7#x GGGGGUUUUU _ ii>xU ?N*xGN?NNxNNNNNNHILLS CLIMBS TO BRONZE, WORLD CUP SERIES Alan Hills, seven-time winner of the annual UCAR/NCAR up-the- hill race, won two bronze medals at the Grundig World Cup mountain bike race at Mammoth Lakes, California, on 5 and 6 July. Alan's fifth- place finish in the cross-country competition landed him a coveted spot on the U.S. national roster of mountain bike racers who will compete in this year's Grundig World Championships in Vail, Colorado, in September. He was one of over 3,700 mountain bikers who swarmed Mammoth to attempt to qualify for Vail. Racing in the veterans expert class for men ages 35 to 44, Alan finished third in the Ezakimak (Kamikaze spelled backwards), a steep and sandy 3.4-mile climb from 8,900 to 11,053 feet at the top of Mammoth Mountain. The Kamikaze is primarily a downhill trail where pro racers reach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. The uphill racers were barred from preriding the course because of downhill practice. Without knowledge of the trail, says Alan, "I tried to pace myself, but it was difficult because I didn't know what to expect. It was a big grind, a lot of pain. The steepest part of the climb started above 10,000 feet. It was like death up there." In the cross-country race the next day, the 75 participants in his category included some well-known names in biking. An unseeded racer, Alan started near the back of the group. "It was the dustiest race of my life," he says. "I couldn't see the people right in front of me." But on the first hill he passed most of the "stars" and continued to move up. Later, on a steep downhill section, a cyclist a few feet ahead suddenly crashed on a curve. Alan rode over him and also crashed but was back on his bike in seconds. Flying downhill at 40 mph on a heavily eroded trail marked with deep craters and wheel-twisting bumps, he surprised even himself, winning a second bronze medal in two days. "I felt great. But a lot of people broke wheels and bikes, and one section looked like a water bottle graveyard," he says. (Water bottles fly off when bikes hit rough spots at high speeds.) The race covered two 11-mile laps. Alan estimates that fewer than ten cross-country riders in his category qualified for the roster. Alan's medals highlight his first season sponsored by RockShox, a Boulder-based maker of mountain bike suspension systems. His racing bike is an aluminum Klein Rascal with the new RockShox SL titanium suspension (compliments of his sponsor). The whole thing, which he built up himself, weighs 23.5 poundsintentionally light for climbing. When he's not racing for RockShox, Alan is often pumping hard at White Ranch near Golden. "I'm 36 years old and can't get any faster climbing, so I've been working on my downhill speed," he says. He's betting on his intensive training, along with mountain bike and road competitions over the next two months to pay off in the world championships in Vail. A visiting scientist in the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division, Alan bikes to work most days from Shanahan Ridge in south Boulder to the Foothills Lab, where he works as a sensor specialist for the CASH program (Commercial Aviation Sensing of Humidity), funded by the Federal Aviation Administration. Says Alan, "Competitive cycling is a big passion of mine and an interesting diversion from science." If you can't make Vail, look for Alan at this fall's annual race up the mesa road.--Anatta uOMUz[&h/ HnyPAym`Qh-K`HnyP&@ Xf[f0l-G=FW#Pgf`W#`P-@hO[s`eNcK`M~ǮxVZO`Lt[eNcWl}VZq2.{HZOZMLoeNc)\,.q>.{MUz[$P%m`BQhf:-K_R KXX"hdNgf" ZORPhO&YB'P(f[fd-nO-F=GWP gfD&LURW`P*Yf[hOgf-n[)&LY)X!Kt[s @)*h8{12|Df`;Z : $ j : ; } O / x 4}< SN copy  h   !" 69:~HH(EG(HH(d'@=/RPalatino  E[f