Todd Wells

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

USGP Finals Portland, OR.

December 7, 2009

The USGP Finals took place this weekend in Portland, OR. I have been racing cross in Portland for about seven years now and I have never spent an entire weekend here with out rain until now. What the weather lacked for in moisture it made up for in wind and cold on Sunday.

Saturday was beautiful though so I’ll start there.

With one week left until the National Championship I wanted to have a good race in Portland on Saturday against all the guys (minus Page) that I will be competing with in Bend on December 13th. I wanted to make sure I had my race week lead up dialed, that I would be

completely open and rested as much as possible for the one day event.

I usually race better the second day of a two-race weekend so I was really keying on the first day since there is no second day at Nationals. To add even more pressure we had a film crew here putting together a documentary on my lead up to Nationals, I had to perform.

Saturday went perfect for me. I made the front group with Trebone, Powers and Kabush right from the gun. We dropped Kabush pretty quickly and mid way through the race Trebone dropped after doing all the work in the beginning. I attacked Powers but he came back to me each time and on the last lap I put in one last surge through the technical section. I was able to grab a couple bike lengths lead and hold onto it to the finish. My first USGP win of the year. Phew.

Sunday the temperatures dropped and the slippery course we had on Saturday turned into a highway on Sunday. The corners were like Velcro and the straights like asphalt. I found myself in lead after coming around my brother who had holeshoted right before the first 180 corner. Midway through the first lap I was off with Power and Johnson. I was feeling good and kept the pressure on hoping to crack them but by the mid point in the race we had settled in and that’s when they started attacking me. I was able to cover each move and countered a bunch of them but we were all evenly matched. On the last lap Powers attacked and got in front of me before the technical section. I passed him back a minute later but went wide in one corner and grabbed the lead back with a great inside move. He led through the last few corners and put a few bike lengths on me. I tried to catch him on the pavement but had to settle for second. It was the most fun I’ve had in a race in a long time with all the lead changes and fast conditions.

Also managed to pick up the SRAM most Aggressive Rider award for the second weekend in a row.

We are heading down to Bend on Tuesday to prepare for Nationals. They got fifteen inches of snow this weekend, high temperatures are forecast only in the teens and more snow is in the mix for the next weekend. It should be perfect conditions for me and make for a great race.

Thanks for your support…..

Stats for Todd Wells are coming soon.