A cabinet secretary and a Santa Fe racing enthusiast are among more than 1,000 mountain bikers who descended on Angel Fire over Memorial Day weekend for the 21st annual Chile Challenge. The competition continues through Monday afternoon.

Katherine B. Miller, 45, secretary of the state Department of Finance and Administration, joined the field for only her second mountain bike competition. On Friday afternoon, Miller said she was waiting until she saw the mountain course before deciding if she was nervy enough to try both the cross-country and short-track cross-country events.

Santa Fe resident Mark Mueller, 25, who returned to the Chile Challenge for at least his sixth time, is competing in the fast-paced downhill and Super-D races. He said enjoys going to getting together with friends from all over the country at the races. "It's a whole lot of fun," Mueller said.

Both Mueller and Miller participated in Santa Fe's La Tierra Torture a couple of weeks ago.

Miller, who only started mountain biking two months ago, said she was just happy to finish La Tierra's first-day event — four times around a 2-mile loop in Santa Fe's hilly northwest quadrant. What was supposed to be a 20-minute ride turned into a 35-minute, grueling grind in the rain. But she stuck it out and finished a second 9-mile event the next day.

Her staff must be wondering about their boss, who last week showed up for a meeting on her mountain bike and this week came in with a gashed leg from a bike crash. "I haven't broken anything yet," Miller said with a chuckle.

Miller was an experienced equestrian who competed in hunter/jumper shows and dressage before switching to mountain biking. The spiffy, brand-new mountain bike she bought at half-price and picked up at Santa Fe's Melo Velo on Friday afternoon in time for the Chile Challenge, ironically, is an Iron Horse.

"I'm really enjoying mountain biking," she said, adding that other experienced Santa Fe mountain bikers have patiently helped her learn the sport.

Mueller grew up hiking in Arizona and Colorado. "I always wished I could go a little faster," he said in Angel Fire by cell phone as he waited for registration to start Friday afternoon. Mueller started mountain biking in 2001. Last year, he tied for second place in the Mountain State Cup Races for the Super-D event in the open class, which includes professionals and amateurs.

Mueller's job revolves around bicycles. He works for Bicycle Technologies International, a wholesale bike parts distributor based in Santa Fe that sells exclusively to bicycle shops. He races European-made Commencals, imported to the U.S. exclusively by BTI.

Mueller described the downhill mountain-biking events as something like downhill skiing. "The runs take four to six minutes. You're going fast and the emphasis is on technical riding ability," Mueller said. "They put in a lot of obstacles. It takes a lot of agility to put together a consistent race and not blow a turn."

Super-D is a hybrid of downhill and cross-country, Mueller said. The riders start together. The course takes 12 to 20 minutes. "You are pedaling a lot more, and there's more of an emphasis on cardio fitness," Mueller said. "It is similar to the riding you would do on public trails in terms of the pace and technical ability."

Angel Fire hosted the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in 2005 and that boosted the prestige of the Chile Challenge up a notch.

Besides the races, visitors can enjoy chairlift and hot-air-balloon rides.

Mountain bikers can head next to the Punishment Bike Races near Los Alamos on Saturday and May 31.

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.