Midwest MTB Racing Recap

by Jay Richards
June 10, 2008

Race #2 in the MNSCS, the Afton Avalanche, was the main action this past weekend at Afton Alps near Hastings, MN. All eyes were on the weather as wet weather leading up to the event and rain forecasted on Sunday caused concern/excitement about a "mudfest". As it turned out, the course was in near perfect condition by the time the Expert and Comp races at 1pm, according to most comp and expert riders, with just a few wet and slick spots. Reports from racers in the Citizen and Sport races were of slick and slippery in the singletrack but overall good reports. The course featured mostly ascending and descending and personally I feel one of the most demanding courses on the Minnesota circuit with race times in Comp and Expert in the 2-3 hour range.

Jake and I made the trip south and lined up to race at 1pm with Jake entering his second Comp race of the year. After moving to the front midway through the first lap, Jake caught a flat and had troubles with the Co2 cannister before finally getting his flat fixed, getting back on course and finishing in the top 20, and had "fun" with the challenging course.

In the Expert race, it was team Velo Rochester led by Brendan Moore leading the charge off the start. Brendan's recap from his blog:
"The race started out up a small-ish hill (but big enough) to allow for "natural" selection. The Velo crew hit it hard of the start. I got the hole shot at the top of the first hill, and just kept it at a good hard pace. To my surprise I was gapping the rest of the field. I wasn't trying to attack, as I knew it would be a long race to try and go solo from the start. However, by the top of Shady Lane (the first of several time each lap you fully climb the hill) I had 20 seconds or so on my brother Ben, and I wasn't under too much pressure so I pushed it on the punchy climbs and technical descending portions of the trail. The gap continued to open and was nearly a minute by the end of the lap. After that, I just set a maintainable climbing pace and rode fast and smooth on the downhills."
Ben would hold on two second. Ben has had a solid spring campaign and was one of the top riders that suffered a double flat in last weekend's WORS race.

Coming in third and fourth were two "out of towners" who put in nice performances on the day. Cam Kirkpatrick, one of the top riders from Iowa (Urbandale) riding out of Rasmussen Bike Shop rode from teens in the first lap to nail down third on the day. Coming in fourth was Jeff Herrea from Maricopa, AZ with the Oftedahl brothers, Sam and Eric, coming in 5th and 6th respectively. I caught up with Herrea after the race who informed me of his reason for racing at Afton.

Jeff has been in the Midwest before racing but this time around was in the Cities attending friend Roberto Madrigal's wedding (Roberto was at the bottom of the "manhandler" climb during the race cheering riders on) and at the last minute decided to bring his bike along and race at Afton. Jeff recently completed the Arizona State Championship series taking third overall in the Elite class (Final race was won by Midwester' TJ Woodruff). The Arizona series runs in the spring due to the extreme temperatures this time of year. Jeff told me most his training rides this time of year are from 5am to 8am time frame so he is back home before the temp reaches 100!! In addition to the AZ series, Jeff has been racing the National series with some top 10 finishes. Jeff will focus the rest of his season racing the remaining National series and will be racing in the big American Mountain Bike Classic, a four day mountain bike stage race featuring 14,000 ft of climbing,  and then staying in Utah for the final race in the National series.

In the women's race, Jenna Zander completely dominated the women's field taking the win by over 25 minutes with newlyweds Rebecca Sauber in 2nd and Jennifer Fisher in 3rd. Jenna provides a short recap of the race:
"I think Afton is the hardest race in MN with all of those steep climbs but I love the challenge. I was actually hoping for and glad that the course was a little slick out there. I need to get some practice riding in those conditions before heading out East next month. I'm enjoying starting with the expert men this year. They really push me to start hard and finish strong. My start was a little slower then I would have liked but I started to feel better and move up throughout the race. I think I was around top 15 in the Expert men's race on my last lap so I was pretty happy with that. I always feel bad for the guys I'm riding with when they have to go around for another lap. Some races I like to do an extra lap for training but it would have been a pretty long doing 4 laps this time."

Afton Avalanche coverage on Skinnyski

 

Looking ahead

Possibly the biggest event in the Midwest outside the triple crown events, the WORS cup presented by Subaru at Nordic Mountain near Mount Morris, WI kicks off with xc racing on Saturday followed by Super D, Short Track and a downhill race on Sunday. Expect big fields with all the players present in every class and some out of staters as well.


Another point to point race in Michigan in the UP featuring a bit more singletrack than other point to point races is the Keweenaw Chain Drive Festival on Saturday, June 14th.

Keep the wheels moving!!