up to me, and when they went by they offered some words of dismay and encouragement," Huck said. "I think Chloe was in fourth or fifth at that time. She stopped, and at first I didn't understand why she was stopping. Then I saw that she had a front flat and we were both getting our stuff out to fix our flats. And she was like 'here, you take my wheel.'

"So I took her up on that offer and made my way back to the rest of the field."

With the replacement wheel on, Huck estimates she trailed the leaders by about two minutes. So she began picking off riders one-by-one as she made her chase on the leader, Catherine Pendrel.

"I did not see Catherine, but people were telling me I was gaining time on her," Huck said. "But I never saw Catherine, so I didn't really believe them. I was about to give up when Chloe saved my butt again. She was riding the bike path back into town and was following the race and I could hear her saying, 'come on, Erin, you've got her. She's right ahead of you, she's right ahead of you.'"

Huck said she eventually saw Pendrel and ramped up the intensity even more.

She was eventually able to catch Pendrel and stayed on her back wheel until she was able to make a move.

"She seemed like she was hurting a little bit," Huck said. "So I tried to pass on an uphill section that I knew was kind of a last opportunity to get by. I knew I needed to make a move before it got more difficult to pass as we got closer to town. I was able to get a few seconds there and hold the gap to the finish."

Huck said she and Woodruff have developed a close bond through years of competing against one another. In fact, they are headed to Greece later this week to compete.

"I think she knew that she wasn't going to be in contention, and I wasn't either," Huck said. "So instead of us both being out, she figured one of us should finish. So I think she made up her mind that person was going to be me, and I'm grateful for that for sure."

Like Swenson, the win also earned Huck a $10,000 paycheck.

Both riders praised the Oz Trails Off-Road race organizers, who brought the series to Northwest Arkansas.

"This was definitely one of the better race atmospheres I've raced in," Swenson said. "The crowd was great Sunday. The downtown area was filled with people."

Sports on 10/09/2018