WINTHROP — The course was dry and dusty with steep inclines and white-knuckle descents.

In other words, perfect for an Indie Series mountain bike race.

Several hundred entrants took to the course for the 2008 Methow Cycle & Sport Mountain Challenge on the trails of Sun Mountain. The loop courses covered 10 to 30 miles, depending on a biker’s class.

The stop in Winthrop on June 22 was No. 4 of the seven-race series, which also has races in Seatac, Langley, Leavenworth, Bellingham, Roslyn and Greenwater.

The next race of the fourth-year series will keep local racers close to home. The Lake Padden Pedal is July 13.

The Skagit Valley was well represented in Winthrop. Valley competitors included Steve Wade, Marshall Will and Ron Potter, just to name a few.

Wade is an endurance sport enthusiast. He keeps himself busy by competing in ironman triathlon events. In fact, he’ll skip the Lake Padden Pedal to compete in the Clear Lake Triathlon the day before.

Wade and Will have competed in the Indie Series since its inception. Both were also racers in the days of the Washington, Idaho, Montana (WIM) series of mountain bike racing and were champions in that series. Will’s racing has continued to flourish in the Indie Series. He won championships the first two years he raced.

“I really haven’t been doing it (mountain bike racing) a lot,” Wade admitted. “Prior to the Indie Series, there was the WIM series. There were eight or nine races in that series and we raced all over. Then when that series was pulled back to just Spokane, it left a hole for these independent races to get together. So they banded together, came up with a point system and the Indie Series was born.”

For Wade, there are several reasons he enters about six mountain bike races a year.

“It really augments my triathlon training,” Wade said. “It breaks up the monotony of just riding on roads. Plus, it’s great for improving one’s bike-handling skills. Mountain biking is not as much cardio for me. It’s more strength training. I use it to get stronger.”

Will spends a ton of time cranking out the miles in the saddle of his road bike, and is a regular on the cross-country ski circuit as well. He’s familiar with the trails of Sun Mountain, having mountain biked and skied on many over the years.

“It’s the same old, same old,” Will said. “Just another day out on the trails in Winthrop. I certainly know what to expect when I’m out there and if you had showed me the entrants before the race, I could have probably listed the results.”

Will and Wade raced in the Expert Men 45-plus division. While Will finished seventh, Wade came in ninth.

“I thought I did OK,” Wade said. “But I really thought the other local guys did really well.”

Wade and Will recently found themselves grouped with much younger riders. There used to be a men’s 50-plus category, which they would now both be in.

This year, the men’s 50-plus category was eliminated because of low turnout. Those older racers were grouped in with what Wade called the “Young Guns.”

“I used to battle with (Marshall) Will for the wins,” Wade said. “Now we battle to make it into the top 10.”

In Winthrop, Wade had a bit of a hiccup. Early in the race, he ate an energy gel. Instead of giving him a boost, it caused him problems.

“It just got stuck in my throat,” Wade explained. “As it turned out, I had some sort of allergic reaction to some ingredient.

“So now, I am going to have to go old school. I am going to have to find some sort of alternate fuel source.”

And Will’s race was by no means perfect. On the lower end of the first loop, he lost his water bottle. That meant cranking 10 miles without liquids.

“I know that part of the course so well,” Will said, “that I was really moving. It’s really fast. I mean it’s street-bike fast. But somewhere along there, my water bottle flew out of the cage. I was a little worried about not having any water, but I made it through.”

Despite the problem with the energy gel, Wade said the course suited his style of racing. Several aspects, including the steep climbs and warm weather, he said were in his favor. Still, the course was by no means easy on Wade.

“Winthrop is a great place to race,” Wade added. “This course was a good test and it was tough. Particular on us guys riding hard tails. The downhill portion was very technical. It was hard on equipment and hard on humans. That downhill section used to be part of a downhill race.”

Wade didn’t pre-ride the course. That made for some interesting racing, particularly on the upper section of the upper loop known as Pete’s Dragon. Wade was one of numerous riders caught off guard by the gnarly descent.

“It caught me by surprise,” Wade said. “I found myself in a brush pile on the first loop. The next time around, I knew what to expect and found a better line. That upper loop was tough. It had some some dips and whoop-dee doos. Overall, I thought the course was in good shape.”

Good shape, not great shape.

“There was probably three to four inches of dust out there,” Wade said. “That dust hides rocks. Your tires cut right through the dust and slam into the rocks. Plus, dust is as bad as mud when it comes to the machinery. It gets into everything and just grinds it down.”

The upper loop proved a challenge to most.

“It was really sketchy,” Will admitted. “I seemed to find every single rock. I’d shoot around a corner and there’d be a root or a rock. You had to be very careful.”

Yes, indeed. Just ask Wade about that brush pile.

Vince Richardson can be reached at 360-416-2181 or by e-mail at