Joe Kline / The BulletinAdam Craig celebrates with the crowd after finishing his beer the Blitz mountain bike race on Thursday at Tetherow Golf Course in Bend.

Todd Wells could not find his beer — and that was a big problem.

When he finally did locate the craft brew from 10 Barrel Brewing Co., he struggled to drink it. That was also a problem.

Because in the Blitz mountain bike race, the clock does not stop until your glass is empty.

Bend’s Adam Craig came into the finish line about 20 feet behind Wells Thursday night at Tetherow Golf Club in Bend, but Craig finished his beer first and claimed his third victory in the Blitz, formerly known as the Blitz to the Barrel.

“That’s all your body can handle after that kind of effort,” Craig said. “You need a couple seconds before you can imbibe anything, let alone beer.”

Craig’s winning time was 55 minutes, 5 seconds, on the 18-mile course from Wanoga Sno-park southwest of Bend to Tetherow on the city’s southwestern outskirts. Wells, of Durango, Colorado, finished second in 55:11, and Bend’s Carl Decker took third in 55:51.

The last part of the course was a back-and-forth, cyclocross-like race along the grass of the driving range at Tetherow. Wells passed Craig in that section, but Craig stayed close. When he saw Wells go hard up the final hill to the grass finish line, Craig, 34, knew he had a chance on the beer chug.

“I knew the chug was in play, because he sprinted up this final hill,” said Craig, a 2008 Olympian in mountain biking. “I sat down (on the bike) and I was like, I’ve got to get a couple breaths, because if I can get my heartbeat just two beats below max, I’ll be able to drink faster. That’s where I developed my strategy, the last turn. But I’m a terrible chugger. I should probably drink more.”

After Wells located his beer, it appeared he might have been simply letting Craig take the victory. But Wells, 39, said he was just too gassed to drink it.

“No way. No, no,” Wells, a three-time Olympian, said when asked if he was conceding the win to Craig. “I was having a hard time putting it down. And when I first came in I didn’t know where to grab the beer. I couldn’t just drink it, no. Because we were racing pretty much flat out for maybe four or five minutes at the end. And then you have to sprint full gas up that hill. Tough to drink anything carbonated after that.”

The sixth annual pro invitational mountain bike race featured 40 of the best professional mountain bikers from the U.S. and Canada, many of the riders from Bend. The race included four cash prizes (primes) of $1,000 each. The primes included winning the hole shot, big air, fastest on pavement, and arm wrestling (after the race).

Men’s and women’s race winners each earned $3,000. The total prize purse of $20,000 is one of the biggest in the country among mountain bike races, according to race promoter Erik Eastland.

The route started at Wanoga and took cyclists down the Funner and C.O.D. trails and into the Lair jump park near Tetherow. From there, they raced to the big-air jump near the golf club’s patio and then up the cart path on hole No. 18. Riders then raced along the driving-range section and into the finish line.

The new finish area at Tetherow included a small-scale beer festival, barbecue, bike demos and other activities. Hundreds of spectators cheered boisterously as the riders launched off the massive big-air jump and then made their way back to the finish line.

Katerina Nash, from the Czech Republic, won the women’s race in 1:08:23. Megan Chinburg, of Portland, finished second in 1:09:57, and Teal Stetson Lee, of Reno, Nevada, claimed third in 1:10:31.

Nash, 37, is a four-time Olympian (1996 and 2012 in mountain biking and 1998 and 2002 in nordic skiing) who now lives in Emeryville, California.

On Thursday night, she took the hole shot at Wanoga and led the entire race. She finished her beer in plenty of time, although she spilled some of it as she guzzled, as did many other racers.

“It’s hard because you’re pinning it until the end and then you have to chug a beer,” Nash said. “I come from beer country, so I have my practice, but I gotta say, I enjoy just sitting down and drinking alcohol.”

Nash has raced in Bend before, but his was her first time racing the Blitz. She said she plans to return to the unique event that makes mountain biking spectator-friendly.

“Mountain biking started in the mountains,” Nash said. “But we need to bring it to town, to people, and just turn it into a show, and this is a great example.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0318,

mmorical@bendbulletin.com