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

MTB World Championships

September 7, 2011

Champery Switzerland with the 21st UCI sanctioned World Championships.

If you could think of the quintessential Swiss town Champery is it. Huge mountains, sweeping valleys, hillside chalets and cows with huge bells surround the venue.

The team spent the two weeks between Val di Sole and Worlds in Champery preparing for the Worlds. We raced a Swiss Racer Bike Night race in the city of Bern the week before Worlds. It took place in downtown and we raced though a torrential rainstorm on one of the craziest courses I’ve ever seen. It was just a prelude though for the World Champs a week later.

Champery is known to have one of the most technical courses on the circuit when it’s dry. When it’s wet it’s down right treacherous and that’s just what we got last weekend. It rained on and off leading up to the event but was relatively dry for the start of the Elite men’s race. The 4.5 K course probably saw at least 10,000 laps during the week of the race but was designed very well and held up great. The only thing that deteriorated was the traction on the roots since all the bark got ridden off.

We started under grey skies but most people I spoke with were optimistic the rain would hold off for our race. I ran a fairly aggressive tire, the Fast Track LK since I felt like I need the traction on the roots even in dry conditions. The gun went, I missed my pedal and found myself in 40th place by the end of the start lap. That was not where I had wanted to be and set out on the next seven laps in an effort to crack the top ten and qualify for our Olympic team this year.

I moved up steadily and managed to stay on my bike for most of the race. The course was one that saw everyone crash or dab at least a few times. I had moved up to about 20th by midway through the race when the rains came.

I hate riding in the rain but for some reason it seems to benefit me and as soon as it started, I really started picking guys off. I
managed to catch Vogel right on the finish straight and sprint for 6th place! He held me off and I came in for seventh place, bettering my previous top Worlds result by one place.

The team had a great day with Jaro winning and Susi coming in 8th. Burry was bridging to the lead group when it started to rain and he crashed out on a medal bridge right after the start/finish. We all rode our Epic 29ers and the bike worked like it was built specifically for the Champery course. With all the technical flat pedaling sections I could just sit down and go. Now it’s time for me to switch gears to cyclocross with Cross Vegas just about a week away. It’s been an awesome MTB season!!

Thanks for your support….

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