Over the years the Frozen Hog Mountain Bike Race has seen conditions ranging from epic mud to icy hard pack. At its worst the race can be a slushy contest of bike pushing. In 2013, the Snow Gods favored racers with 18 inches of snow four days prior to the race, held at Lambert Park in Alpine, Utah on February 2, 2013.
The weather leading up to this year’s race provided warm afternoons to compact the snow and cold nights to freeze it. The end result was a course that offered prime snow biking conditions. Firm, packed snow and 18 degree temperatures greeted the start of the race.
Ryan Blaney (Kuhl) took the holeshot in the LeMans start and was the first one out onto the course. Nipping at his heels was Stewart Goodwin (Kuhl). These racers would battle it out retaining the lead for the expert category the entire race.
2013 was the year of the fat bike. The popularity of bikes from Surly, Salsa, 9Zero7, and Fatback was evident as biked were staged before the start. Nearly half the field were riding 3.7 inch or wider tires. With the prime conditions the advantage of the bigger footprint wasn’t obvious until later laps when the sun began to soften the course.
After the race Blaney said “The first few laps I didn’t have any trouble with (standard 29er). But as the course got softer I kept looking back and Stew was was gaining on me. I had to push the climb up to the road the last couple laps.”
The women’s podium was swept by fatties. Which is to say fat tire bikes… ridden by slender, fit women. While Judy Allen rolled her own, Ashley Muhlestein and Lindie DeMill rented bikes from Epic Biking in Saratoga Springs who were at the race offering demos.
The junior division ranks were pretty thin, but kudos are in order for 12 year old Calvin Thompson who made the Frozen Hog his first “real” XC mountain bike.
2013 Frozen Hog Results
Men's Expert 1 Ryan Blaney 2 Stewart Goodwin 3 Von Edwards Men's Sport 1 Travis Millward 2 Mark Menlove 3 Christopher White Women's 1 Ashley Muhlestein 2 Judy Allen 3 Lindie DeMill Singlespeed 1 Darrell Roundy 2 Dave Benson 3 Greg Steele Clydesdale 1 Alex Davies 2 Wesley Rasmussen 3 Jason Gardner Juniors 1 Calvin Thompson