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Team Photo Scrapbook 2011
2011 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

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It was perfect racing weather at Five Mile Pass as the UMB team took its lead into the 3rd Intermountain Cup race of the year. Sunny, warm but not hot, with just a little breeze. The trail was well ridden-in, with plenty of dust to soften the grip of the tires and fill the lungs. The team had a good showing with representation in most categories. Michael Buhler had our only 1st place finish, but there were strong 2nd place finishes by Shawn Nielsen, Aaron Johnson, Seth Hejny, Mike Horne, Richard Ewell, Sally Reynders, and Joel Quinn.

Left: Jason fights to stay ahead of Mark early in the race.
The dust was thick and heavy, but the racing was awesome.

New to the team for this race is Coleman
Cowan, sprinting the final stretch toward 
the finish line and a 3rd place finish.

Sydney Nielsen looks down into the big 
dip at the end of the 12-and-under lap, 
getting the ribbon at 6th place.

Cranking up the west side of the deep 
wash, Carson Taylor heads toward 
the 8th place position.

David Ressa powers through the sage 
brush in his 2nd of 3 laps, taking the 
9th place finish.

Maggie Ressa looks into the big dip,
preparing to make the drop. Maggie 
takes 10th place.

Right:  Looking north toward the Oquirrh Mountains, we're at the junction of the 12-and-under lap with the main race loop. The race staging area can barely be seen in the middle of the photo.

Left:   Carter Greene rails a turn on the backside of the mountain as he rides to the 3rd place finish in Beginner Men 16-18.

Right:  Before the race, Mike works on bikes at the UMB base station.

Left:   In his first race as a UMB race team member, Michael Buhler hits the turn at the bottom of the mountain. Just a mile to go to finish with the blue 1st place ribbon.

Right:  Aaron Johnson makes his first race for UMB count with the 2nd place finish in the Beginner Men 19-29 category.

Apparently Nathan Thayer (plate # 38) was racing out of uniform, because we don't have a photo of him as he rode to the 6th place spot.

Right:  Almost to the finish line, Christian Burrell rolls through a tight turn on the way to the 8th place position.

Right:  Also making his first outing as a UMB racer is Kyle Thorsen, making the S-turn early in his lap on the way to 13th place.

Right:   Early in the race Adam Reynders sprints toward the mountain pass, finishing with the 11th place spot.

Left:  Rachel Hutchings heads down the mountain toward the 3rd place spot in Beginner Women. On the day of her prom, Trooper Rachel makes the race and grabs the points before heading home to get ready.

Right:  The young racers get instruction from Ed at the starting line.

The younger riders get a free assist coming out of the ravine.
Ryan helps Sydney keep moving up and out of the wash.

Right:  Racers were probably too busy watching the trail (and the next rider they were trying to pass) to notice the pretty stuff on the side of the trail. Paintbrush blooms in the May sunshine.

Left:  New to the race team, Seth Hejny makes a great first race to take 2nd place in the Men's 30-34 category.

Right:  Ben Hutchings heads out into lap number one, but has to drop out with a DNF with a lap still to go.

Mike Horne rockets up over the edge 
of a wash toward the end of his first lap,
finishing with 2nd place honors.

Jonathan Hall sprints into the sagebrush
flat in his 2nd lap, taking 4th place in the 
Sport Men 35-39 category.

Rolling into a tight turn, Matt Flygare
hangs in for the 12th place finish
despite a broken chain.

Dave Benson fires out into his first lap,
taking a podium spot with his 3rd place
finish in Sport Men 40-plus.

Turning sharply toward the big wash,
Stephan Bergen takes the 6th place ribbon
in this tough category.

Brian Ressa cranks down the twisty
final stretch toward the finish line
and an 11th place spot.

Right:  On a sharp turn in the trees, Matt skids out in the loose slop.

Right:  The finish-line sprint! David makes his move, outrunning sister Maggie to the finish line.

Chris Cole carves a hard turn heading
toward the finish line and the 9th place
position.

Nathan Drozd cranks hard at the end 
of lap #1 but takes a DNF for the 
Five Mile Pass race.

Mark Messer turns toward the wash as
he finishes lap 2 of 3. Mark takes 3rd place
in Expert Men 40-plus.

Turning hard as he leaves the trees for the
sage flat, Jason Sparks nails the 8th place
spot in the category.

Mike Engberson carves a turn at the end
of his first lap, taking the 9th place
finishing position.

Right:  Almost finished, Karl Parkinson pedals on home with two team points for 7th place.

Right:  At the team BBQ, Bruce heads for his car to grab the stethoscope for "team doc duty" while another burger-flipper takes over cooking.

Right:  Back for two weeks from Australia, Michael MacDonald wins team points for 7th place on a borrowed bike.

Almost done. Bruce Argyle heads through
the sage brush of the half-lap on the way
to 3rd place.

Gene Poncelet hits a tight turn on the
downhill from his first lap, taking a
ribbon with 6th place.

More pictures:
     Kay Hutchings photos (the photos above are a few of Kay's shots)
     Ian's helmet-cam video:  Segment 1    Segment 2    Segment 3 

Left:   Ribbons. Three of the six winners of the Men 57-plus group are UMB team members. Second from left is Joel, 4th from left is Bruce, and far right is Gene.

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