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Team Photo Scrapbook 09
2009 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

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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. 

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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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