JACKSON, Wyo. — Don’t blink, the 43rd-annual LoToJa classic was one of the fastest races in course history. Fans who gathered at the finish line, with the Grand Tetons as the backdrop, were not disappointed in the day’s race.
To the casual cycling fan, LoToJa brings out racers with all kinds of backgrounds and ability. From marathon runners to triathletes to the hardcore road cyclists and mountain bike racers. All with the goal to reach the winner’s podium.
This year’s LoToJa race will certainly be memorable for Bailey Hinz of Las Vegas. Hinz, who rides for Go-Fast Cycling, set a new LoToJa course record for the women, riding in the Women’s Pro Cat 1/2/3 category, and winning in convincing fashion with a dominating time of 9:20:45.2.
For Hinz, this was her first time riding LoToJa.
“It took some time for it to finally sink in,” Hinz said. “But I’m feeling really good about how things turned out.”
Hinz beat the previous record — 9:35:00, held by Melinda MacFarlane of Draper — by an impressive 15 minutes. Hinz, a former professional triathlete, pulled away from the pack, averaging an impressive 21.6 miles per hour over the 202.2-mile course.
She won by riding solo for the final 103 miles and leading the chase group by a full 12 minutes, a massive margin of victory in the cycling world.
“When I got to the beginning of the KOM near Salt River, we were all in a small group and I just decided to go,” Hinz said. “I really like climbing and that seemed like a good place to pick up the pace.”
After pulling away from the group, it was here on the course that Hinz started to realize the record might be within reach.
“I was feeling really good and I started to do the calculations and realized that I might have a chance at the course record,” Hinz said.
But in cycling, things can change in a blink of an eye and Hinz began to see the course record slipping away.
LoToJa organizers operate the race on an open course, meaning all riders are required to obey all traffic signals, signs, etc., including road and bridge maintenance throughout the course. This year was no different. Riders were advised via the race bible and announcements before the race that a bridge resurfacing project on U.S. Route 89, 10 miles north of Afton, could possibly impact the race.
“When I arrived at the stoplight, there were a few racers and a couple of cars waiting for the light to turn green and I figured I would only have to wait a few minutes,” Hinz recalls. “As things turned out, it was the longest eight minutes of my life.”
Once the light changed and she could start riding again, Hinz regrouped and pressed on.
“I had to stay positive and not let it get into my head,” Hinz said. “I really focused on the race and my power output; I had to clear my mind and just ride. With about 40 miles to go, I started to realize that I had made up some of the time I had lost, and I actually might have a shot at the record.”
“I thought to myself, if they catch me, we will have a group going into the finish line and we can go for the record,” Hinz continued. “But I wasn’t sure if I had the legs left to go for the sprint finish.”
Those thoughts became a reality as Hinz crossed the finish line. It was there that she realized that the all-time record was hers. What motivated her to press on after overcoming such a difficult obstacle?
“I just love riding my bike. I love getting out and having fun riding with my friends,” Hinz said. “I really enjoyed this course, the mountains and the scenery are beautiful, and the organizers ran an amazing event.”
The race for second place was up for grabs and ended in a photo finish, with Ashley Maginot finishing with a time of 9:32:45.37. Maginot narrowly edged out LoToJa veterans Katie Bonebrake, in third place with a time of 9:32:45.47, and Sarah Esmeier, in fourth with a time of 9:32:46.58.
The men’s race wasn’t without its own drama and intrigue.
This year’s winner was Justin Spangler, who rides for Mi Duole Cycling of Salt Lake City. Spangler finished in first place with an overall time of 8:29:28.93. According to race records, Spangler recorded one of the fastest times in LoToJa history by averaging 23.8 mph from start to finish.
Spangler edged out Daniel Cherkis, riding in the Masters 35+ A category. Cherkis finished in second place with an overall time of 8:29:37.99, followed by Jesse Hogin in third with a time of 8:30:48.28 and Dylan Fluckiger in fourth with a time of 8:30:48.46.
For Spangler, the journey of getting to the top of the LoToJa podium was a long and challenging route.
“In the 2023 LoToJa, I was right in the mix of the leading group at the front when I flatted as I came across the Wilson Bridge with only 7 miles to the finish line,” Spangler remembers. “Then in the 2024 LoToJa, I pushed so hard that I ran out of water and got heat stroke, at exactly the same spot. You have to be prepared for anything in this race.”
Spangler’s determination did not waver, despite missing out on his previous chances to finish in the top spot.
“Really, to put it into perspective, my goal for the past three years has been to win LoToJa,” Spangler said. “I’ve been training for three years. I stopped marathoning and put all of my full focus and effort into this race. My first two years, I had some bad luck.”
Over that three-year period, according to Spangler, he has logged over 45,000 miles and spent well over 1,500 hours training on his bike for one express purpose: to win LoToJa.
It’s a training schedule that can be attested to by his teammate, Jack Boren. Spangler and Boren ride for the Salt Lake City-based cycling club Mi Duole, pronounced Mee-dwo-leh. “Mi duole” is an Italian phrase that translates to “I ache” or “I’m suffering.”
“To be clear, Justin is simply on another level. We have definitely had some long and brutal training rides together,” Boren said. “But when you ride that many miles with someone, you build a bond and a brotherhood as part of the process. You learn a lot about someone when you log that many miles on a bike. I was thrilled with how things worked out for Justin this year.”
For Spangler, he was about to find out if all his training and suffering was going to be enough.
For this group of elite riders, the 2025 LoToJa started out like most races, with a group of racers pushing hard from the start of the race and all staying together, all taking turns at the front.
That was the story until the racers turned up the first climb of the day in Mink Creek, Idaho. It was at this point that Jesse Hogin amped up his pace and decided to go solo and leave his competition behind. Putting the pressure on the entire group, Hogin pressed hard up the long and winding climb to the Strawberry Summit at 7,424 feet, extending his lead.
“At that time, the group was about three minutes behind Jesse, and we knew we needed to pick up the pace,” Spangler said. “That’s when Dylan Fluckiger went to work to close the gap. Dylan set the pace over the top of Strawberry, and the entire group flew down the descent into Montpelier. We were all very aware of Jesse’s lead, so we had to make up time.”
Hogin extended his lead to six minutes from the group and continued his solo assault driving a hard pace over Geneva and Salt River Summits, pushing him on past Afton, Wyoming.
It was near Afton that the chase group ran into some problems: road construction.
“After we left Afton, we knew we had to make up six minutes, so when we arrived at the road construction site, there was a stoplight, and we followed the rules and stopped and waited for almost six minutes for the light to change,” Spangler said.
Once the light turned green, Spangler and the rest of the racers realized they were now a full 12 minutes behind the leader, Hogan, who continued to stamp out the miles in his solo ascent well ahead of the chasing group.
Any hope of winning LoToJa for the other riders looked to be out of reach.
It was at this time of the race that Spangler and the other Men’s Pro Category 1/2/3 racers had a critical decision to make. One that is not easy to do in the middle of such a hotly contested event.
“We were talking in the group and decided if any of us were going to have a chance to podium, we had to put all of our efforts into catching Jesse and work together to close the gap,” Spangler recalled. “We quickly organized, and I’ve never seen this happen in a race like this before. Our paceline was like a flock of ducks in perfect flight. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in a race.”
The group’s suffering and efforts paid off, riding the 34 miles from Mile Post 144 to Hoback Junction at a blistering pace of 27.76 mph.
“We knew we had made up time on Jesse, so later, on our way up Snake River Canyon, we learned from race officials, we were now only 2 minutes behind Jesse. But we had a number in our group drop off. Unfortunately, Roger Arnell flatted, and Blair Perkes fell off,” Spangler said. “At this point Jesse was not too far ahead, so we all put the hammer down and pressed on. At mile 170 we finally caught him.”
Now with a smaller group of riders all back together again, the race found its way on the home stretch headed toward Teton Village with only 12 miles to the finish line. Spangler figured that at this point of the race determining the strength and endurance of his competitors was going to take some attacks.
Digging deep into the pain cave, Spangler made six to eight full attacks going full gas to try and break up the group.
“At one point, I was over 1,100 watts trying to break up this group,” Spangler said.
Spangler’s attack plan worked; the group had been narrowed down to three remaining riders. But at what cost? How much of his own energy and endurance had Spangler used to shake the other riders? Did he have enough left? He had no way of knowing, but this is what he had trained for in the past three years. This was his moment to dig deep and try to win LoToJa.
“Danny Cherkis and Dylan and I were all trying to win. We had given all we had to give to get to this point in the race with only 12 miles to go,” Spangler said. “We had dropped the other riders, and they wanted to win LoToJa as bad as we did. I attacked again, and Dylan finally dropped and now I had one rider left.”
But for Spangler he had another personal obstacle ahead: the dreaded spot on the racecourse that had haunted him for the past two years.
“My mind quickly shifted towards what was coming up ahead of me. I was now riding across the Wilson bridge and was I fast approaching the spot in which I had failed the two previous years,” Spangler recalls.
It was at this moment that Spangler needed to clear his mind and exercise all the demons that had tortured him in previous races. He had to focus his thoughts on something else.
“Then all of a sudden, this is when my mind cleared and all I could think about was my wife who is due to deliver our third child in the next three weeks and how she and my family, kids and sisters had sacrificed so much to help me get to this point,” holding back his emotions, Spangler continues.
“I thought about my cycling teammates from Mi Duole and all the training rides we had done together. My classmates at the University of Utah MBA program who knew how much I’ve trained for my goal,” Spangler said. “This is where it all hit me, right at the very spot I had failed before, and my emotions really hit me hard and put things into perspective.”
But for now, Spangler’s emotions would have to wait. He had one very strong rider in Cherkis to contend with and not to mention the other riders were closing in behind him.
Spangler’s physical dimensions are not your prototypical cycling build. Standing at 6 feet, 6 inches, and more than 200 pounds, one might think a larger rider would struggle to keep up with the pace of smaller, leaner and often faster riders. But this is where Spangler put his size to the test and used it to his advantage. In previous races, his ability to increase his wattage output over smaller riders was significant and now was time to see what he had left.
“I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I had a goal for the past three years to win LoToJa. I’m very thankful to have reached my goal.”
— Justin Spangler on LoToJa victory
“With only 3K to go our pace was fast, that’s when Danny stood for a moment to ramp up his speed and I waited for him to sit back down into the saddle. Then at that very moment, that’s when I attacked,” Spangler said. “I put all I had left into the last 3K, every watt of power, every bit of effort into my pedal stroke. It all came down to this last push. Fortunately, I soloed to the finish line, I never looked back.”
For the past three years, the training and suffering had paid off for Spangler. For the other riders who finished after him, it was a tough reminder of how difficult and delicate the balance is in a race like LoToJa.
“I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I had a goal for the past three years to win LoToJa,” Spangler explains. “I’m very thankful to have reached my goal.”
But for Spangler he takes a moment to reflect and contemplate how this experience has helped shape him and the overall impact the race has had on his friends and family.
“I want to put this all in perspective. I realize there are far more important things in life than riding a bike. But when I reached that spot in the race, that I had failed in the two previous years, that’s when I needed them the most, it was my family and friends that helped me get across the line.”
A great lesson learned by winners, Spangler and Hinz and all those that rode the 43rd annual LoToJa.
Just like in life as in cycling.
It’s the obstacles that help you cross the finish line, but always remember to thank the many who helped you along the way to get there.
For race results:
https://www.brooksee.com/l2j/results
Glenn Seninger lives in Salt Lake City and is a 15-time LoToJa finisher.
