Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Last night, Rodeo Labs co-owner Stephen Fitzgerald took first place at the 2025 Pinyons and Pines event in Arizona, completing the challenging 333-mile route in just 1 day and 19 hours. Find photos from Wyatt Spalding, and learn more about his ride from event organizer Dana Ernst, here…
Words by Dana Ernst, photos by Wyatt Spalding
Stephen Fitzgerald is the first finisher of the 2025 edition of Pinyons and Pines. Stephen maintained a steady effort and completed the 333-mile course (28,000 feet of climbing) with a time of 1 day, 19 hours, and 56 minutes. He even took a few naps along the way. Stephen, co-owner of Rodeo Adventure Labs, rode a prototype Rodeo Show Pony with drop bars and front suspension. Shortly after finishing, he said, “I’m no spring chicken, so winning anything has me so shocked and over the moon.”
After spending nearly the entire first day in the lead, Jeff Kerkove was unable to keep food and water down for over 50 miles and ended up dropping out at the end of the southern loop. Abe Kaufman passed Jeff on the hike-a-bike up Casner Mountain (miles 140-145) and continued to extend his lead throughout the day, but unexpectedly dropped out on the northernmost part of the course due to some breathing issues. This put the two Stephens, Stephen Fitzgerald and Stephen Scherle, into the lead. Stephen Scherle (first place single speed) finished about an hour and a half after the other Stephen. Both of them saw some strange lights in the sky…hallucinations or UFOs? Gregg Dunham secured third place, arriving at the finish in just over 48 hours.
In the women’s race, Karin Pocock should finish in a few hours and has a healthy lead over Leigh Bowe. Rey Rei is the lead non-binary rider, riding a few miles ahead of Leigh.
There have been a lot of scratches despite the ideal weather. The figure-eight style of this year’s route makes it very tempting to drop when folks wrap up the southern loop. Some strong winds are expected on the northern loop today, which should make things extra challenging for the riders still on course.
Follow the race along live via our event page.
Further Reading
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