The rough riders: About 100 cyclists compete in Cape Mountain Bike Challenge

The eight-year mountain bike racing silence in Southeast Missouri was broken on Sunday, August 31, as about 100 bikers participated in Cyclewerx's inaugural Cape Mountain Bike Challenge.

Though the turnout at the event was less than expected, race directors Dustin Gross and John Dodd were content with the smaller crowd.

"For the first race, this has actually been really good," Gross said during the competition.

"We've gotten a lot of positive feedback," added Dodd. "The first time, you just want to get it under your belt and hope it goes smooth."

In the end, it was 26-year-old Chris Ploch of DRJ Racing in St. Louis who claimed the overall title in the men's expert class. Ploch finished the 20-mile race in 1 hour, 42 minutes, 33 seconds.

Cyclewerx's Brad Brown was the highest local finisher in the expert class, placing second in the 35-and-older division at 1:49.51.

"It's quite a hard course because of the climbs and tight turns," Brown said of the 3.7-mile trail that Gross and Dodd created last summer. "And the heat and humidity made it even harder today.

"It's a really nice course. It's a great venue for spectators because it's a multi-lap course and you can sit in one spot."

Matt Pobst of Cyclewerx placed second in the 19-34 sport division in 1:16.0, and Cyclewerx's Andy Walker was third in the 35-and-older sport division at 1:20.17. Also among local racers, Sean Wibbemeyer finished first in the 19-29 Beginner division and Bart Wolczyk placed second. Andrew Short placed first in the 30+ Beginner division, followed by Alan Kloss and Keith Hente. Mark Hasheider placed second in the 40+ Beginner division. Patrick Koettig won the single speed division.

The event was the part of the National Off-Road Bike Association series and featured four classes, including first-timers, beginners, sports and experts. It marked the first local bike race since 1997.

Cyclewerx is hopeful about the race becoming an annual event, and Gross said a larger turnout is expected next year as a result of more advertising and word of mouth.

"Mountain bike racing is pretty small," he said, "so people will talk about it. Hopefully next year we'll do some better marketing and get it posted on more Web sites so more people will be aware of it."