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Cactus Hugger
St. George - April 5, 2014For the second race of the 2014
ICup season, storm clouds surrounded the race course yet things remained
dry for the riders. Sunshine peeked through the clouds for most of the
race. A few gusts of wind and a couple of raindrops hit during the awards
but overall it was a perfect day. The Cactus Hugger course served up
plenty of rough rock on the technical south side of the loop. Overall the
tough course knocked about 10% of our riders to trailside with flats and
mechanicals. Dallin Hatch and Phil Blair took 1st place wins, with
second-place finishes by Draeden Jensen, Steven Bonney, and Sally Reynders.
Left: The Pro Men group heads up the
wash toward Cow Pond.
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| The Cactus Hugger course started in the staging zone of the
Green Valley Competition Area. After the initial shakeout, the course
deviated up a rock-bottom wash to pass the cow pond and enter Rock Wash.
Just after the techy area of Rock Wash, the course climbed out and onto
the ridgeline doubletrack for the remainder of the climb. After descending
halfway down the mountain on doubletrack, we climbed up the DH singletrack,
forking to the right onto the Barrel Trail to climb up through technical
rock. Next began a long and rough descent back to the lap/finish zone.
Length of this loop was 6.1 miles with 800 vertical feet of climbing. |
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Two barrel cacti emerge from
the sandstone of the barrel trail
as the Pine Valley mountains loom over Green Valley. |
Race bikes fill the racks at
the UtahMountainBiking.com team
canopy. |
| Expert and Pro Categories |
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Left: Meghan Sheridan swoops a
turn on the
downhill as she rides to the 4th place spot in
Pro Women.
Right: A prickly pear cactus waits
for a hug.
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Left: Mitt Stewart
leads the Expert Men 40-plus group
up the rock of the first wash on lap one of three, finishing
with 4th place.Right:
Dropping the lip of the little wash before the
final rock garden, Jason Sparks is approaching
the end of lap two as he takes the 6th place finish. |
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Left: Descending the Barrel Trail on his
final lap,
Stephan
Bergen rails a turn on the ridgeline as
he nails the 8th place spot.
Right: With the sandstone of
Snow Canyon in
the background, Mark Messer heads
downhill on
lap three, earning 14th place.
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Left: Exiting the rock garden on
his final lap,
Steve
Bonney takes the 2nd place finish in
Singlespeed.
Right: Dave Benson drops
down the rocks on lap
two as he gets his podium spot with 3rd place.
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Dallin, John, and Christian collaborate
on some bike fixing
before the race. |
Bruce does a controlled warm-up that's
supposed to keep the heart
happier. Fail. Atrial fibrillation at mile 3.7, caught by Garmin Edge 800. |
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Left: Racing in the Women 40-plus
category, Sally Reynders descends the
mountain to take the 2nd place win.Right:
A water bottle waits in the start/finish
zone, warming up to be ready for lap two. |
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Left: Paul
Zimmerman cranks up the rock
wash-bottom on his first lap, taking the 8th
place position in Men 50-plus. Right:
Well-hydrated cyclists wait to lighten
their riding weight before the second race. |
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Left: Joel Quinn heads up
the first wash toward the cow
pond with Rick in pursuit. Joel gets a podium spot with
3rd place in Men 60-plus. Right:
Cranking out the miles as he traverses the ridgeline
on his final lap, Joe Benson grabs the 5th place finish. |
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Bruce Argyle heads down the
mountain
on the way to a ribbon for 6th
place. |
On the way to 8th place, Gene
Poncelet
bounces through the rock garden. |
Rick Morris heads uphill
strong on lap
one, but tire disasters give him a DNF. |
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Left: Richard Ewell cranks
uphill on the first
of two laps in the Clydesdale category, taking
the 4th place ribbon despite hoofing down the
last mile with a flat tire.Right: The
Beginner Men group lines up for
the first race at 10 a.m. |
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This race was significantly
more technical than the Rampage, with
more wash-bottom ledges on the climb, more slickrock, and
a very bouncy rough downhill on Barrel. |
The weather cooperated nicely.
Storm clouds cruised past, but
managed to miss the race course. Temperatures stayed shirt-sleeve
warm, but with a bit of wind developing during the awards. |
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Left: Dallin Hatch emerges
from the rock garden at
the bottom of the hill on his final lap. Dallin grabs his
second 1st
place in the two races this season.Right: Daniel
Truong flies down the Barrel Trail as he nails
the 4th place spot in the Sport Men 19-29 group.
Daniel somehow managed to flat his tire as he was
stopping to fix a broken chain, yet after the fixups
fought his way back to win a ribbon. |
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New to the team, Jeremy Andrews
drops
down the rocks on the way to 5th place. |
Christian Burrell drops down the
Barrel
Trail on his final lap, taking 11th. |
Ben Hutchings zooms down the
final stretch
as he takes 14th in Sport Men 30-39. |
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| Rocketing through the
lap/finish area. Got your new bottle? |
Paintbrush blooms on the
hillside. |
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Tim Wagstaff heads downhill
past the
barrel cactus on the way to 7th place. |
Corey Spencer
cranks up the wash to
finish his two laps in 12th place.
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After some mechanical issues, John
Twitchell
heads toward the finish line in 17th position. |
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| Richard enjoys the views as he
packs his bike downhill. |
Draeden hits the finish line! |
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Left: Joining the team with this
race, Phil Blair
makes his first outing as a mountain bike racer and
discovers that he's pretty fast. After taking 1st place,
Phil vows to move to Sport Class for his next race.Right: Steven
Weaver is another new recruit to the team,
grabbing a podium spot with a 3rd place finish!
Steven is just finishing up the rock garden near the
end of his lap. |
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Quinton Wall hits the first hill of
the
shakeout, cranking to the 7th place spot. |
Adam Reynders grinds up the
hill to
grab the 11th finish in Beginner Men.
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Also new to the team with this race,
Cody Dabb rips downhill to take 13th |
Billy Goat:
Note: Finishing order is not reported for the Billie Goat and Millie
Goat (9-and-under) categories this year. Photos appear in the order they
were taken. Parents, we really want get your child onto the web page. Let
us know if we've missed anybody.) |
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Left: Draeden Jensen stands
and cranks
as he chases down a 2nd place finish
in the Billy Goat category. Right:
After the Sport/Expert race, the team
gathers at the canopy for the post-race picnic.
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| Draeden Jensen 2nd |
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