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Cobe Freeburn graduated from Fort Lewis College this year with a degree in computer science. If he keeps riding like this, however, he won’t have to use it.

“Hopefully not,” the Durango-native said after winning the Life Time Silver Rush 50 MTB on Sunday in Leadville.

Freeburn — who also won both mountain bike events at the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail and took first at the 2025 Bighorn Gravel in Gypsum — rode away from Ryan Standish after the turnaround point and returned to the Dutch Henry start line in 3 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. Standish (3:51.7), also from Durango, took the silver, and Park City’s John Wessling (3:52:07) rounded out the podium. Freeburn hadn’t raced the Silver Rush event before, but entered at the last minute in order to secure a slot in the Leadville 100 next month.

“I looked at the course profile and asked a few people what it was like,” he said. “I heard the first climb was really hard, but I was like, it can’t be that hard … and then the top was pretty brutal.”

Apparently, Freeburn’s fitness is only overshadowed by his humility. As he retraced his ride on the return trip, the 23-year-old knew where he could push, extending his lead from three minutes at the Venir aid station halfway through to more than nine minutes by the finish. But the glory of victory paled in comparison to the views along the way, particularly up Iowa Gulch to the base of Mount Sherman.

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“Ryan and I were coming up and there was a big field of yellow flowers — it was gorgeous,” stated Freeburn, who said the theme of the day was “keep it steady and enjoy the beauty.”

Fellow Durango cyclist Ruby Ryan spoiled Haley Dumke’s bid at a repeat. Ryan finished in 4:17:31 while Dumke claimed the silver in 4:28:57. Originally from New Zealand, Ryan came to Colorado to bike race at CMU; after graduation, she got a job in Durango and has been training there ever since. A multi-time world championships competitor in cross-country events, the 23-year-old is striving to build a long-distance off-road resume worthy of the Life Time Grand Prix next year. In her first trip to Leadville ever, she ignored the 10,000-foot start line elevation in regards to oxygen saturation.

“Honestly I just kind of rode a fairly fast pace the first 90 minutes because I still have a little bit of that cross-country mindset,” she said. “And then I just settled into a pace and I had a good gap.”

When Ryan hit the Stumptown aid station in Leadville’s historic mining district two hours in, her lead over Dumke was already at eight minutes.

“I loved it. I was looking around when we got up there, and I was like ‘Oh, hopefully we can’t climb any higher than this,'” Ryan said. “I was just like, ‘OK, chill, don’t crash, don’t flat, have a strong race.'”

“She was one on,” Dumke said, praising her competitor. Dumke taped her splits from last year to her top tube, but she said the grueling hour-long climb toward Mount Sherman caused her to cramp up.

“That start is so hard and put me in a hole for a minute,” she said. “I just did not get something right in the lead-up to this nutrition and hydration-wise and the rest of the day was just battling, trying to fight that off.”

Despite falling off her paces in the early stages, Dumke rallied at the end. She ended up finishing 10 minutes faster than her 2024 winning time.

“I’m super happy with how it went today. I think for me it’s still just learning race strategy and my abilities and when to push, when not to push, how to recover while I’m still riding,” she said. “All of that experience of putting myself in those positions just gets me a little bit better each time.”

Dumke’s Vail Health co-worker, Ingrid Stensvaag — who finished second last year — also notched a course PR. The 36-year-old cut seven minutes off her time from last year to place fourth (4:45:44) as Maude Farrell (4:33:04), the earlier this year, claimed the bronze. Considering the women who finished in front of her, Stensvaag was proud of her race.

“I was OK with my day,” she said with a big smile. “I just ride on vibes, but I just knew to save a little for the downhill because I lost a ton of time there last year.”

She did identity a couple execution improvements, though.

“If I could have started a little harder, I maybe could have gotten in a front group,” she said before adding, “But overall, (I’m) happy.”

Eagle County was well-represented at the event. Out of the 688 participants in the 50-mile race, 26 were Vail-area bikers.

Vail’s Avery Smith lopped off 41 minutes from his performance a year ago, placing 59th in 4:42:29. Having done the Silver Rush 50 run as a 15 and 17-year-old — he also has two Silver Rush 15 mountain bike and a couple Leadville 100 MTB finishes to his name — Smith was familiar with the course. And his strengths and weaknesses on it. He opted to run his burly tires at 16 and 18 PSI to maximize downhill capability.

“I was the best-equipped person for the descents today. And I really liked that because I crashed two years ago,” the 24-year-old Vail town series regular said. Smith relied on a friend for the first climb.

“Haley paced me amazingly,” he said, crediting Dumke.

Since he dealt with some stomach issues above treeline, Smith only gave himself a ‘B’ grade for the day.

“But my attitude was an A-plus,” he added. “I loved it the whole time even when I was feeling pretty tired because I couldn’t fuel as well.”

A whole crew of Eagle County athletes came in around Smith. Eagle’s Bobby Brown led the way in 4:35:05 while Avon 50-year-old Jason Rosener placed second in his age group in 4:39:12. Rob Worrell was close behind; the 56-year-old finished in 4:44:54 to round out the age-group podium.

Meanwhile, ߣÏÈÉú and Snowboard Club Vail mountain biker and Nordic skier Freedom Bennett nabbed Kevin Pereira by one second to win the Silver Rush 15-mile race earlier in the day while Leadville’s own Finnley Stanek, 15, took the women’s title.

Freeburn, Ryan, and Dumke are all eying the Leadville 100 MTB on Aug. 9. Dumke said she plans to visit the Cloud City in the coming weekends, with a particular focus on the infamous Powerline ascent.

“I didn’t ride it all two years ago, so I would like to maybe make that a goal this year,” the said.

Ryan said she has “no expectations” for the series’ marquee event, but would like to stay up with the leaders.

“I think on a good day I can, so why not just try,” she said. “I would like to get a solid result to lead to more opportunities, but I’m just going to train hard the next few weeks and see how it goes.”

Freeburn said he isn’t sure how he’ll stack up against the likes of course-record holder Keegan Swenson and the other mix of Grand Prix riders. As the heir apparent to Howard Grotts and Payson McElveen in Durango’s long-distance gravel scene, he’s hoping for a top-10.

“I don’t entirely know what to expect,” he said. One thing is for sure: He won’t be looking for a computer science gig, at least in the foreseeable future.

“Right now,” he said. “I’m just biking.”