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Team Photo Scrapbook 09
2009 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

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Snowbird Mountain Bout
Little Cottonwood Canyon
- July 11, 2009

This was the first race on Snowbird's new singletrack switchbacks to Mid-Gad. No more Dick Bass Highway. The new route added some extra climbing, and that ugly tram-road descent still keeps many riders away from this race. The rain sprinkled on racers and on our BBQ grill intermittently during the day. The UMB team hit Snowbird with smaller numbers, and with a few high-scoring racers having moved up into tougher categories. Two broken chains knocked key racers to the back of the pack. We saw first-place finishes by Stephen Brown, Dale Hutchings, and Jared Muir, plus second-place wins by Jake Weber, Dallin Johnson, Ryan Payne, Jolene Nosack, and Jay Griffin.

Left:  Jolene chases Kendra Clark up the singletrack. 

Category 9-and-under:

Left:  Nathan Weber sprints along a flat spot on
the singletrack. Nathan was our top racer in this
category with a podium finish at 3rd place.

Right:  Baylor Payne pops the wheel over a root
as he grabs two points for the team with his
7th place finish.

Left:  On her way to 9th place, Sydney Nielsen eyes the
upcoming roots, rocks and steep spots on the 9-and-under
loop. The singletrack downhill section of this loop was the
hardest trail yet this season for the younger racers

Right:  Parker Horton pedals through the shoulder-high
plants along the singletrack trail, on his way to a 10th place
finish in his first mountain bike race.

Category 10-12:

Left:  Brayden Nielsen heads uphill on the Snowbird
Loop to take a podium finish at 3rd place.

Right:  Zachary Peterson sprints along the Bird Trail
to take the 4th place position.

Joshua Peterson heads up the hill riding
strong, grabbing the 6th place finish.

Harrison Woodard is almost done on the
Bird Trail, taking the 7th place spot.

Shawn Nielsen cranks across a ski
slope on the way to 9th place.

Beginner 13-15:  

Left:  Dallin Johnson hustles over a
meadow, heading up the canyon on
the Bird Trail to take 2nd place on
the podium for his category.

Right:  Ready for the racers to arrive.
Canopy, check-in table, Gatorade,
water, toolbox, first aid kit, chairs,
grill. Oh, yeah. And a bike. 

Beginner 16-18:   

Left:  Jared Muir gets up in the pedals
to gain a little elevation before the next
roller in the trees, making another great
ride to take 1st place.

Right:  A crowd gathers around the ICup
trailer and judges canopy, while racers
check their tag position on the race
leaderboard.

Beginner 19-29:   

Left:  Andrew Weber drops down a switchback on the way to another
podium finish at 3rd place.

Right:  Three of UMB's "fearsome fivesome"
of regular age 10-12 racers wait for their
turn to race.

Beginner 30-39:  Unbelievably, UMB had no Beginner Men 30-39 at this race!
Beginner 40-plus:

Left:  Dale Hutchings makes another fast
ride to get his second 1st place in two
races. Looks like he can't call himself
"NoviceBiker" any more.

Right: Sydney turns into the race's
steepest spot with dad Ryan behind
to offer tips and encouragement.

Beginner Women:  There were no Beginner Women (for any team) at Snowbird!
Sport/Expert 13-15:  UMB had no Sport/Expert 13-15 riders at Snowbird!
Sport/Expert 16-18:

Left:  Justin Griffin attacks the slope
like it's flat and grinds out a 3rd place
finish against tough competition in
Sport-Expert 16-18.

Right:  And some need a little more help
than others. Parker does his first race on
a really scary and difficult singletrack, with
some steadying and coaching from his
dad Shane.

Sport Men 19-29: 
Left:  Stephen Brown stand to get the bike
over a root on the first singletrack of the
race loop. Whether it's hard training or a
deal with #666, Stephen impresses us with
a 1st place victory.

Right:  Jay cranks away from he start line on
the shakeout doubletrack, with the Salt Lake
valley and Little Cottonwood Canyon
behind him.

Sport Men 30-34:

Jake Weber cranks up the new singletrack
to get his season-high finish at 2nd place.

Ben Hutchings navigates some tricky
uphill roots on the way to 10th place.

Dan Hutchings nears the finish line
(or another lap) with an 11th place.

Sport Men 35-39:

Left:  Denmark Jensen heads into the home stretch on
the last singletrack section of the lap, getting onto the
podium at 3rd place in Sport Men 35-39.

Right:   Ryan Nielsen moves up to sport with this race,
and cranks up the switchbacks of the new trail to grab
a very respectable 4th place finish.

Sport Men 40-plus:

Left:   Jason Sparks is all intensity on his hillclimb as he
breaks out of his 6th-place habit with a nice 4th place ribbon.

Right:  Despite a broken chain at the start line,
 Michael MacDonald catches the riders in his group
and gets a 12th place finish.

After hiking off the mountain, Eric fixes his chain so he|
can get back in the race.
A couple of curious onlookers wonder what all the
commotion is about.
Sport Women:

Left:  Catherine Reay nails down a ribbon and some
team points with a 6th place finish in Sport Women.

Right:  Amber Hatfield powers up a steep
pitch on three tough laps to finish in 9th place.

Expert Men 19-29:

Left:  Eric Ellis heads up the switchback
singletrack, but breaks his chain and has to
hike off the mountain. Eric gets going again
after the repair and finishes in 9th place

Right:  Ben leads Dan through the firs trees
and aspen lining the singletrack trail.

Expert Men 30-39:

Left:  Mike Engberson cranks it back uphill toward
the lap/finish area, finishing the race in 9th place for
the Expert 30-39 group.

Right:  Derek Ransom makes his first start in the Expert
division. Despite a strong start, Derek blows up at the
top of the mountain and rides painfully to 10th place.

Expert Men 40-plus:  UMB had no Expert Men 40+ riders at Snowbird
Expert Women:   UMB had no Expert Women riders at Snowbird
Singlespeed:   

Left:  Shane Horton stands and powers
his singlespeed over the rocks and roots
of the old singletrack on the way to a nice
3rd place finish.

Right:  Mike checks his watch for his lap
time as he passes the lap line and heads
back up the mountain.

Clydesdale:

Left:  Ryan Payne motors out of the
ski slope and into the trees on the way
to winning the 2nd place position in
Clydesdale.

Right:  The winning ladies. Jolene and
Sally are at right in yellow

Women 35-plus:

Left:  Jolene Nosack makes a strong ride, chasing on the
back wheel of the leader to come in a close 2nd place.

Right:  Sally Hutchings rolls the bike through a dip
and past a rock on the way to the 4th place
spot in the category.

Men 50-plus:

Left:  Jay Griffin powers uphill through the trees on
narrow singletrack to take the 2nd place finish.

Right:  Jeff Kingsford gets the wheel over a rock
in the aspens and cranks on to 8th place.

Men 57-plus:

Left:  Joel Quinn heads up-canyon on the Bird Trail
as he nears a 3rd place finish.

Right:  Bruce Argyle coughs and wheezes his way
to 4th -- and last -- place in Men 57-plus.

This was an important race, coming after a three-weekend layoff. Snowbird has a reputation as the race people love to hate. The team's turnout and great effort made up for what could have been victory-stealing bits of bad luck for some of our key racers. We won the team competition to increase our season lead to over 100 points, with only three races to go. Good job team!

More photos, Bruce:
  http://picasaweb.google.com/bikerbruceargyle/Snowbird09#
Hutchings photos:
 http://picasaweb.google.com/bikersal35/ICUP2009Snowbird71109#
Griffin photos: 
  http://picasaweb.google.com/UMBTeam2009/SnowbirdRace#

Left: With the pavement damp from the intermittent rains, the UMB team enjoys the post-race BBQ. Jim Jackson dropped by to say Hi and to report on his damaged knee.


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