Todd Wells

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  • http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCBkFamily.jsp?sid=12EpicFSR&scid=1100&scname=Mountain

    S-Works Epic

    The fastest, lightest and most efficient performance mountain bikes...

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  • http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCBkFamily.jsp?sid=12SJFSR&scid=1100&scname=Mountain

    Stumpjumper FSR

    Easily the most versatile XC Trail bikes on the market...

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  • http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=64178

    S-Works MTB Helmet

    The lightest certified helmet in the world, worn by 2008 UCI World XC Champion Christoph Sauser...

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  • http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqSelectSection.jsp?scid=1128&pscid=1009

    Specialized Gloves

    Made to keep your grip sweat-free and your bike control precise ...

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  • http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqSCLander.jsp?scid=1008

    Tires

    The product that started it all.....

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S-Works Epic

I started racing mountain bikes in the fall of 1994. I won the collegiate National Championships in 1995 and 1996 for Fort Lewis College. In 1996 I also started racing with the Specialized Mountain Dew team and won the inaugural Semi Pro Norba National Series Title. In 1997 I turned Pro and raced the NORBA series, U-23 World Championships, and domestic World Cups until 98. I took a few years off cycling, finished college in Arizona and got a “real” job with IBM. I quickly realized racing bikes was more fun then working and started training again. I started racing again in the middle 2000 and joined the Mongoose Hyundai team at the end of year to race World Cups, NORBAs and cyclocross. In 2003 I switched to the GT team and have ridden for them until switching back to Specialized this year. Over the years I have won two cyclocross national titles, one mountain bike short track national title and been a member of two Olympic teams. I have won NORBAs, numerous UCI cyclocross races and stood on my first World Cup podium this year. I am looking forward to adding to my list of achievements over the next three years with the Specialized Factory Team.

Achievements

2011 US Cyclocross National Champion
2011 La Ruta de los Conquistadores 1st Place
2011 Leadville Trail 100 1st Place
2011 US Cross Coutry Mountain Bike National Champion
2011 Sea Otter Classic XC 1st Place

La Ruta De Los Conquistadors

November 7, 2011

La Ruta could be the best adventure I’ve had on a bike and the hardest race as well. I had never been to Costa Rica before this trip and never experienced anything like La Ruta, it was truly an amazing event. If you don’t know what La Ruta is, it’s a 4-day Mountain Bike stage race that starts at the Pacific Ocean in Jaco and ends at the Caribbean in Limon. Most days are between 70-120 kilometers and vary between 3,000 to 12,000 feet of the steepest climbing you will ever see, and it’s mostly in the jungle.

I had heard a lot of stories going into the race but didn’t know what exactly to expect. Luckily I had an incredible support crew that consisted of my wife Meg, Team Manger/ World’s best mechanic Benno, his girlfriend Manuela, the Specialized Costa Rica distributor Carlos Campos and his friend Roberto. We had two 4 Wheel drive Toyota Land Cruisers equipped with bike racks and boxes. I had both my Stumpjumper 29er and Epic 29er, sets of wheels and enough spare parts for an entire team. I raced the Stumpjumper the first two days and the Epic the last two days.

You might wonder why I needed so much support but if you do the race you will understand it’s impossible to win with out the best equipment and support crew. There were generally four tech/feedzones per day located in some of the most remote areas in Costa Rica. If you don’t have a 4-wheel drive with high clearance you couldn’t access most of them. If you don’t have a local to tell you have to get there while racing through small villages at breakneck speed you would never find them in time. Lucky for me I had both.

Day 1 went from Jaco to San Jose and that was the day I won the race. I put ten minutes into the second place rider and thirteen into Rom Atkinson, a Specialized Costa Rica rider that I would battle with over the next three days. I didn’t know how I would recover in a MTB stage race having never competed in one before so I figured I would give everything the first day, try to at least get a stage win and the jersey for one day. The bike worked perfect and I felt good until around hour five when I started to get some cramps. Luckily I was able to keep it rolling and take the jersey.

Day 2 had a bit less climbing, only 11,000 ft and did a big lap in the mountains around San Jose. I was watching Milton and Rom, the two riders in second and third on G.C.. We let the Colombian, Mejia go up the road since he had lost half an hour the first day. Halfway through the stage I got a puncture and lost contact with Rom and Lico. Rom was only thirteen minutes down on me so I was worried. I changed the tire in a few minutes but had messed up the wheel as well. Luckily the next techzone was only 7 kilometers away and Benno had a quick wheel change for me. I chased hard for the next 2 hours but ended up giving Rom back 6:30 minutes so now my lead was down to 6:30, with two stages to go.

Day 3 went from San Jose to Turriaiba. This stage was up and over a 10,000 ft high volcano. We started with a steep one hour long dirt road climb where Mija again attacked but was still over 20 minutes down in the G.C. Rom also put in an attack early on but I was able to bring him back after a couple of kilometers. When we hit the 5,000 ft climb up to the volcano Rom launched again and I couldn’t bring him back. For the next hour I chased him with his gap growing to one minute by the top of the climb. Luckily the downhill was pretty rough off the volcano and I was able to close the gap to him. We hit the last 10 kilometers of paved downhill together but I was able to gap him and gain just over 3 minutes by the time we hit the finish line.

We never saw Mija but he had only gained about 2 minutes so he was still far down on the G.C.b

Day 4 is the longest stage, 120 kilometers but only has about

forty-five minutes of climbing and the rest is flat dirt road,

pavement and peach road. This time it was the Costa Rican Hernandez that would start the fireworks on the first climb. Again he was very far down on G.C. so we didn’t have to chase. On the second of the two main climbs Mija, Lico and Alex Grant got away but we quickly caught them on the long descent. We were a group of eight for most of the day with the Costa Rican Specialized rider “Aliman” riding on the front for me all day. We would never see Fernandez again but Rom and I rolled in together with me sealing the victory and winning my first

ever La Ruta!!!

The race was one of the coolest I have ever done. It was also the

hardest by far. I have never seen such steep climbs; I spent most of the days in my 24/36 for what seemed like hours on end. The heat wasn’t too bad but not knowing when the climbs would end or what was coming next was daunting. There are so many riders in Latin America you’ve never heard of because they don’t have the means to travel to the World Cups but they are FAST! And they go uphill like they’re on the flats. I would encourage anyone that is thinking about doing this race to do it, it’s a real adventure.

Pura Vida…..

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