UtahMountainBiking.com
Team Photo Scrapbook 2012
2012 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

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UtahMountainBiking.com was represented by 42 racers at Five Mile Pass. The trail was dry and dusty, with plenty of room to pass on the 10.7-mile doubletrack loop. The morning started out with a chilly wind, but it stopped just in time for pleasant racing temperatures and a warm barbeque afterwards. UMB had first place wins by Christian Burrell, Adam Lee, Stephan Bergen, and Jake VanWagoner.  Second-place finishers were Chase Vallejo and Tim Martindale.

Left:  Mark Messer and Darren Harris rocket around a loose off-camber turn as they close approach the sagebrush flats leading to the lap-finish area.

Left:   Draeden Jensen cranks around the 12-and-under
loop in the 9 am race while the temperature was still cold.
Draeden gets a ribbon and two team points for 6th place.

Right:  Josh Nielsen pops up out of the big wash
on the way to the 12th place position.

"Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends."

The younger racers get a little help going down through
the scary steep wash near the finish line. Even without bikes,
some fell on their faces in the slippery steep dust.

Left:   Early in his lap, Chase Vallejo 
rolls off the first hill on the way to
a podium finish at 2nd place.

Right:  To protect the team canopy from
the wind, Mike hammers stakes into the
hardpack parking area with a wrench.

Left:  New to the UMB team with this
race, Devin Spencer rolls across the
summit of the first hill on the way to a
podium finish at 3rd place.

Right:  All alone at the UMB canopy,
Christian works on his bike after helping
with team setup at 8 in the morning.

Left:  Christian Burrell fires past the juniper
trees as he approaches the end of his lap in 1st place.
After a start-line entanglement and an endo, he's
come back in good form. This is Christian's last race
in the Beginner category. Good luck against those Sport
racers, Christian!

Right:  Michael Dodge flies out of a cloud of dust
as he finishes his 10.7 miles in 4th place in the
Beginner Men 30-39 group.

Left:    Also new to the UMB team with this race,
Kevin Casto hustles to take 7th place as he crests
the first hill and turns into the first descent.

Right:  Another new beginner-class racer with
the UMB team is Spencer Neeley, rolling off the
first hill as he rides his 11 miles to grab 10th place
in the category.

Left:  Tim Martindale carves a tight turn in the
dusty downhill as he races to the 2nd place 
finish in Beginner 40-plus.

Right:  James Buckmiller joins the UMB team for
this race and cranks the bike to a respectable 5th
place finish in the category.

Left:   Leaning into a dangerous off-camber turn,
Adam Reynders is 1/3 mile away from the 11th place 
finish.

Right:   New team member Cory Spencer hits the first
downhill early in the race as he grabs the 13th place
position.

Left:  Rachel Hutchings bounces
down the rocky dusty doubletrack
on the way to a podium finish with
 3rd place in Beginner Women.

Right:  The parking area is beginning to fill
as the younger racers assemble for the
9-and-under and 10-12 category races
at 9 am.

Left:  Now racing in the Sport/Expert
class, Adam Lee gets the job done
with a nice 1st place win.

Right:  The Expert Men 40-plus group
crests the first hill with Geno leading
Mark, and Jason not far behind.

Right:   Yellow Page Hill. The Hike-a-Bike.
Killer of calves. Maximizer of heart rate.
Nobody rides it. Pick up the bike and
grunt uphill.

Popping up from a sharp dip,
Ben Hutchings races to a ribbon and
team points with 6th place.

Still dusty from a crash, Darren Stirland
finishes his two laps with 7th place
in the category.

Rolling across the top of the first hill,
Adam Little is the first UMB finisher
in Sport Men 35-39 with 10th place.

Moving up to the Sport Class with this race,
Wayne Baker drops into the wash on
his 2nd lap, finishing in 11th place.

Evan Christensen rockets around a turn
in lap one, but crashes and gets an
ATV ride back for a DNF. Hope you're OK!

Right:   Paintbrush blooms in the May
sunshine.

Left:    Cat Kalwies carves a mean
turn near the end of lap one, taking
4th place in Sport Women.

Right:   The view down The Wash, a long
twisty high-speed downhill on the back
side of the mountain.

Left:    David Sheeran crests the first hill
on his first lap, but doesn't finish the race.
Details, David. We want to know the sad
story behind every DNF.

Right:   Gene leads a group of riders twisting
through the junipers on the downhill.

Left:   Ben Schmalz moves up to the Expert class
with this race and gets the ribbon and team points
with 6th place.

Right:    Turning hard in a cloud of dust, Darren Harris
has completed one of his three laps to take13th place.
Expert riders rode just over 32 miles during their race.

Right:  On the first lap, John Higgins cranks up additional
speed on the first downhill, getting points for the team
with 7th place in Expert Men 40-plus.

Right:  Geno Smith carves the turn behind Jason,
taking the 11th place finish in the category.

Mike Engberson cranks across the sage
flats on the way to 12th place in our group
of four-in-a-row UMB racers.

Dave Benson follows Mike as he hits the
uphill edge of the wash on the way to
the 13th place spot.

Mark Messer is out of the wash and
turning toward the finish line and
the 14th place finish in the group.

Right:   Ben falls into a steep drop on
the front side of the mountain. It's about
two miles to the finish line, which is
out of sight around the hill.

Darren Stirland pops up from a cloud of dust after spinning
out and going down hard on the first hill.

Evan Christensen stands by his bike and the ATV that
brought him back from a crash near Yellow Page.

Right:  Is there any worse feeling than when
you realize the tire is flat and you're hiking
back?  Well, yes. There's the feeling of
a broken wrist or separated shoulder or...
So, it could have been worse, John. 

Right:  Paul hits the sidewall for a
picturesque drop-in to the first
little dip on the flats near the finish
line.

Right:  Paul Zimmerman crests the first hill on the
first of his two laps, riding to 9th place in the category.

Right:  Gene Poncelet powers the bike off the first
turn on the way to taking 5th place.

Right:  A welcome sight for racers. The
final sprint to the finish line.

Right:   The team assembles for burgers,
salads, fruit, and cookies as Bruce mans
the grill.

More pictures:
      Kay Hutchings photos 
      (Thanks once again Kay, for above-and-beyond work getting these great pics!)

GPX track of main Five Mile race loop     GPX of 12-and-under lap

Left:  Jake on top of the podium in the Sport/Expert 16-18 category.

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