I-Cup Series Final

Sat­ur­day, July 30th marked the final race for the 2011 Inter­moun­tain Cup series. Snow­basin was the final stop and the last chance to com­pete for the over­all series tile. With that in mind, teams like UtahMountainBiking.com and Mad­dog were out in full force. There were only a few points that sep­a­rated them in the team com­pe­ti­tion. For many oth­ers, it was per­sonal bat­tle in their indi­vid­ual cat­e­gories. As for me, I was hop­ing to bring some good legs after a few tough weeks of train­ing and test­ing to see if I could fig­ure out what hap­pened dur­ing the Crusher, a few weeks prior.

Ten, quick and hun­gry pros lined up for a chance to take one last ICUP vic­tory for 2011. As the gun went off, it was Kee­gan Swen­son who set the quick pace as we climbed up the dirt road while the rest of the filed fell in line and pushed forward.

Swen­son opened a gap and it didn’t take long for the rest of us to real­ize we needed some speed at the front to keep it within reach. Geoff Mon­tague was lead­ing us out. I was on his wheel and Nick Fisher on mine. A few oth­ers includ­ing Jonny Hintze, Jake Pan­tone, Chris Hol­ley and Rich Abbott were also among the group. As we pushed up the sin­gle track, a small spot opened up. I heard Fisher begin to make a move. I planned to jump on his wheel and go with him as best as I could but Mon­tague chal­lenged the attack. Nick was the only one to make it around him and imme­di­ately began to put in a bit of time on the rest of us. Even­tu­ally I got by. Jonny, Jake and Chris as well. While Nick was busy catch­ing Kee­gan; Jonny, myself, Chris and Jake were rolling behind.

Even­tu­ally Jonny had some issues with a flat tire, Chris moved into third while Jake and I bat­tled it out for fourth and fifth. In the end it came down to a “sprint fin­ish.” The win­ner would be whom ever’s legs didn’t cramp first. I’m not sure if his actu­ally went before mine but I for­tu­nately had enough space between us to hold on to fourth. You can tell from the photo that I’m pretty spent. Legs were cramped, cooked and done.

As it turns out, there was a bit of a sprint fin­ish for the win as well. Nick Fisher held off Kee­gan in the end and took home the W.

And so another sea­son of Inter­moun­tain Cup rac­ing is in the books. Chris Hol­ley took home the over­all series title and it was well deserved. Geoff Mon­tague was sec­ond and I had enough points to slip into third! I had no idea I was even close so I didn’t stick around for the series awards. My apolo­gies to Ed, and the rest of the folks who stayed. I usu­ally try to rep­re­sent a lit­tle bet­ter than that. Regard­less, it was another great sea­son of clas­sic Utah moun­tain bike rac­ing. A big thanks to Ed Chaunner and his cast and crew of vol­un­teers that show up nearly every Sat­ur­day, to put on the races. Well done!

I’d also like to give a lit­tle shout out to my new friend from Pocatello, ID. Jonas Nesser. Thanks for say­ing hello and the quick chat. Hope to see you around and at the races in the near future.

Pho­tos taken from Face Shots Pho­tog­ra­phy. Some very nice shots take of rac­ers on Sat­ur­day. Thanks guys!