Todd Wells

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Todd Wells was born December 25, 1975 in Kingston, N.Y. He fell in love with the bicycle at an early age starting with BMX from the age of five through sixteen. After graduating high school he picked up his first mountain bike and has been on a tear ever since. He found his way out to Durango, CO where he attended Fort Lewis College and began a pursuit of his career in cycling.

Wells won two Cross Country Mountain Bike Collegiate titles for Fort Lewis College and the inaugural Semi Pro NORBA National Series title in 1996 before taking a break from his studies to become a full time professional cyclist with the Specialized Mountain Dew team.

His initial professional career was short lived as he decided to hang up his wheels at the end of the 1998 season and finish his collegiate studies at the University of Arizona. In 2000 he graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in Management Information Systems and immediately started working for I.B.M., a company he interned with during his time as a student.

Wells quickly realized that being a bike racer was better then having a “real” job and started training once again with his sights set on returning to the professional ranks. Some good results landed him a contract with the Mongoose Hyundai team and he was back on the circuit full time by the end of 2001.

By 2008 he was back where he started with the Specialized team and his results seem to get better with age. He has won nine National Championship titles across four disciplines. In 2011 he took on some endurance races and racked up wins in both the Leadville 100 and La Ruta de Los Conquistadors.

2012 might have been his best season yet with his third trip to the Olympic Games where he placed a career best 10th. He also managed to win his second PROXCT series title, second Pan American Championship title and stood on the podium at the Windham World Cup.

When Todd isn’t racing all over the world you can find him in one of three places; hanging out with his wife Meg and dog Winston, grinding it out on the golf course or hitting the dirt jump trails around Durango or his winter home of Tucson, AZ.

Achievements

2012 Marathon National Champion
2012, 2010 PROXCT National Champion
2012, 2010 Continental Champion
2012, 2010, 2001 Short Track National Champion
2012 Olympic Games 10th
2012 Windham World Cup 4th
2011 US Cyclocross National Champion
2011 La Ruta de los Conquistadores Champion
2011 Leadville Trail 100 Champion
2011 US Cross Coutry Mountain Bike National Champion
2011 Sea Otter Classic XC 1st Place
2011 World Championships 7th
2004, 2008 Olympic Games Team Member

National Championships

July 19, 2011

Sun Valley, ID hadn’t hosted a National level MTB race since back in the late 90s. This past weekend they played host to the MTB National Championships. I had a lot to live up to after winning both the XC and STXC title in 2010. It had been an honor to race the World Cups in the US National Champion jersey all year and I didn’t want to loose that privilege.

I traveled straight from the World Cup in Windham, N.Y. to Sun Valley to rest up and prepare for the race. Sun Valley sits at six thousand feet so I wanted to get back up to altitude as soon as possible after being at sea level on the east coast for nearly two weeks. When I arrived I couldn’t believe how beautiful the town was and how friendly and excited all the locals were to host the event.

The course was pretty much what I was expecting but exactly what I was hoping it wouldn’t be, a climb straight up the mountain. When I say we climbed straight up the mountain, I’m not exaggerating; we went straight up the dirt access road with sustained grades of 25 percent. The climb lasted about seven minutes, was loose and dusty and I was in my 27/36 for most of it. From there we did a series of gradual switchbacks down the mountain before entering a kilometer long flat section that consisted of a man made rock garden and some loose turns.

The first lap was brutal and I spent the entire climb staring at Sam

Shultz’s wheel. We rode together on the descent and I moved to the front the second time up the climb. By the time I reached the top and grabbed my bottle from Meg I had a small fifteen-second gap. I maintained a gap of fifteen to thirty seconds for the remaining four laps before finally crossing the line fifty seconds in the lead and locking up my second XC National Championship title in a row. Where as last year I rode my S-Works Epic 29er on the rough freshly cut new trails, this year I opted for my other weapon, the S-works Stumpjumper 29er that was like a rocket up the climb. My XL bike weighed in at just 8.4 KG on race day and was the advantage I needed to lock up my second title.

Sunday was the STXC and I was feeling great after my victory on

Saturday. I led for nearly the entire race and managed to whittle the field down to just myself, Trebon and JHK by midway through the race. The course was very technical and I chose to lead in an effort to push the pace and hopefully force a mistake by one of the other two. The plan nearly worked until JHK was able to jump around me in the last two hundred meters to take the win while I rolled in for second. I wasn’t too disappointed though as the XC was my big goal and it feels great to retain the jersey for another year.

I’m now switching gears to prepare for Leadville so I’ll be logging in some serious miles in the high country dodging summer thunderstorms and going through tubes of chamois cream.

Thanks for your support….

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