UtahMountainBiking Race Team 2011 scrapbook

Css Horizontal Drop Down Menu by Vista-Buttons.com v4.3.0

UtahMountainBiking.com
Team Photo Scrapbook 2011
2011 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

Scrapbook Index
Team Index Page
Team Roster
Racer Info

Solitude
(Chris Allaire Memorial), Big Cottonwood Canyon
Saturday July 23, 2011

The trails at Solitude Resort were in great shape -- smoothed and bermed in time for the 10th Intermountain Cup race of the season. UMB put 41 racers on the race loop to come away with a team victory. First-place winners were Michael Buhler, John Higgins, Jay Griffin, and Joel Quinn, while Rachel Hutchings, Cat Kalwies, Denmark Jensen, and Richard Ewell took 2nd in their categories.

Left: Around 8:50 a.m., on a beautiful summer morning... Jonathan Duncan leads John Marshall around a swooping turn on the first lap of the race.

Category 9-and-under:


Jacey Messer descends the zigzag trail of the ski slope on her first lap, taking 3rd place in the 9-and-under race.	Tipping into a turn, Hattie Ransom zooms downhill to get the 4th place finish in the category.	Coleman Cowan cranks out more speed to take the 5th place position just one second behind Hattie.

Sydney Nielsen heads into the final stretch before the finish line as she takes 7th place overall.	Carson Taylor cranks along the aspens, riding to the 10th place spot in the category.	Heading downhill on the grass near the trail (where it's not so slippery), Pierce Ransom takes 11th place.

Category 10-12:


Hunter Ransom tips hard into a banked turn one mile into the lap, grabbing podium with 3rd place.	Dylan Payne pedals across the meadow near the lap's end to finish with 6th place in the 10-12 category.	In his first race for the UMB team, Brayden Jacob tips hard into a turn on the way to 7th place.

Beginner 13-15: UMB had no Beginner 13-15 riders at Solitude.

Beginner 16-18: UMB had no Beginner 16-18 riders!

Beginner 19-29:

Left: Michael Buhler drops down the rocky chute
near the end of his first lap, taking the top spot in
Beginner Men 19-29 with another 1st place win.

Right: Accelerating away from a turn in the trees,
Aaron Johnson is a mile into the 11-mile race,
and is on the way to a podium finish at 3rd place.

Beginner 30-39:


Wayne Baker carves a turn on the ski slope above the chute, grabbing a point for the team with 7th place.	On the first lap, Adam Little rockets around a banked turn to nail down the 8th place finish in Beginner Men 30-39.	New to the team this week, Majid Abbasi hustles toward the finish line and a 10th place position.

Jonathan Duncan pivots the bike through a turn on his first lap, taking 12th place in the category.	John Marshall bounces down the hazardous rocky chute above the finish area, taking the 13th spot.	Making his first race for the team, Jeremy Parker cranks the bike to the 15th place position.

Beginner 40-plus:

Left: Adam Reynders rails a tight turn at the bottom
of Honeycomb Canyon on the way to a 4th place
finish in Beginner Men 40-plus.

Right: Making his first race for the UMB team, Ben Buhler
rolls a turn on the ski slope above the finish zone. Ben
keeps the bike moving through two tough laps and
gets three points for the team with his 5th place finish.

Beginner Women:

Left: Rachel Hutchings stands up to
crank out some more speed as she grabs
the 2nd place podium spot in Beginner
Women.

Right: The creek churns downhill through wildflowers. Refreshing cool water.
And in a couple of minutes you'll be
riding your bike through that refreshing
cool water -- receiving a cool refreshed
butt and cool soggy shoes.

Sport/Expert 13-15: UMB had no S/E 13-15 riders!

Sport/Expert 16-18: UMB had no S/E 16-18 riders!

Sport Men 19-29:

Left: Darren Stirland blasts through the
creek in a wall of spray as he upgrades to
the Sport class with this race. Darren gets
the 4th place spot in Sport Men 19-29.

Right: At 8 a.m. the 9-and-under racers
gather at the start line to receive race
instruction from Ed. It's a nice 62 degrees,
a welcome change from the heat in the
valley.

Sport Men 30-34:

Left: Ben Hutchings cranks away from a turn near the
Eagle Express lift, ready to start the big climb up
Honeycomb Canyon and Queen Bess. Ben takes the
4th place ribbon in Sport Men 30-34.

Right: Tipping hard into a high-speed turn, Ryan Olsen
is on lap 1 of 3, on the way to a nice 5th place finish
in the category.

Sport Men 35-39: UMB had no Sport Men 35-39 riders!

Sport Men 40-plus:

Left: Stephan Bergen hits the high side
of a downhill turn as he sets up for the "water
hazard" below. Stephan grabs the
8th place finish in Sport Men 40-plus.

Right: Having a little fun while racing. Ian
launches off a bump on a high-speed section
of lap number one.

Sport Women:

Left: Chasing down her competitors after
a flat tire, Cat Kalwies rails hard around a
turn on the ski slope, taking 2nd place
in a no-holds-barred three-way scramble
at the finish line.

Right: Desert trumpet (scarlet gilia) blooms
along the race course, adding a splash
of scarlet to the July sunshine.

Pro Men: UMB had no Pro Men riders at Solitude!

Expert Men 19-29:

Left: After clearing the creek, Ian Beaty
rockets through the aspens. Ian upgraded
to Expert Class for this race and finishes
with the 5th place ribbon in Expert Men 19-29.

Right: Mike closes in on Mark as they finish
their first lap on the zigzag downhill.

Expert Men 30-39:

Left: Chris Cole rails the bermed turn
dropping down from Serenity, grabbing
a podium spot for himself with the 3rd place
finish in Expert Men 30-39.

Right: Race spectator.

Expert Men 40-plus:

Left: John Higgins flies out of the aspens and onto
the ski slope as he nears the end of another lap. John
grabs the 1st place podium spot in Expert Men 40-plus.

Right: Mike Engberson rolls a turn on his first lap,
patiently catching and passing the competition as
the laps tick off, taking 3rd place. We won't mention
that he crashed 50 feet before the finish line and
actually walked across.


Jason Sparks blasts down a steep section with Mike in chase. Jason grabs the 4th place ribbon for the race.	Speeding out of a turn, Mark Messer hustles toward the green ribbon with a 6th place finish.	Geno Smith rails the berm as he drops down toward the finish line and the 7th place spot in the category.

Expert Women: UMB had no Expert Women riders!

Singlespeed:

Left: With only one gear to spin, Denmark
Jensen fights to keep up speed as Ian closes
from behind. Denmark takes the 2nd place
podium spot in the tough singlespeed group.

Right: There's something satisfying about
a big noisy splash. Jeff blasts up the bank
of the creek on his second lap.

Clydesdale:

Left: Almost done. Richard Ewell powers through a
turn on the ski slope, just a half-mile from the finish
line and a 2nd place podium spot.

Right: Ryan Payne zips around a bermed turn on the
way to 4th place in the Clydesdale category, good for
5 team points for UMB.

Women 35-plus:

Left: Sally Reynders cranks out of the aspens
onto the ski slope on the way to the 7th place
finish in Women 35-plus.

Right: Having a burger, hanging out, as the
riders of the first race relax. Meantime, our
team mates in the second race of the day
are continuing the fight on the slopes
above us.

Men 50-plus:

Left: Jay Griffin hits the creek hard, far in the lead on
his second lap, as he dominates the Men 50-plus group
with another 1st place finish.

Right: Jeff Kingsford sets up for the same creek-splash
as he turns to drop toward the rushing water and rough
rocks. Jeff also gets onto the podium with 3rd place.

Men 57-plus:


Early in the first lap, Joel Quinn has the lead as he rails a downhill turn on the way to another 1st place in Men 57-plus.	Bruce Argyle heads across the big meadow on his second lap, grabbing a podium share with 3rd place.	Bouncing down the rocky chute, Gene Poncelet hustles toward the 6th place ribbon in the category.

At Solitude the UMB team fought back to within striking distance of the season championship. Our team members did what was necessary -- enough riders, and enough winners, to narrow the season-point gap to a mere 21 points. Our total for the season is now 1296, for an impressive average of 130 points per race. Great Job!

More pictures:
     Kay Hutchings photos from the race. Sally's podium photos.
     Mike's photos (first race, plus some by Bruce)
     Ian's helmet-cam video: pending... watch the forum

Left:  The Expert Men 40-plus winners. Four of the six are UMB riders. L to R are Mark (6th), Hyland Cyclery's Reed, Mike (3rd), John (1st), our Revolution buddy Bob, and Jason (4th).

<<Previous Race

[ Return to Scrapbook 2011 Index Page ]

Next Race>>

[Team Index Page] [Team Roster ICup 2011] [Team 2011 Member Profiles] [Team Signup]