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Team Photo Scrapbook 08
2008 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

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In the early morning hours, a cold front dumped snow and rain on Deer Valley. It was 35 degrees as racers arrived to check in. Damp and muddy trail stole the energy from the legs, but race distances were shortened for most categories because of the difficult conditions. The UMB team members did a great job. In this race Jim Jackson and Derek Ransom moved up to Sport Class. First place finishers were Kyle Jackson, Jay Griffin, and Joshua Peterson. Taking second place in their categories were Shane Horton, Derek Ransom, Denmark Jensen, and Kendra Clark.

Early arrivals shivered to a cool breeze under a gloomy sky. Up on the slopes we'd be riding soon, a dusting of fresh snow promised a chilly race. Sheets of water ran through the parking lot. This is June weather?

Shawn Nielsen cranks across the ski
slope and gets 3rd place.

In his first race, Hunter Ransom climbs
past the ski lift on the way to 4th place.

Encouraged by dad, Rebecca Sparks 
rides under the chairlift to get 7th place.

Hattie Ransom makes her first-ever
race and gets the 8th place spot.

Right:  The young UMB riders get
ready to hit the damp trail as Ed
(in raincoat) gives them the race
briefing. Proud racer papas stand
ready to give encouragement.

Left:  Zachary Peterson sprints toward the finish
line and a 5th place finish.

Right:  Close behind is Brayden Nielsen, coming
in at the 6th place position in the 10-12 category.

Left:   Kyle Jackson drops down a section of
new trail, almost finished with his seven-mile
loop. With this race, Kyle comes back from a
two-race injury layoff and still grabs 1st place.

Right:  Our 10-12 rider Brayden Nielsen again
tried the 13-15 race, but in these difficult
conditions wasn't able to finish the loop.

Ryan Nielsen hits the switchback coming
down from little stick, taking 6th place.

Dale Hutchings flatted his front tire
and runs the bike in for 10th place.

 Brandon Balkman also moves up with
a strong ride to take 4th place

Dominic Bria hits the first mean uphill
as he rides to the 7th place spot.

Right:  Wax-based lube suffers in the cold
morning temperatures. Our team boosters
Ryan and Jared put on winter coats and
heavy gloves, then went about their
business of fixing bikes and getting the
UMB race team ready to roll.

Right:  Frog-eye salad, potato salad, and
burger fixins. But the other kids have their
eye on the watermelon. Thanks to all the
team members who brought the food!
 

Right:  Ryan and Jason staff two of the three
grills that produced the burgers and hot dogs.
Jason had the idea for the BBQ, and it was a
great one. Great fun and good company, so
we're certain to do this again!

Eric Ellis almost escapes the photographer
but is caught at the finish line in 6th place.

Ryan Van Wagoner climbs toward Little
Stick and gets the 8th-place spot.

Right:   Ben Hutchings descends the mountain for
the last time on the way to 11th.

Right:  Dan Hutchings descends the slimy singletrack
to take the 14th place spot in SM 30-34.

Left:  Denmark Jensen rolls a tight downhill
turn as he makes a great ride to take his
highest finish this season at 2nd place in
this very tough category.

Right:  Greg Meyers drops into a turn on the downhill
and hangs in to get the 4th place position.

Left:  Darren Harris is close behind, cranking his
bike to take 5th place in Sport Men 35-39.

Right:  Stephen Bergen drops a foot for a pivot
on the muddy turn. Stephen gets a flat tire (one
of three UMB racers hit with a flat in this race)
and comes in at 7th place.

Left:  After debating whether to skip the muddy race and
take pictures, Jay Griffin makes the right call and has
a great race, taking 1st place.

Right:  Also moving up to the tougher Sport Category
this week, Jim Jackson climbs uphill and gets
a respectable 9th place finish in this tough group.

Left:  Mike Engberson gets a flat tire in an
inconvenient spot of the trail and has to shortcut
back to the parking lot. For his failure to anticipate
disasters by carrying a spare tube, Mike is awarded
a DNF.

Right:   This beats sitting in your car while
waiting for the awards to start. Once we got
started on that great food, it didn't seem cold
at all. 

Left:  Kendra Clark climbs strongly away from
the valley floor at the start of her ride to take the
2nd place spot in Women 35-plus.

Right:  Sally Hutchings makes the first descent
after the brute climb and rides on to take the
 5th place position.

Right:  Denmark sprints to the finish line with Derek
hot on his tire. The race route was changed a bit this
year due to construction. Note the crane and
retaining wall in the background.

Despite the difficult conditions, most of our riders had a great time racing. The barbeque made the day seem perfect. Yes, fate handed us more than our share of flat tires, and we were missing riders in Beginner Men 16-18 and 19-29, where we usually grab quite a few points. But we still got a respectable 95 team points to (barely) get the team victory. We're 7 out of 8, with 4 races to go.

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

Every race, no matter how awful things look, is a chance to win. Some of our racers missed a great event. Despite the cold, wet, and slime, this race will be a great memory for those who braved the cold rain at Deer Valley. On the highest spot of the podium, Jay gets a well-deserved accolade.

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