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For its first 41 years, the Davos Dash champion has ridden up the final steep pitch of Davos Trail to the radio tower in West Vail on a mountain bike. On Wednesday, Sam Brown, Nate Maddox and Haley Dumke ushered in the gravel bike era at one of the oldest continuously run mountain bike races in the state.

“There’s always been kind of the purist attitude — especially towards this race — doing it on a mountain bike,” said Brown, who completed the 3.6-mile course (with 998 feet of vertical) in 17 minutes, 7 seconds for the win. “But there’s definitely been people who have pushed limits.”

Eliminating speed-sapping resistance and weight has taken a few different forms, with cyclists swapping in cyclocross tires or throwing out front brakes. Brown said he chatted with well-known local cyclist Jake Wells (who once employed the former technique) at Unbound Gravel in Kansas two weeks ago.

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“I was like, ‘should we do (Davos) on gravel bikes?'” Brown recalled. “He was like, “I don’t see why not.”

Brown and runner-up Nate Maddox — who also opted for the gravel bike after inadvertently breaking a set of spokes on his mountain bike’s rear wheel on Tuesday — gapped the rest of the field on the short and steep stretch of Chamonix Lane pavement which precludes the gravel trail.

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“We both kind of just went for it at the start,” said Maddox, runner-up to Landon Stovall last year. “It turned out to be a good slugfest for a little bit and then he proved why he’s a stronger rider at the end.”

Roughly 2 miles in, Maddox moved to the front. Brown focused on “managing the gap,” biding his time for the penultimate flat section to put his larger front chain ring to use.

“Coming into the last punch, I knew I just had to get in front of him,” Brown said. “I was able to pedal over a bit better in the flats and that’s when I closed the gap on him.”

While the gravel bike duo duked it out in front, Josiah Middaugh pulled his fellow XTERRA comrade, James Kirschner, back up to Eric Asselin and Aiden Brown, who formed the first flat-bar chase group.

“He was working for me,” Kirschner said of Middaugh with a sheepish grin. “He kind of paced me back up to the top three.”

Middaugh — who set the course record of 15:57 in 2020 — ended up pulling away for third (18:36).

“Well, I guess it’s more of an obligation than anything,” the 45-year-old answered with a smile when asked how the iconic hill climb fits into his multi-faceted race calendar. “I wanted to hand it off properly to somebody. So, I’ll keep coming back until somebody takes it.”

Asselin, fresh off a 13th-place finish at the Mountain Games, where he also ran the 5k trail run race, was able to outsprint Kirschner up the brutal last pitch for fourth. Asselin cut roughly a minute off his time from last year, finishing in 18:48.

“Which, on a race this short, I’m super stoked about,” said the Eagle Valley rising junior, who is amping up his training to 15-20 hours as he prepares for the U.S. mountain bike nationals next month.

“I’m just trying to do these races with minimal impact on training,” Asselin continued. “I feel like I’m recovering well.”

“Eric and I have been going back and forth this year. The young gun has found his legs all of a sudden,” Kirschner added after finishing four seconds back. “He was starting to come back to me towards the really steep part at the top there, and I put in a little bit of push to try and catch him at the end, but he had just enough on me to keep clear.”  

Kirschner’s town series fitness test lifted his confidence in advance of next month’s XTERRA World Cup in Quebec. The social studies teacher earned his XTERRA elite license at the end of 2023 and placed seventh in his first pro start, also in Quebec. He’ll face a stacked field in his return to Canada.

“It will be a lot of big names there and it’s the time of the season where the fitness level is really starting to come together,” 33-year-old said. “Hopefully I can maybe jump up and be competitive with some guys that have stayed clear of me in the early part of the season.”

Even after two-straight silver medals, Maddox was still smiling at the top of the hill climb as riders told war stories and made new friends.

“Yeah, I mean, maybe third time’s a charm,” he said. “Who knows. Regardless of how I finish in this race, it’s a good fitness tracker. Showing up, you’re like, ‘OK, I still have the short gears — I can still throw down.’ Plus it’s just a fun event.” 

Dumke solos for women’s pro/open win

Dumke happened to be the only woman in the pro/open category, so winning was secondary to setting a personal record. She shaved 92 seconds off her 2023 time, finishing in 22:13. After scoping out the course earlier in the week, the 31-year-old determined the dry, packed conditions would favor the lighter, more aerodynamic gravel bike.

“Just seemed like the most efficient way to get up here,” stated the native New Yorker, who started riding just four years ago. “There’s no going downhill, so you just don’t really need it and the climbing is a little loose but nothing crazy.”

A college lacrosse player who turned to marathons after graduation (the six-time Boston Marathon finisher’s best time is a 3:00:01), Dumke has emerged as a formidable cyclist on the local scene. She placed sixth at the GoPro Mountain Games cross-country mountain bike race.

“My biggest purse yet,” she said with a laugh. “I feel like between the Vail races and other local stuff going on, I’m getting a lot of high-intensity work. Tis the season.”

Being her first summer racing pro categories, Dumke said she’s still learning how to balance racing, training and her job at Vail Health. But each town series event offers another chance to improve, she said. Her primary focus this season is the six-day Breck Epic in August, but Dumke also has bold goals for Bighorn Gravel on June 23.

“Usually I start in the middle or back because I’ve just never felt confident or like I should be up there,” Dumke said of her first two tries at Gypsum’s 85-mile gravel event. “This year I’m going to put myself in the front and just ride from there.”