Bourdevaire and Simril win Grizzly 100

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Some of the best endurance riders in the state, the lower 48 states, and a number of countries, lined up in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California for the first-ever National Ultra Endurance (NUE) Big Bear Lake Grizzly 100.

Simril achieves her fourth NUE series win

Brenda Simril, Motor Mile Racing, achieved her fourth win of the NUE race season, in her childhood hometown of Big Bear, cheered on by family and friends. She won the race in 6:30:40 on Saturday, beating Jane Rynbrandt (CTS) and Mary Dannelley. The only possible hurdle in route to Simril’s first NUE series title will be if another racer can get four wins. If that occurs, The Fool’s Gold 100 in September would serve as a tie breaker to determine the 2014 NUE Series Champion.

“When I found out that one of the new races in the series was the Grizzly 100, I was absolutely thrilled. I grew up in Riverside and my family had a cabin up here when I was about 10 years old or so. My sisters were ski instructors and in the mid-80's when they started this new thing called
"mountain biking" during the off-season, so I joined in and started racing up here shortly thereafter.

Bourdevaire tackles the Grizzly and gets the win

It was a close three-man race that came down to the final kilometers but it was 24-year-old Julien Bourdevaire from Team Black Star Racing that won, finishing in 5:00:43. He finished only six seconds ahead of Tinker Juarez (Team Sho-Air) and another 10 seconds ahead of Jason Siegle (Sdg/Felt) in third place.

“It was such a tight race. I’m a thoughtful boy, and, as soon as I start a race, I don’t typically feel any external pressure because I am just focused on my own bubble. But, this time, my opponents and the course layout disturbed my thoughts.

“Ben was the first to blow out and I managed a gap on Tinker, progressively. I didn’t make the breakaway directly because our difference in speed was only about .2 km/h per hour but at the end of about one minute, 30 feet separated us on the top of the climb. Unfortunately, I made an error, as did Tinker, on the skyline, choosing the double track road instead of the single track. As a result, we rode into the finish line with just seconds separating us.”

Andrews is back with his first NUE win of the season

Doug Andrews, 53, made a triumphant return to racing following successful surgery and weeks of recovery after suffering from a twisted small intestine earlier in the season that threatened his life. Andrews was the NUE Masters Champion in 2011, earning the nickname “The Hulk” for his massive victories, often by over two hours on the rest of the Masters field and sometimes within the top ten overall.

He won his race by nine minutes ahead of Alex Hawkins and Robert Meighan (Cal Giant Specialized).

“It’s great to see an NUE event now in Southern California, the Grizzly 100. I was hoping to see other NUE Masters cronies show up, like Marland Whaley, David Jolin or possibly somebody out east like Masse, Sanborn or Herriman. They would have loved it, hopefully next year. For those of you wondering, this course is on par with many of the other great NUE courses and worth the trip out. I plan to be back next year.”

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