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Tuesday, September 24, 2024 1496

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DURANGO, Colo. — Thirty years ago, a group of Fort Lewis College students, donning donated T-shirts, made their debut at the won the inaugural National Collegiate Mountain Bike Championships. 

Unknowingly, the newly created Fort Lewis College Cycling Team ignited a cycling legacy that would propel the school to national prominence. Since then, FLC has become a powerhouse in collegiate cycling for the last three decades, producing numerous national champions and Olympic athletes in the three decades since that fateful first championship day.

Today, the team boasts 24 national titles and continues to shape riders who compete on the world stage.

“FLC Athletics is incredibly proud of our Cycling program and thrilled to celebrate 30 years of excellence,” said Director of Athletics Travis Whipple. “We remain focused on honoring our tremendous tradition, ensuring a bright future, and maintaining a program that serves as a rallying point for our campus, community, and alumni. Let’s continue graduating champions for years to come!”

An Olympic legacy

The program started in 1994, and its members met for rides at a Durango diner, which donated the team’s first shirts. Training in the local rugged terrain, cycling culture soon became embedded in FLC’s campus identity.

Todd Wells, one of the team’s most prominent alumni, went on to race in three Olympic Games and win multiple national titles. Originally from New York, Wells was drawn to Durango’s burgeoning reputation as a mountain biking hub, particularly after the town hosted the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in 1990 and attracted top professionals to the area.

“We had an awesome cycling program,” Wells said. “Super fun. Just lots of fast riders. Everybody was very welcoming. It mimicked those early mountain bike pioneer days, I would say, where everything was laid back, and we were having fun, but it was competitive.”

The team coach at the time was Keith Darner, and during Wells’ first year at FLC, the collegiate mountain bike national championships were held in Durango, starting on campus and looping through Horse Gulch and the ridge. Wells won that race, propelled by the local professional riders cheering on the course's side. Soon after, he landed his first professional contract with Specialized Bicycles.

Being around pro riders and cycling industry members helped Wells establish himself in an era when social media had not yet made networking more accessible.

“Back then, it was even more important to be able to make those connections,” Wells said. “Being able to ride and train with all those riders and the team just really helped me, helped my growth rate, and helped my improvement rate.”

New gen

In addition to Wells, riders like Savilia Blunk and Howard Grotts (Mathematics, '14) have represented the United States on the world’s biggest stage after developing their skills in the college’s renowned cycling program.

Blunk, who grew up in Northern California, originally planned to attend Whitman College. During a gap year after high school, she met FLC riders at the world championships in Australia and was drawn to Durango after touring the campus and riding the local trails. Once enrolled, she found the welcoming cycling community helped her improve her racing and training.

“When I came to Durango, just how many people there were to ride with, how many people you have that were just challenging you, and you're gonna just go out and ride and explore new trails … it was super intriguing to me,” Blunk said.

Some of her favorite college memories were winter trips to Arizona, where she and her teammates camped, raced, and rode all day long.

“Those are some of the best memories I have,” Blunk said. “Those all-day treks with a group of friends. I think they’re also rides that I remember that challenged me so much, like physically and technically, and I really grew from them so much.”

Balancing act

Wells and Blunk agree that attending college while pursuing their athletic goals was valuable. 

“I really enjoyed being in school and just the whole social aspect of it and the experience you get of going to college,” Wells said. “I think it's great to be able to combine that education with bike racing.”

After attending FLC for 3.5 years, Blunk paused school to focus on her racing career. She credits coaches like Chad Cheeney, Elke Brutsaert, and former team director Dave Hagen with supporting her both in collegiate racing and as she pursued a professional career. 

“Throughout my years here, they were always so supportive,” Blunk said. “I was racing collegiately, but I was also pursuing the pro circuit and growing as a professional, and they were always really supportive.”

At Paris this year, Blunk finished 12th in the women’s race. Another Durango rider, Riley Amos, finished seventh in the men’s race. Born and raised in Durango, Amos attended FLC for a year before focusing on his professional career with the Trek Factory Racing team. Both riders were set to compete at the mountain bike world championships this week in Andorra.

Howard Grotts, 31, raced in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and finished 38th. After Rio, Grotts stepped back from World Cup Mountain bike racing to earn a master’s degree in mathematics.

He returned to racing in 2023, competing in the national Lifetime Grand Prix series, which takes riders on long-distance mountain bike and gravel races across the U.S. After suffering a serious crash that left him hospitalized, in a recent interview with The Durango Herald, Grott said he’s coming back for more once he’s recovered.

“I can’t really count on any racing this year; it’s just a little too soon,” he said. “But if anything, it almost sets me up better for next year."

Donate to the FLC Cycling Team.