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Red Rock Desert Rampage
St. George - March 6, 2010The
weather was pleasant in St. George for the kick-off to the 2010
Intermountain Cup racing series. The UtahMountainBiking.com team showed
off their 2010 jerseys for the first time. The turnout was huge for this
popular race, and the UMB team fielded 60 racers. We had a racer in every
division except Pro and Beginner Men 19-29. First-place winners for UMB were
Justin Griffin, Jay Griffin, and Jack Gage, with a second-place finish by
Eric Ellis.
Left: Darren Harris and Mark Messer hit the first
hill with 27 racers in the Men Sport 35-39 class.
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Left: Mason Frederick heads
back south to complete
a lap with the red cliffs near Snow Canyon in the background.
Mason is the fastest of our younger UMB riders, coming in
at 5th place for the 9-and-under group.
Right: Jonah Frederick hunkers
during the initial sprint
northbound on the desert doubletrack. Jonah finishes
his three laps at a good pace, grabbing two points for
the team with 7th place. |

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Sydney Nielsen gets a nice 2nd place
win among the 9-and-under girls. |
Jacey Messer pedals back to
complete
her 2nd lap on the way to 3rd place.
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Hattie Ransom sprints out on
her first
lap, finishing in 4th place for the girls. |
Sawyer Ransom climbs out of the
little
wash on the way to 16th place boys' spot. |
Parker Horton heads toward
the finish
line in 19th place.
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Aiden Peters makes his first
race with
the team, getting 21st place for 3 laps. |
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Left: Joshua
Peterson is our fastest 10-12 category
racer at the Desert Rampage, as he rolls down the
big hill to finish his first lap. Joshua kept a good pace
to grab the 4th place position.
Right: Hunter Ransom cranks
behind Joshua on
the final lap, nearing the finish line. Hunter finishes
just behind at 5th place. |

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Left: Harrison Woodard gets
out of the saddle to
sprint southward toward the finish line on his
final lap, finishing the race with 7th place.
Right: Shawn Nielsen carves
the turn at the bottom of
the hill and sets his eyes on the doubletrack leading
back to the finish area. Shawn gets across the line
in 8th place for the next-to-youngest category. |

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Left: Miles Rawle sprints
out with the young teen pack,
making his first race count for a team point with a
7th place finish. Miles joins the team for the 2010 season.
Right: Landon Douglas is
also a new racer with UMB,
cranking across the desert dust to finish with 8th place
in the Beginner 13-15 group. |

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Left: Lance Jarvis crests
the last hill. All downhill to the
finish line from here. Lance gets a good race to finish 5th.
After a "redshirt" season last year, Lance is back with
the team with the "yellowshirt."
Right: Landon
Ashton has joined the UMB race team
in the Beginner 16-18 category. Landon is outward bound
to finish his single 6.5 mile lap in 8th place. |

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Beginner 19-29: UMB had no Beginner Men
19-29 at this race! |
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Left: After navigating "the
plunge" and the rock drop,
Jeff Frederick gets out of the saddle to hustle up the
last hill, finishing with the 4th position in BM 39-39.
Is that a little spot of blood on the right knee, Jeff?
Right: Corbin
Young gets low as he sails downhill
toward the finish area, nailing a team point with his
7th place finish. |

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Left: Cort Ashton grinds
out the hill
to finish his lap in 5th place for the BM
40-plus category. Good for three valuable
team points for UMB!Right: Base
camp on the flat near the
start/finish line. Riders prep their bikes
and swap race hints.
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Left: Rachel Hutchings heads
onto
the course in the middle of the Beginner
Women pack, finishing her race with the
8th
place position. Right: Before
the race, Joshua, Harrison,
and Zachary show off the new 2010
race jerseys (and their winning attitude!). |
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Dallin Johnson crests the hill
1/2 mile
from the finish area, nearing completion
of his first of two laps, finishing 5th. |
Zachary Peterson tips into the
final turn
before the finishing gates, hustling in
to nail the 6th place finish.
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Brayden Nielsen gets out of
the saddle
to grind up that first killer hill, taking
8th place in the S/E 13-15 group |
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Left: Justin Griffin powers
the Motobecane up the
first hill, fighting a close race to come away with 1st
place
in the S/E 16-18 class. Despite being a couple of years
younger than the class he rides in. Right: Jared
Muir puts the pedal down, speeding into
the downhill stretch. Jared gets a ribbon and team
points with 6th place. |
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Left: Brendan Ashton banks
into the
last turn across from the finish line.
Dip through the wash, navigate the
choke-point gates, and cross the finish
line in 10th place.Right: Glenn
gives instruction to the
attentive racers of the Sport/Expert
16-18 class, while behind them the
Men 57-plus class has heard it all
before. |

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Left: Jack Gage hits the
first hill in a clot of 23 racers
in the Sport 30-34 category. Jack nails a 1st
place finish
in a fast race, coming in a full minute ahead of 2nd. Right: Steven
Brumbaugh gets in a last power stroke
before he dips into the wash across from the finish
line, finishing his race with the 10th place position. |
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Dan Hutchings cranks up the
final hill
on his 2nd lap, taking the 11th spot.
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Ben Hutchings fights up the
hill on the
way to the 22nd finishing position. |
Charlie Peters gets a good
start, but
takes a flat tire, walking back for a DNF. |

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Left: Darren Harris gets
forward to mash
the pedals harder as he fights through to take
the 4th place spot in SM 35-39 among 27 fierce
competitors.
Right: Mark Messer has moved
to Sport for this year,
cranking the bike up the first hill during the initial
shakeout. Mark chases 4 seconds behind Darren
to take the 5th place finish. |

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Left: Mike Horne is a
"stealth" team member who might be missed by photographers.
Although Mike worked to design our 2010 jerseys, he uses his Epic
Cyclewear jersey during races. Maybe we can paint his helmet with UMB
colors. Or he can chat up our photographers before races. Anyway, here's
Mike climbing over the last hill on his way to 16th place. Right:
Ryan
Nielsen heads up the first hill in good
shape, but early in the first lap shredded his tire.
The fix didn't hold, and the bulging tube blew, so
Ryan made that frustrating hike to get his DNF. |

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Jason Sparks banks into the wash
to
get across the finish line with 3rd place! |
Stephen Bergen gets tall in the
saddle
on the first hill, taking 17th among 38. |
Dale Hutchings finishes his 2nd
tough
lap with the 26th-place finish. |

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Colleen Tvorik cranks up and
over the
last hill on the way to 9th in Sport Women. |
Cat Finlayson has
a smile as she tips
toward the finish line in 10th place. |
Amber Hatfield climbs the
first nasty
hill, taking the 11th-place spot. |

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Left: Eric Ellis tips into
the final turn
in his 2nd of 3 laps, finishing with the
2nd
place spot in this tough category.Right: We've
all been there. Ouch. Then a
moment to recover your fighting spirit.
Aiden recovers from his contact with
the rocky desert to get back on the bike
and soldier on. |

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Brian Jeppson fights to keep
position
as he crests the hill, finishing with 6th. |
Derek
Ransom is close to finishing his
2nd of 3 laps, nailing the 10th spot. |
Mike Engberson grabs 20th
among the
39 racers in the big EM 30-39 group. |

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Left: Denmark Jensen has moved
up to
expert class this year. He's cranking up
the first hill on the way to the 18th place
finish.Right: Old and
new jerseys go head-to-head
as Jay (right) challenges Shane in the
looking-cool category. |

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Left: Chanda Jeppson gets
low and
cranks out some speed as she crests
the last hill of the course, finishing
with the 5th place spot in Expert Women.Right: Three
UMB riders cross the finish
line. Cat has just had her tag pulled as Ben
crosses the magic stripe that means the
pain is over and the celebrating can
begin. |

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Chris Cole joins the team in
2010, nailing
3rd place in the tough Singlespeed group. |
Brian Oliver heads toward the
finish
line with a ribbon for 6th place. |
Shane Horton grinds up that
ugly first
hill on the way to 10th place. |

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Richard Ewell makes the final
turn as
he grabs 6th place in Clydesdale. |
Mike Ball fights up the first
hill of the
course, finishing with 8th place. |
Also new to the team, Veldon Moser
hustles to take 10th for his two big laps. |

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Left: Sally Hutchings shows
that
season-podium determination as she
hits the top of the hill. Sally finishes
her lap with a ribbon and 3 team
points in 5th
place.Right: Getting the team
picnic underway.
Burgers, hot dogs, salads, chips, cookies.
And lots of war stories to tell. |

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What can you say about Jay Griffin,
other than Wow, another well-earned
and hard-fought 1st place. |
Jeff Kingsford powers
up the first hill
on his way to 11th place. The Men 50+
group was huge at 23. Tough guys. |
Brent Jarvis tips into the
final turn
to finish his first UMB race with 17th.
Feel good to be faster than your kid? |
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In the ever-tougher 57-plus group,
Joel Quinn grinds up the last hill
to finish with 4th place. |
Bruce Argyle
sprints toward the finish
line in front of the red cliffs, getting
the 8th place position. |
Gene Poncelet has joined the UMB
team
this year, but as usual, will still be gunning
for Bruce. Gene finishes in 9th place. |
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The 2010 Rampage was a good start to an
important year. If we win the team competition this season, we keep the
trophy forever. If you didn't finish as well as you'd hoped, work hard and
don't be discouraged. Mid- to late-season is when the ribbons (and
championships) are won. Let's do this!
More pictures:
Bruce photos (kids and beginners)
Griffin photos
Hutchings photos
Ryan (left) and Charlie (in the line of busted bikes on
the right) pushed their bikes hard while they raced, then pushed them
literally after disaster struck. |

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