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Solitude
Big Cottonwood Canyon July 27, 2013The
morning was cool and overcast, with light showers hitting the second half
of the early race. Temperatures were nice for racing and the trail surface
was firm. There were the usual patches of rocks and roots.
UtahMountainBiking.com was represented by 25 racers at Solitude. First
place winners were Katy Nafus, Joel Quinn, and Mitt Stewart, with
second-placed finishes by John Twitchell, Sally Reynders, and Brock Jeske.
Left: Derek closes on Christian as they
cross the ski slope near the end of lap one.
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Looking east from the team
canopy toward the buildings
of Solitude Resort. The start line is the the left of the photo. |
Looking up the mountain from
the parking lot. In a few minutes
we'll be racing across this ski slope to start a 5.5 mile loop. |
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Left: Draeden Jensen carves
a turn on the downhill of
the 9-and-under loop as he approaches the finish line
in the Billie Goat category at 8 am.Right: It
only looks chaotic. First-wave racers fix their
damages while second-wave racers get their bikes
and gear ready for their half of the event. |
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Left: Hattie
Ransom drops down a turn on
the Serenity singletrack to finish her lap with
5th place in Junior Women 12-15. The first
wave of racers on the full loop went off at
8:30. Right:
Maggie
Ressa heads through the
aspens of lower Kruzr near the end of her
race, finishing with the 6th place spot. |
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Left: One mile into the race, Hunter Ransom
carves a tight turn before heading over to
Honeycomb Canyon, finishing with 8th
place.Right: At the
start line, racers
waiting for the
second race mingle
with riders who've finished
the early race.
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Left: Corey
Spencer sprints through the turns of the
ski slope as he nears the end of his first lap, taking
3rd place in the Beginner Men category.Right: Dropping
down through young aspens
on the Kruzr Trail, Joe Benson gets the 4th place
finish in the group. |
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Left: Adam Reynders rails a bermed
turn as he
drops down from Serenity, grabbing the 5th place
position.Right:
John Young rolls out of the last turn
before the doubletrack of Honeycomb Canyon
to take the 7th place finish. |
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Left: On her first lap, Katy Nafus rolls
a turn
on the way to 1st place in Beginner Women.Right: The
Sport Men 40-plus group hits the
switchbacks below Serenity, with Denmark in
the lead and Brian a bit further up the hill. |
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| The flowers were spectacular.
Here's paintbrush... |
and scarlet gilia, also called
desert trumpet. |
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Left: John Twitchell straightens
out for the high
speed track over to Honeycomb. John breaks his
chain and runs to the top of the hill, but still gets
the 2nd place finish in Clydesdale.Right: Joel
and Bruce battle toward Queen Bess. |
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Left: Rick Morris
drops down the rocks of
lower Kruzr on the way to 7th place in Men
50-plus.Right: A
chipmunk exits his den (dark hole at the
top) and finds a nice perch from which to watch
the race. |
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Joel Quinn rails a turn on the singletrack
as he rides to another 1st place in the
Men 60-plus category. |
Dropping the last bit of the rock garden,
Gene Poncelet sets his sights on the
home stretch and 3rd place. |
Back on the pedals after fixing a tire,
Bruce
Argyle heads down Kruzr on
his final lap to take 4th place. |
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Bruce runs a flat tire down to
the parking lot, where a new
tube will get him out onto lap two. |
Christian and Derek roll into
the rocky section of lower
Kruzr in the second race of the day at 11:00. |
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Left: Sally Reynders makes
a turn on lap one
and after stopping to help John, rides on to
2nd place in Women 40-plus.Right: Darren
crosses the finish line. |
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Left: Brock
Jeske carves a turn on Kruzr near
the end of his first lap, nailing 2nd place in the
Sport Men 19-29 category.Right:
Early in his first lap, Dallin Hatch
hits the berm on a turn below Serenity
as he gets a podium spot with 3rd place. |
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Derek Ransom is our top finisher in
Sport Men 30-39 with the 8th position. |
Christian Burrell rails a
turn. After
flatting a tire, Christian takes 11th place. |
Darren
Stirland breaks a derailleur
cable but cranks on for 14th place. |
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Swooping through the final turns,
Denmark Jensen takes 3rd in Sport
Men 30-39. |
Brian Ressa carves a hard
turn on
the way to the 6th place spot in
the category. |
Sean Linden finishes his laps
with
the 7th place position. |
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Maggie
has a soda ready for Brian as
he returns from the finish line after a hard race. |
Frisbee golf is popular at Solitude, but
this isn't
a golf ball. It's a mushroom. |
| Expert and Pro Categories |
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Left: Nate Drozd hits a
banked turn on his first lap
on the way to a 2nd place spot in Expert Men 30-39.Right: Cranking out of a turn in
the aspens of
Kruzr, Jack Gage takes 7th
place in the Expert
Men 30-39 group. |
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Left: Mitt Stewart opens
up a big lead in
Expert Men 40-plus, nailing another 1st
place
win in this tough category.Right:
Rolling a turn on lap one, Jason
Sparks
rides to 6th place in Expert Men 40-plus. |
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| Joel and John huddle after
receiving their race bling. |
After team support on the
trail, Mike flips a few burgers. |
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With one more ICup race and one USCS race
to go, many UMB racers are in commanding positions within their race
categories. The team is also in good position for the season. Next up:
Soldier Hollow on August 10.
More pictures:
Kay
Hutchings photos
Resources:
GPX track
Solitude race loop
Satellite
map
of race course
Left: Burgers and post-race war stories at the team HQ in the parking
area.
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