by Page Buono

In a local cycling community as tight-knit as its bike jerseys, two big names are teaming up to sponsor a diverse roster of established professionals, up-and-coming juniors and cycling legends. The drive behind the newly formed Ska Brewing/Zia Taqueria Mountain Bike team, an evolution of the Directory Plus and Zia team of the past six years, was simple: a love of bikes, burritos and beers.

“The whole idea of cycling, beer and burritos culminates in our team, and we feed the passion,” said team member Grady James.

The Ska/Zia team is comprised of 10 riders – each with different strengths, preferences and backgrounds  – who represent all disciplines of mountain bike racing, from cross country to enduro, short track to stage races.

“The main focus of our team is to bring back the roots of old school mountain bike racing in Durango,” said Nick Gould, team manager and Fort Lewis racing alum.

The individuals on the team include: Gould; Miles Venzara; Grady James; Colton Andersen; Joe Schneider; Andrew Ferguson; racing legend Travis Brown; and junior riders India Waller (the team’s token female rider) and Levi Kurlander.  

For Gould, Ska was a target sponsor. And with a little support from Zia and a strong “ask,” Ska climbed aboard as a cosponsor this year.
“They came to us with a very clear plan – I could tell they had really thought it out and that they knew what they wanted, and they’ve followed through on everything,” Ska spokeswoman Kristen Muraro said.

Gould and Venzara also tested bikes for Trek last year, and wanted to not only continue their relationship with former Olympic biker and fellow Trek tester, Travis Brown, but to invite him onto the team as well. Brown supported the idea, urging specifically that the team support some up-and-coming juniors.

Brown, who sits on the Devo Board, said the model of old riders coaching new ones has been tremendously successful, a sentiment echoed by other riders on the team. He recognized the proposed Ska/Zia team as a representation of the range of the riding community that could carry on a strong tradition of mentorship.

 “Older riders are responsible for passing on their knowledge and mistakes. It just makes for a richer riding experience for everyone on the team,” said Brown.

Tim Turner, owner of Zia Taqueria, was also drawn in by the idea of bringing young blood into the mix.

“It’s exciting to see young riders like Levi and India have a shot to ride with the pros,” Turner said. “It helps them grow not only as riders but as people.”

Ska/Zia rider Colton Andersen exhibits a shining example of a wheelie on the rim trail./Photo by Steve Eginoire

As a result, the team is a blend of individual riders, each with unique genres and experience levels. While there are a number of races that various members of the team will attend together, each rider has his or her own goals.

Kurlander, a junior rider on the team, said the training ends up being more of an individual process that takes place in a supportive team environment.

“It’s nice having such a diverse team because we all have a solid understanding that we’re not competing amongst each other,” said team-member James. Along with Andersen and Ferguson, he recently returned from the Gallup Dawn till Dusk 12-hour race, in which they took first overall.

James, Andersen and Schneider will be pursuing many races in the widely appealing enduro genre – a step back to more traditional free-riding, and a hybrid between cross country and downhill.

“The team helps upcoming riders have a strong trajectory for a career in cycling,” James said. The team creates a unique opportunity to support elite racers who, like so many in Durango, juggle multiple jobs, school and outdoor activities.

“The support makes racing a lot more feasible and means I can travel to a lot more races now and have time and gear to prepare for those races,” Kurlander said.

Amongst a number of other races, Kurlander and Waller will race the Wisconsin ProXCT and the USA Cycling National Championships in Pennsylvania, both in mid-July.

Kurlander said they would have tried to find a way to attend those races without the support of the team.  But without the help of the team, they would have struggled and wouldn’t have been able to attend as many races in preparation.

The support from Ska/Zia and other sponsors will also grant Gould and Venzara the opportunity to race in the BC Bike Race, a seven-day mountain bike stage race June 26-July 6 in British Columbia.

Aside from allowing these members unique opportunities to pursue individual racing goals, the team has a strong commitment to being involved in the community that cultivated its love of the sport.

“I see them around town volunteering and doing group rides and just generally being really involved. Not just all about the races, but at the same time, they’re the best of the best in their genre,” said Muraro.  

The team hosts group rides Thursday evenings from 6 – 8 p.m., meeting at 2nd Ave Sports, another one of their sponsors, and ending at Zia or Ska. Anyone is welcome to ride, and participants are given discounts to 2nd Ave. as well as free chips and salsa at Zia.

The team works closely with Devo (they hosted a recent Devo short track race) to support and facilitate the evolution of the popular program.
“I wish growing up I’d had a program like Devo, but it didn’t exist,” Gould said.

 Kurland echoed Gould’s sentiments, adding that Devo is the biggest factor for all the young racers’ successes. “Kids in other towns are super jealous of what we have with Chad (Cheeney, Devo co-founder),” he said.

Gould, a yoga instructor at Yoga Durango, recently went a Devo camp where he taught yoga to 50 kids on the rocks. “That was one of the most fulfilling yoga things I’ve ever done. It’s a bunch of young kids who’ve never done it. They’re all there for biking, but it was really well received and they were really into it,” Gould said.

Members of the team also volunteer with Trails 2000 and are involved with the future development of terrain parks and trails in town.
The all-local team is backed by an intricate web of mostly local support. Many of the sponsors have a kid on the team, or are rallying behind friends and coworkers. Aside from Ska, Zia and Trek, other teams sponsors include:  Directory Plus, AJ Construction, Brandsma Engineering, Wells Fargo Advisors, Pure Energy Training, Pine Needle Mountaineering, Verde PR, Keller Williams Realty, Red Mountain Surgical Supplies, 4 Corners Endodontics, 2nd Ave Sports, Continental Tires, Giro Helmets/Shoes, and Tailwind Nutrition.

In addition to the unique meshing of bike genres – the team has an added component of being essentially “test subjects.”

Brown, a Durango native and legend in the cycling community, supports the team through the provision of Trek bikes. The bikes are offered to the riders at deeply discounted rates, and throughout the season, they’re provided with other bikes in various stages of development. The riders track their experiences, either online or through direct chats with Brown, and he takes their comments and critiques back to the drawing board.
“It’s difficult to find quality riders who are sensitive enough and who can communicate those sensitivities,” Brown said.

During the early evolution of a product, Brown travels with a racer and performs test loops with several varieties of what will be the same end product and takes their comments. In later stages of development, the riders take the bikes for “pilot runs,” logging data online.

At the recent race in Gallup, James used two of the Trek bikes, splitting his laps between them and producing data that will be analyzed and incorporated into the fine-tuning of the end product.

Brown said having the team composed of a broad spectrum of riders is crucial, and that the setting is ideal. “I’ve raced all over the world, and there is not a place that has a broader range of trail types than in Durango. It’s an ideal location,” Brown said.

The Ska/Zia team will be widely represented in the upcoming Iron Horse Classic, and will lead the unofficial bike parade from Ska to the Durango Cyclery and then to Steamworks and back in celebration of the 18th year of the Ska/Steamworks collaboration brew, Face Plant Ale.

For more details, go to: skaziamtbteam.com

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