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Team Photo Scrapbook 2012
2012 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

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The weather was sunny and clear for the Memorial Day race at Corner Canyon. The rains of the past two days stopped in time for the trail surface to dry, leaving just enough moisture for the tire tread to get a firm grip on the trail. UMB fielded 44 racers for this 6th race of the 2012 Intermountain Cup season. Our first place winners were Adam Lee and Jay Griffin. Sawyer Ransom, Ryan Margetts, Jake Van Wagoner, Ian Beaty, Stephan Bergen, Rick Morris, and Meghan Sheridan won second place ribbons.

Left:  Justin rides with the pro category heading up the Corner Canyon trail.

Left:   Sawyer Ransom rides westbound along the fence
as he starts the 9-and-under loop, finishing on the podium
with a nice 2nd place win.

Right:  Draeden Jensen heads toward the railroad tracks
at the midpoint of the race, taking the 4th place finish
in the category.

Left:   Heading through the crested wheatgrass
(and the goathead thorns), Katie Dodge gets in
position to finish in 6th place in 9-and-under.

Right:  Pierce Ransom rides in front of mom in the
morning chill as he cranks down the singletrack trail 
on his way to 15th place. On the back half of the 
loop, mom gets toasty and lets Pierce add her coat
to his bike handlebars.

Warming up, option number two: Jason and Jeff spin on
their road bikes to get a precise warmup on their trainers.

After the climb from below the arena, 
Hattie Ransom cranks down the singletrack
to take the 5th place position.

Welcome to new team member Joseph 
Dodge, rocking the tall grass of the
10-12 loop to finish with 9th place.

Left:   Hunter Ransom zips downhill from
the Creekview trail as he finishes the big
lap and heads toward the tunnel, taking
a podium spot with 3rd place in Beginner
13-15.

Right:  Hattie enters the gloom of the
tunnel. Going from bright sunshine
into dark two-way traffic (while wearing
sunglasses) was spooky. 

Right:   UMB is well-represented in the
Expert Men 40-plus group, as John,
Geno, and Mitt form a peloton heading
up the Corner Canyon trail to begin
three big laps.

Left:   Kevin Casto is 10 miles into his
race as he cranks his way to 15th place
in the Beginner Men 30-39 group.

Right:   Goathead thorns were a problem
for those without tire sealant. If you
moved to trailside near the equestrian
arena, you had a good chance of 
picking up a thorn.  Or two.

Tim Martindale heads uphill as the
main race begins. Tim gets the 4th place
spot in Beginner Men 40-plus.

On the Corner Canyon trail, Adam 
Reynders cranks toward a team point
with 7th place in the category.

Mike Mclaughlin is off to a good start
but flats out two tires at the top of the
hill and has to hike back for a DNF.

Right:   After finishing the lower loop
near the arena and climbing the Corner
Canyon trail, riders headed up the
Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST) to
Gasline. Prickly poppies bloom along
this dry hot BST trail section.

Right:   Newlyweds Dan and Colleen didn't
race, but came to cheer the UMB team
and deliver leftovers to the team picnic.

Right:   Ben Hutchings grunts up and around
a turn in the sagebrush of the lower loop,
taking the 6th place ribbon in the category.

Left:    Jonathan Hall is our top finisher in Sport
Men 35-39, taking team points for UMB with a
7th place finish.

Right:   Lee Nitchman rolls a tight turn in front of
the oak brush as he races to the 9th place spot.

Left:    Christian Burrell gets the bike up and
over a small rise as he heads out for lap number
two. Christian finishes with 14th place.

Right:   Moving up to the Sport class with this
race, Michael Dodge cranks up the Corner
Canyon trail. Picking one of the toughest races
of the year to move up, Mike fights to 17th place
in the category.

Right:   Denmark Jensen rolls a turn as he returns from
his first lap, taking a ribbon with the 6th place finish. 

Right:  Ouch.  Ben Schmalz went down in a crit race a few
days before Draper and has an AC joint separation.
Ben shows up anyway to collect his swag bag,
cheer the team, and officially score a DNF.

Left: Gary Wekluk heads up the hill
in the Expert Men 30-39 field, but is
recorded as a DNF on the official results
spreadsheet. We don't have the story
behind the DNF. (Details welcome!)

Right:  The support zone just above
Highland Drive on the Corner Canyon
Trail. A UMB rider stops to grab fluids
before heading back up the mountain.

Right:  John Higgins chases Jason around the turn
to grab a nice finish with the 5th place ribbon
in the category.

Geno Smith powers out of a turn near
the duck pond on his second lap, 
taking the 8th place position.

Mitt Stewart carves hard as he tilts into
a turn on the lower loop, finishing
with 9th place in EM 40-plus.

Cranking hard up the Corner Canyon
trail, Mike Engberson jockeys with the
40-plus riders to finish with 11th place.

Right:   After the lower loop, Corner
Canyon, BST and Gasline trails, the
race hit Canyon Hollow, with riders
cranking uphill on smooth singletrack
in cool maple forest. 

Right:  View from the Corner Canyon trail
looking west toward the Oquirrh Mountains
and the Kennecott mine tailings.

Right:  Another rider goes down on the
off-camber turn below the arena.
Kevin assesses the damages before
jumping back on the bike to finish
his race.

Right:   Jeff Kingsford rolls through a turn as he
finishes lap number one of his 23.5-mile race,
finishing with 12th place in the category.

Right:   Patrick Arthur heads up the Corner Canyon
trail at mile 3 of his race. Patrick gets into the finish
line at 16th place in the category.

After finishing Rush, it was back to climbing, with a short
but painful trip up through the Silica Pit before heading over
to the Creekview Trail.

Right:   Joel Quinn is about to win the old-timers race
when he smacks a tree on the Creekview trail. He gets
back on the bike to get himself a podium spot with
 3rd place in the category. Joel hasn't grown a mustache;
that's dirt and blood on his lip, with more scrapes on
the far side of his face.

Right:   Gene Poncelet cranks up the Corner Canyon trail
at the start of the 57-plus race, finishing with 8th place
in the category.

Right:  After finishing the big laps, riders
again went west alongside Highland,
back along the tracks, then around the
pond on the shakeout. Bet you never
noticed the ducks.

Right:  Bruce checks out Ben's damaged
toe after the race. Not crooked, and
everything seems to work. Possibly
broken, but just tape it up and tough
it out.

Dessert. Now this is impressive. Chocolate cake with the
UMB logo in the team colors overlying our Argyle plaid
design. Thanks for the great salads, fruit, and desserts!

More pictures:
      Kay Hutchings photos     (Over 700 photos from the race!)

  GPX track of Corner canyon race loop  
  Satellite view map of race loop

Left:  In Men 57-plus (our editor's favorite category and therefore subject to biased coverage) the UMB team grabs three of the top six with Rick (2nd), Joel (3rd), and Bruce (5th).

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