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Team Photo Scrapbook 08
2008 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

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This was a mud-fest ride that tested skill and strength. In the 24 hours before the race, over 2 inches of rain and hail fell at the monitoring station on the hill above the race. For the first race of the day, racers arrived to find frost on the grass and soil absolutely saturated with water. The trail got a little better for the Sport and Expert races, but still tested the spirit of our riders. 1st-place winners were Kyle Jackson, Derek Ransom, Jim Jackson, Stephen Brown, Joshua Peterson, and Zach Peterson. Lance Jarvis, Rachel Hutchings, Justin Griffin, and Jay Griffin came away with 2nd-place finishes.

Left:  As the last rider of the day to race for UMB, Mike crosses the finish line after four laps.

Mandy Clark heads downhill on the
slippery trail and gets the 3rd place spot.

Shawn Nielsen sprints his gummed-up
bike toward 4th place in 9-and-under. 

Got a picture of #570?

Brayden Nielsen heads back uphill
for a 5th lap, winning 5th place.

Mackenzie Nielsen joined UMB for
this race, getting the 6th-place finish

Right: As the early-morning sun clears the
frost from rain-soaked ground, young
UMB riders warm up in the 34-degree chill.

Left:  Kyle Jackson fires into the singletrack
with the 13-15 age group, scoring another
1st  place finish.

Right:  With the ground still squishy and the
air heavy with cold, the Beginner Men 30-39
group sprints out of the starting line at 9 am.

Left:  Lance Jarvis is in the final stretch
before the lap/finish course split, on the
way to winning 2nd place.

Right:  Joshua Peterson's bike shows the effects
of the soft mud and grass. There's a six-inch
ball of crud caught on the brakes and another
big pile of muddy junk on the chainring and
front derailleur. Gonna take a while to get
this bike clean!

On the northeast corner, Dale Hutchings
rolls downhill  towards 4th place.

Gabe Sermon hits the final muddy stretch
as he nears the finish line and 6th place.

Jason Sparks gets his best placement
of the season with a 4th-place position.

Russ Margetts slimes his way up the
hill for another lap, catching 6th place.

Right:  Waiting for the race to start,
UMB's team members catch up on news,
share strategies for the mud, and check
the equipment.

Right: Ryan pops a wheel into the truing
stand to get another racer cycling smoothly.

Right:  Darren and Greg fall in line as the Sport
35-39 group heads up the hill on their first
lap of a long hard race.

Tyler Margetts pilots the bike into the
S-turn of new singletrack as he grabs
podium with 3rd place.

Ben Hutchings leans into a tight turn
in the trees as he rides to the 6th place
spot in Sport 19-29.

Right:  Jim Jackson leads the BM 40-plus
riders out of the starting gate.

Right:  Darren Harris digs the tread into the
slimy trail sidewall to carve a sharp wet turn
on his way to the 10th-place position. 

Left:  Jay Griffin cranks hard past a snowbank
as he makes another strong ride and gets
the 2nd place win.

Right:  UMB's SM 19-29 riders line up at the
starting gate, getting ready to grab 3 of the
top 6 spots.

Right:  Shawn Nielsen's bike shows a few pounds
of the reason this race was so tough. With the
crud rubbing on the wheels and gumming the
chainrings, our young racers had to drag all
this stuff up the hill with them. 

Left:  Kendra Clark finishes a painful climb out
of the wash and is now only 1/4 mile away from
a nice 3rd place finish.

Right:  Sally Hutchings recovers from an
unplanned "trail slime" detour to get her wheels
back on the trail as she hurries to 4th place.

Right:  Joshua and Shawn get their ribbons
for one of the toughest and trickiest races
of the season.

Our Beginning-class racers really showed their stuff at this race, fighting through the worst of the mud to grab team points and several important wins. Despite smaller numbers of racers, our team points gave us another convincing victory. Our team depth helped a lot with this race, as the unpleasant riding conditions changed the usual line-up and let some of our racers score big. Thanks again to Jared Ferguson and Ryan Allred for their valuable help, and to the many photographers who provided a nice variety of race photos.

More race photos are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/utahmb/SherwoodHills

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