Under clear, sunny skies, hundreds of riders and their supporters were at Soldier Hollow Saturday for the 2025 Bike Festival. Events Manager Josh Korn said it’s the Olympic venue's largest bike race and the only continental championship event in North America. The race is also the last qualifier in the U.S. for the USA Cycling national championships.
People of all ages and skill levels compete, and while many are based in Utah and Colorado, others traveled from the East Coast, California, Canada, Puerto Rico and even Germany to race.
“What makes bike fest so special for me personally is that we've got the little kids that are 11 years old that could be brand new, like this could theoretically be their first mountain biking experience, to the Haley Battens’ of the world, the pro athletes that are out there winning Olympic medals,” Korn said.
Batten, a Park City native and Olympic silver medalist, was among the weekend’s competitors.
The racers competed in 1,200 race starts over the whole festival, which ran Friday to Sunday. Winners earn cash for their efforts, with pro category champions earning up to $600 and junior champions earning up to $300.
Lily Lingard, Malia Brock, Ruth Knox and Katja Opfer competed in the U.S. Pro junior women’s 17 to 18 division. The race is four laps on a 5.1 kilometer course with 195 meters of elevation gain per lap.
Brock said with two defined hills, some places on the track were pretty steep. She said there were also technical features, like drops and rock rolls. For Opfer, the technical features presented a challenge.
“I had not seen the course before and honestly some of the features were a little bit like scarier than what I'm used to because where I live, we don't have a lot of technical features,” she said.
Opfer hails from Kalamazoo, Michigan, where the elevation is less than 800 feet. She said Utah’s altitude is another aspect to consider. Luckily, she said, she has been competing in races for the last three weeks at higher elevations.
Brock had an easier time, as she’s from Mammoth Lakes, California, which sits at almost 8,000 feet.
“I don't see a huge difference. Like, it doesn't help me out in any sort of way,” she said. “But going from like 1,000 feet to 8,000 feet, you can feel it in your performance.”
Opfer said the dust and the over-80-degree weather were also factors.
“You're inhaling dust and also like you have to make sure that you're fueling and you're drinking water because of the heat,” she said. “So there's a lot of things you have to be thinking about as well as going really fast and maintaining your position within the race.”
After their race, the four girls were wiping dust and dirt from their faces while rehydrating. They all ride for the Donovan Racing team, a national-level development team that recruits nationwide. Lingard and Brock have been racing for seven years and Knox and Opfer for five.
Lingard, from Tucson, Arizona, said being on a team helps to build community.
“Where I come from, there's not another girl who is as fast as me, so I usually do all my training rides by myself,” she said. “So I really love it when we get to come out for race weekends and there's all these girls who are my age and we can all ride together.”
A Chicago native, Knox agreed, saying the girls push each other to be better.
“It helps having people faster than you to push for, but also all of the girls are so nice,” she said.
The girls all landed in the top 20, with Opfer taking fourth place, Brock seventh, Lingard 13th and Knox 19th.
