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Team Photo Scrapbook 2010
2010 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

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On the scheduled race day, Saturday the 12th, racers hid from the rain under the overhang around the ski ticket office, waiting for the decision. At 9 am, Ed postponed the race because the trails were too wet to ride safely, and riding would cause serious damage to the trails themselves. The race was held 6 pm on Wednesday the 16th. But the weather send another cold front to ambush the intrepid bikers, as temperatures fell from the mid-50s to the low 40s in a light cold rain. UMB had 7 first place finishes: Ryan Olsen, Zachary Peterson, Brooklyn Ellis, Stephen Brown, Darren Harris, Chris Cole, and Jay Griffin, with 2nd places by Joshua Peterson, Jack Gage, Ryan Nielsen, and Joel Quinn.

Left:  Joel Quinn gets into the "passing lane" to crank past a line of riders as he nears the end of the race.

Left:  Hattie Ransom grinds across the ski slope
in the 9-and-under race, navigating the slippery wet
grass past the lift pole to take 5th place overall
in the category.

Right:  Aiden Thayer looks into the next turn as he
navigates the red flags and traffic cones that outline
the zigzag 9-and-under loop, coming in at 8th place.

Left:  Sawyer Ransom gets off the seat and powers
the pedals as he clears a gap in the aspen trees on his
way to the 9th place position.

Right:  Parker Horton pivots a sharp turn on the
grassy slope and comes in with the 10th place
spot in the youngest racing group.

Shawn Nielsen returns from 4 tough miles
as he sprints along the long path toward
the finish line and 5th place.

Harrison Woodard pedals through the
cold rain to grab a ribbon for his 6th place
performance in the 10-12 group.

Right:  Dark, cold, with light rain. Trails were
slippery in spots, with raindrops weighing
down the branches so they leaned in to strike
bikers' arms. Two deadfall trees were blown
into the trail -- one was a drag-under while
the other was a duck-dodge-and-don't-crash.

Nathan Thayer grunts up the shakeout
climb of the race loop, finishing
with team points at 5th place.

Branden Smith pedals up a small rise
near the end as he closes the loop in
6th place for a green ribbon.

Left:  Russ Margetts powers the Jekyll up the
ugly gravel slope that was the start of the race,
finishing with a nice 4th place spot.

Right:  Bill Becker flies across the meadow of the
ski slope, happy to be finishing his race and
nailing down a ribbon with 5th place.

Right:  The race setup was hurried, and the
late time and hurried schedule prevented our
usual team BBQ.  So as Mike hid his car
under the awning at the west parking lot,
this little "team support" table was out
in the wind and rain. Mmmm, pumpkin
cookies...

Left:  Zachary Peterson grimaces during the painful
initial climb, but soldiers through to take the win.
Zach nails the 1st place podium spot in the Sport-Expert
13-15 category.

Right:  Brayden Nielsen hustles back toward the start
line to share the podium with his 3rd place finish.

Right:  Jay cranks away from his own
category to mix in with the younger guys
during the initial climb. Does everybody
agree that this spot was pure pain?

Left:  Stephen Brown takes a hit off the water bottle as
he passes the parking areas on the singletrack back
toward the start-finish zone. Stephen rocks to the 1st place
win in Sport Men 19-29.

Right:  Tyler Margetts grinds up the steep slope
of the initial shakeout climb, hanging in for 8th place
in the category.

Left:  Jack Gage gets onto the grass to
pass another rider on the return singletrack,
finishing on the podium again with an
impressive 2nd place.

Right:  A deer grazes on the ski slope,
oblivious to the drama of the racing UMB
warriors cranking their bikes nearby.

Left:  Darren Harris reaches for the bottle on the flat
singletrack heading west past the condos. Near the
end of his first lap, Darren masters the slippery trail to
nail the 1st place finish.

Right:  Ryan Nielsen hits the final singletrack and
cranks out additional downhill speed as he finishes
his second lap with 2nd place.

Lee Nitchman cranks to the 5th place
finishing position.

Mike Horne makes it 5 ribbons out of 6
for UMB as he finishes with 6th place.

Left:  Jason Sparks gets a clear lane from Jeff as he
hustles down the back stretch. Another lap to go
however, before he can finish in 4th place.

Right: Dale Hutchings cranks back toward the finish
line and the 15th place position in Sport Men 40-plus.

Left:  Justin Griffin comes off the "down
ramp" onto the ski slope as he finishes
his first lap. Justin gets the 4th place
spot, riding 5 years above his age
in Expert 19-29.

Right:  Any way you get up the hill, you're
still a hero. Doesn't matter how you do it.
Harrison and Shawn get their bikes
past the steepest spot of the shakeout.

Mike Engberson cranks back toward
another lap and an 11th place spot
in the category.

Derek Ransom fires out on the initial
climb but blows up on Little Stick
and saves himself for the next race.

Left:  Chris Cole gets off the saddle to crank up the
first climb on his singlespeed, finishing with the win
at 1st place!

Right:  Shane Horton pedals back toward the start-finish
zone and gets the 8th place spot in the Singlespeed Category.

Left:  Ryan Payne is back, making his
first race of 2010 with the team. Ryan
climbs the ugly slope to get the ribbon
and team points with 5th place.

Right:  Slippery grass and tight turns await
the 9-and-under riders. Sawyer is caught
in mid-air as he takes a face-plant. Hey,
if you never crash, you're not riding hard
enough. Go, Sawyer! You rock.

Left:  Jolene Nosack heads back toward the end of
her 7-mile lap to take the 4th place ribbon for Women
35-plus.

Right:  Sally Hutchings hits the downhill ramp away
from the mountain. Across the ski slope, down that final
tricky bit of rutted singletrack, turn the corner, and
sprint up the service road to cross the finish line
in 7th place.

Jeff Kingsford gets down the final
bit of trail before turning into the
finish line in 8th place in Men 50-plus.

Brent Jarvis takes a downhill slope
in the wet aspens on the way to the
9th place position.

Gene Poncelet powers up the shakeout
climb, racing to take the 5th place
ribbon in the oldest age group.

Bruce Argyle can't muster enough leg
to pass Gene, watching Gene's back all
the way around the loop to 6th place.

     More pictures:
          Kay Hutchings photos 
     Thanks to Kay for taking these excellent photos in the rainy gloom. Amazing!

Left:  Do you want to race in this?  "You gotta have heart. Miles 'n miles 'n miles of heart..."

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