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It was a little past 2 p.m. — the hottest part of a sweltering September afternoon — when the first riders of the day approached the finish line after about nine hours in the saddle.
An announcer, stationed in front of a microphone to the side of a large archway marking the finish line, stoked the fanfare through blaring speakers.
“Alrighty, we got some riders coming in,” he exclaimed. “Welcome to Jackson guys, nice to have you here.
Cheering onlookers lined the metal barriers on Moose-Wilson Road in front of Teton Village. Some held signs, including one that read “Ride Fast, Don’t Die.”
Riders competed in 28 different categories, from individuals, to team relays, to tandem bikes. They continued to arrive into the evening. Most finished after 10 to 12 hours.
Now in its fourth decade, Lotoja includes over 10,000 feet in elevation gain — think eight Empire State Buildings stacked on top of one another. Of the roughly 2,000 riders who compete, about a quarter on average don’t finish.
Jackson mechanic Gabe McNees was one of those riders who did not finish in his first time competing in 2020. But this year, he crossed the finish line and gathered among his fellow competitors at the aid station.
“My feet hurt really bad,” McNees said.
Gabe McNees (center) is embraced by friends Will Pryor and Danielle Price upon completing the race. McNees said he trains by riding 100 miles before starting his day in the months prior to the race. (Dante Filpula Ankeny / KHOL)
He and others say the race is hard and it’s exhausting. Riders end up burning an estimated 15,000 calories throughout the day — about five times the recommended daily calorie intake for an average adult.
“You’re going to go into a dark place, like a really dark place,” McNees said.
So why do it?
“I’m not sure. The weird thing about riding a bike is… I don’t know. I think it’s kind of like any activity that you do,” he said. “You just want to do stuff that’s hard or whatever, and it’s an accomplishment.”
Steps away, Ryan Stanley, the president and CEO of Snow King Mountain Resort in Jackson, wandered along the shaded edge of a creek where some cyclists jumped in to cool off.
Stanley trains year-round for the race and he’s happy about his performance. This year marked a decade of competing, but he’s not sure what keeps him coming back.
“It’s kind of a strange addiction,” Stanley said, “I don’t know. Suffering, I guess.”
David Bern helped start the race over 40 years ago and works to put it on annually to this day. He said the race has grown tremendously since it was the loose idea of his and a friend over 40 years ago while he was studying at Utah State. The first race had less than a dozen riders, including Bern.
“I remember being absolutely awestruck by the Teton Range and the Grand Teton, and that stuck with me,” he said.
Today, it takes over 600 volunteers to work the race and they’ve raised over $3 million for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. They had a goal of raising $150,000 this year.
The single-day race starts at Sunrise Cyclery in Logan, Utah and ends on Moose-Wilson Road in front of Teton Village, Wyoming, attracting cyclists from around the world. (Dante Filpula Ankeny / KHOL)
But it’s the racers, he said, that tell him how special the race has become.
“They cross the finish line and they say that that experience changed their life,” Bern said. “It made them realize that they can do so much more than they ever thought before, and that is the stuff that gives me goosebumps.”
Back at the finish line, Jacksonites Anna Catino, a physician in town, and Erme Catino, who works in the ski industry, embraced, celebrating their first place finish. It’s the married couple’s third time competing but their first time winning the mixed two-person relay division, meaning they’ve shared stretches of the over 200-mile bike ride throughout the day.
They switch from car to bike, bike to car — leapfrogging back to Jackson. Anna said it’s a lot of driving.
“Which is a little brutal after you bike your brains out,” Anna said. “I thought I was gonna vomit at first, but then that wore off and I was ready to bike again.”
Erme said the last leg of the race is special.
“It feels kind of nice to bike home,” Erme said. “There’s some feeling knowing, like, ‘Oh there’s Hoback, oh there’s the Snake, there’s the Village.’ That’s kind of nice. We feel pretty fortunate for that.”
You can view a map of the full race, as well as results for all competitors online.
