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Team Photo Scrapbook 2014
 

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The final event of the 2014 Intermountain Cup season was the Chris Allaire Memorial XC at Solitude Resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The weather was sunny, with trails just a bit on the dusty side in spots. The course was changed a bit this year -- and riders liked the new loop a lot!

Left:   Meghan Sheridan carves a turn on the twisty descent between the shakeout doubletrack and the main race loop.

The race started with a sprint up the service road. Racers then turned and descended twisty singletrack to the main loop. This shakeout section was 0.6 miles with 100 feet of climbing.

Heading northbound along the edge of the parking area delivered riders to the Honeycomb Canyon doubletrack. The climb continued on Queen Bess before dropping down to the doubletrack across the Moonbeam area southbound to Kruzer.

After a short romp on Kruzer, racers headed to the lift road and climbed up to Serenity. After descending Serenity, it was time to finish, or time for another lap. Each lap was 5.5 miles with 850 vertical feet of climbing.

Check-in was in front of the lower level of the Moonbeam Lodge.
Riders received an ICup t-shirt, plus some product samples. 

The Sport and Expert riders assemble at the east end of the parking lot
for staging. The race started eastbound on the service road.

Left:  Pierce Ransom drops down the singletrack of the loop for the Little
Shredders. This loop used the service
road and the descent down the First Time
ski slope. Pierce gets his podium spot
with 3rd place.

Right:   The Shredders and Little Shredder
groups raced at 1 pm, after the big guys
were off the mountain. That's Sawyer
on the left of the pack as they climb the
service road.

Left:   Carving a hard turn on the ski
slope, Sawyer Ransom nails the 2nd
place finish in the Shredder category.

Right:  The little racers wind down the twisty
singletrack  toward the finish line.

Right:   Daisy blossoms on the ski slope.

Right:   A butterfly scores some nectar
from a blooming yarrow plant.

Left:   Sally Reynders coasts away from the
tricky rock garden near the bottom of the
Serenity singletrack, finishing with 1st place
in Beginner Women.

Right:  Good times! Dallin chases Daniel
across the ski slope on the Serenity trail.

Jason Cowley heads down the singletrack
toward the race loop, taking 2nd place in
Beginner Men.

Carving a hard turn near the course
split, Bogdan Balasa hustles to the
4th place position.

Adam Reynders bounces through the
rock garden as he nears the end of his
lap and the 6th place finish.

Left:  Jessica Septon powers across the
ski slope on the way to the 5th place spot
in Sport Women.

Right:  Nice weather. Christian leads as
he heads toward the shade of the aspens.

Right:  Not far behind, Dallin Hatch picks his line
through the granite boulders, grabbing 2nd place
in the category.

Left:  In the big Sport Men 35-plus group, Christian Burrell  
heads down the Serenity trail on the way to 6th place.

Right:  Steven Weaver cranks past the fir trees as he takes
 the 8th place finish. 

After banging through the rocks, 
Adam Little cranks up some speed
as he takes 9th place.

John Twitchell picks his line through the
granite boulders as he nears the end of
his race and 15th place.

Flying down the singletrack toward the
main race loop, Corey Spencer gets the
17th placed finish.

Here's why most riders stayed on Serenity, as a dumped rider picks
himself out of the weeds. No, that's not Mitt 

Left:  In the new Sport Men 50-plus category,
Rick Morris attacks the singletrack on the
shakeout as he heads toward the main race loop,
two laps away from 2nd place.

Right:  Bruce Argyle grinds across a ski slope on
his second lap, finishing with the 4th place
spot.

Left:  Joe Benson bangs over aspen roots and
boulders on his last lap, as he takes the 7th place
spot in the category.

Right:  Carving a hard turn on the ski slope
 Gene Poncelet takes the 8th place finish.

Right:   There were plenty of crashes to
go around. Here Lew (in Sport Men 50-plus)
washes out his front wheel as he turns
toward the lap/finish area... (continued)

Right:  ...causing Bruce to slam on the brakes
and slow down just enough to make sure
Lew was alive before sneaking past.

Right:   Nice crash. And nice photography!
Kay catches this endo right at the apex.
(The rider and bike picked themselves up
and rode on.)

Right:  A competitor tries to beat John
Twitchell's distance in the bike toss.

Derek Ransom takes a break from "cheerleader" for his kids. 

Good stuff!

Solitude was a great finish to the 2014 Intermountain Cup season. The last couple of years have been chaotic, with changing ownership of the series and frequently-changing procedures and categories. Things are looking good for next year!

More pictures:
     Kay's photos 
GPX track of  2014 Solitude course

Left:  Sawyer celebrates his 2nd place finish.

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