Series Racing in Minnesota and Wisconsin

Team racing action last weekend saw riders hitting up the state series in MN and WI. Mudfest in Minneapolis with the first race in the Minnesota series at Salem Hills. Jeff Beck, Brandon Charboneau, Jake Richards, Lars Ellefson and Sam and Eric Oftedahl hit the line for some wet and sloppy riding. In Wisconsin, Casey Hildenbrandt recorded a solid 4th place finish in Jr Elite.




Jeff Beck racing in Sport.


Jake Richards racing JR Elite. In the top five first few laps of the race before falling back a few spots to a solid top ten finish at 8th place.


Lars Ellefson caked in mud. Like Sam, bike mechanicals forced them off the bike. Eric Oftedahl recorded a top 10 finish at 10th and Brandon posted a 44th place overall in Comp.

Nice racing all....keep the wheels moving!

Cable Classic-Rasta Rally-Double Dog TT

The racing season is starting to crank up with more team members toeing the line. Last weekend saw racers competing in the Cable Area Off Road Classic, the RASTA Rally in Rhinelander and Corey Coogan competed in the Double Dog Time Trial in south Minneapolis.


Lars Ellefson near the front in the Cable Classic. Took a wrong turn like a lot of people on the day but finished up 28th overall.

Jake Richards at the start of Cable Classic. First race of the year posting a solid 21st place finish.
New team member Alye DeRoma at the start of the Cable Classic mixing it up with the men. Finished 5th overall among females.

Dan DeRoma all smiles at the start en route to a 105th place finish.

Dan, Jake, Lars and Alye post race. Nice job folks!
Casey Hildenbrandt #22 at the start of RASTA Rally. Finished 7th overall in the long race. Casey is waving the flag for Rib Mountain cycles in select races but look for the Maplelag kit at the key Midwest races. Read report from Casey and more photos and results from the weekend on skinnyski.com
Corey Coogan tuning up for the season, competing in the Double Dog team trial. Corey rides for Ridley in the cyclocross season.

Next up is the first Minnesota series race at Salem Hills park in Inver Grove Heights. Good luck and keep the wheels moving!

Season Opener in Minnesota-Eric Thompson update

Last weekend a couple team members, Eric Oftedahl and Lars Ellefson took advantage of an early season mountain bike race held at Hillside Park in Elk River. Eric went on to take the win in the Advanced division and Lars had a mechanical but still got some riding in on the day completing a lap with his dad, Jack. Full recaps from Eric and Lars are on the Midwest MTB Report on Skinnyski..check it out!

Eric racing in WORS cup last year.
Lars at WORS Cup last year.

Eric Thompson, elite team rider, recently completed his schooling at Les McRaes college and is gearing up for a big cyclocross season. Eric sent an update on his racing plans:

This season my aim is completely towards cyclocross season. After last year at cyclocross nationals I've been trying to plan out and concentrate on training for the elite cyclocross season starting in September after Chequamegon. Having said that, mountain bike as well as road races are going to be a part of my schedule this summer and fall. I plan to start out with a small amount of racing in the beginning of the season to allow for longer rides and training weeks, and at the middle to end of the summer I plan to increase my racing to build intensity.

During all of the summer and leading into the fall I will be racing for team Maplelag (including Chequamegon). The team has a great vibe and I am very thankful for all of your support you provide. Last year's race season was awesome and I would enjoy continuing it on for this season. In preparation for the cyclocross season I do plan to try and find a national team in order to help with travel expenses as well as equipment needs". Good luck Eric!

Eric racing to a 4th place finish in last years U23 National Championships.

Keep the wheels moving!!

Mountain View Rec Area

With a team consisting over 30 riders racing in different classes in states across the country, we definitely see some great results. But the team is not all about the results. Many of the athletes help out with coaching, clinics, and sharing the love in not only mountain biking but also Nordic skiing. We also have riders helping build trails to improve and create riding opportunities for others. One of the team riders, Tony Schmitz, has been leading the charge in building singletrack at the Mountain View Rec Area which is located just outside Detroit Lakes. I rode part of the track last fall but met up with Tony this week to ride what he and others have completed this Spring. It is a great start to what will be a really fun trail. It isn't super long but combining the ski trails and other possibilities in the area, you can get more than your fill of moving the wheels in the twisty and turny. Other team riders who have helped build the trail include Jeremy Dirk, Ian Fritz and Jake Richards.
Tony riding one of the new sections built this Spring.

Riding over "Jeremy's creation".

The ski trails at Mountain View are starting to buff out nicely. Very fun terrain with fun, fast rolling hills. Be sure to check this area out not only for mountain biking but also skiing in the winter. Keep up the great work Tony!!

WORS 2011 Opener-Iola

The xc racing season kicked off last weekend in Iola for race #1 in the Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS). Team rider Casey Hildenbrandt, living and racing out of Wausau, raced in the JR Elite and posted a solid 3rd place.

Casey's report:


Arriving to the venue with Ben Koenig and his parents, we went to pick up the number plates which are sick this year! Usual warm up with lots of nerves for the first race of the year. The cat 1 juniors start at the back of the elite field and we had to move our way through the field only doing 4 laps.

Ready to race!
(Gary Frost photo)

The start was fast but crowded. I made my moves leading the juniors after the couple minutes, then getting passed right away by Mitch B. On the next downhill I got nervous with rigid and locked up the brakes, skidding off the track. Lost about 5 or 6 spots running up the 25 yard hill. Ben Koenig had been in 2nd in the pro field up the start hill and then his quick link on his chain came loose and he was in last in the Pro/Cat 1 Field I'm pretty sure. By the end of the first lap I was sitting in 5th or 6th.

Halfway through the second lap I latched onto Myles' wheel and got moving. At the start of the 3rd lap Myles and I had moved up into 3rd and 4th. He fell off my wheel on the start hill and I started slightly cramping up the rest of the race...trying to use what I've heard from other people about cramping. Hydrate and spin. I spent the next 40 minutes in the saddle so I could finish the race. The last ten minutes or so I pushed as hard as I could to the finish. Ben fought all the way back up to 16th! I ended up 3rd.

Thanks to Maplelag Resort and Rib Mountain Cycles for making it possible! See you out there this year hopefully!