MNMBS Race #1

Nice job to everyone at the first MNMBS series race! Great to see such a nice blend of male and female riders in all the classes. Looking forward to a fantastic season!
Jay's race report on skinnyski.com

Keep the wheels moving!

Minnesota High School Racing

Many of the Maplelag mountain bike team members are involved with the ever growing scene of high school mountain biking. The NICA has a great thing going getting kids into mountain biking and keeping the races short and fast which we feel is the best method for developing middle and high school age kids. We are proud of the Maplelag team members that have committed their time to coaching. Information about their teams is posted below. Please pass along the info if you think of anyone that might be interested. There are many teams in the state for kids to get involved with and contacting Ben or Matt will get you headed in the right direction or visit the Minnesota MTB HS website. 

2016 Early Season Riding

The 2016 mountain bike season is upon us! We are looking forward to another great season with an expanded team including special race kits for our female riders. We hope to update on a more regular basis this year, highlighting results, rides and trips by team members. 

Team members ready to head out for the first group ride of the year at Black's Grove near Wadena. The group has expanded and if interested in joining this group or riding, meet at 6pm at the Black's parking lot. Contact team manager Ben at ben@concastinc.com for more information This is a great group ride catered for all riders and ability levels, no rider left behind!

Early season riding on the Laddies Loppet course at Maplelag. It has been up and down spring with mostly cold weather and snow making riding challenging. Hopefully mid to late April the course, in particular the Twin Lakes, will be open.

Bente's Bump rock garden.

Keep the wheels moving!

2015 Racing

Another awesome mountain bike season is coming to an end. Labor day weekend marking the 25th Annual Laddies Loppet weekend, the home race for the team, that saw most of the riders competing with fantastic results. Nice work everyone! Still plenty of great riding and racing to be had but a big thanks to all the riders who waved the flag for the Maplelag team this year. Good luck the rest of the year, especially to the cycling school league riders. Keep the wheels moving!!

 Group of high school riders at Maplelag the end of the summer including a mix of Maplelag riders. Nice job to Anne Ellefson leading the area composite high school team.

 Group of team riders at the start of the 22 mile race, Laddies Loppet 2015.

 John Struchynski dropping in lakeside in 22 mile race.

 Isaac Hale on the first lakeside drop. Good luck to Isaac racing in the high school league this year.

 Tony Schmitz slicing through the singletrack en route to a solid finish in the one lap race.

 Jake Richards rolling through a berm over on Twin Lakes loop during the 2 lap race.

 Denny Barry at the start of the lakeside drops. Big thanks to Denny for all his trail work.

 Matt Engen in the two lap race. Thanks Matt for your sponsorship of Laddies Loppet!

 Patrick Crary working over the singletrack in the two lap race.

 Ben Olson in the two lap race. Been fun watching Ben move up the ranks this year.

 Greg Ames racing in the 2 lap race but only did one lap as he had to book back to town. Thanks for making an appearance Greg!

 Eleanor Bacso always having fun on the trail while shredding it hard. Top 3 finish in female two lap race.

 Jeremy Hecker getting a race in this year, knocking out two laps.

 Steve Wenzel, the only rider to compete in every Laddies Loppet rolling through. Steve has been on the Maplelag team since the early beginnings.

 Thad Schulz dialed in the two lap race.

 Jens Richards in the citizen race at the top of Suicide Hill.

 Nick Hess focused on the finish in the Kids Comp race.

 Jacob Olson dicing the singletrack in Kids Comp.

 Marcus Olson taking it all in the Kids Comp race.

 Jack Ellefson leading the group up Suicide Hill in Citizen race.

 Ben Olson leading a group in Short Track action.

 Steve Wenzel at the front after making an impressive attack in Comp Short Track.

 Post short track.

Eric Oftedahl helping out a fellow rider at an event. Thanks for helping out the cycling community and waving the flag Eric.

Griffin Myslivecek climbing hard in the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival 40 race.

Jay Richards in the mix at the Seeley Hills classic the end of August. Great old school cross country race.

Nice job once again everyone!

Keep the wheels moving!

2014 Season Recap

Another great mtb season in the books for the Maplelag Mountain Bike racing team! Maplelag Resort is very proud and grateful to the 30+  riders that "waved the flag" this past year in various events across the country. Many riders contributed to the MW MTB Reports and thanks to this riders that contributed. Archived reports can be found on skinnyski.com 

The Minnesota Mountain Bike Series recently held an awards ceremony recognizing the top team and individual accomplishments. Highlighting the result sheet was the top five finish by the entire team in Omnium standings, led by a second place in the Elite and Citizen classes. 

Individual highlights were led by Eleanor Bacso who was the state champ in the women's  Elite class followed by a third overall by Jordan Horner. Elite men highlights include Kasy Bacso with a top three finish. Comp class was highlighted by Griffin Myslivecek with a second overall. Sport Highlights include another state champ with Ben Olson taking the top spot. Citizen highlights include high school rider Isaac Hale with a top three overall finish in the Citizen. Most other team members placed in their age group as we highlight most of the riders below. Big thanks to Bruce Adelsman and Todd Bauer for the awesome images. (any team member missing, first off, sorry, please email me with photo at jrichard@arvig.net)

Thanks again everyone...keep the wheels moving!!

State champion Eleanor Bacso leading mx pro Alex Martin over a stair section on the Maplelag course during Laddies Loppet 2014. Former College of St Scholastica skier. 

 Kasey Bacso giving chase in the Expert race during Laddies Loppet 2014. Consistent placings by Kasey during the season landed him the top 3 overall in male Elite. Recently graduated from College of St Scholastica, competing in the Nordic ski program.

Jake Richards giving chase in the cross country race at Maplelag. In addition to racing select xc races this summer, Jake found a niched in enduro racing, placing top five in the overall in the Duluth Enduro series and top five finish in the Duluth MTB Festival Enduro. Jake is in his JR year at Scholastica racing Nordic.

Jordan Horner cleaning a rock garden during Laddies Loppet 2014. In addition to her 3rd Overall in Elite class in the Minnesota series, Jordan was the state high school champion after the high school fall season this year. Jordan currently on the Burnsville Nordic ski team.

John Wessling in the mix at the start of the Elite short track race at Maplelag. John's first full year of racing after a successful Nordic ski season at St Scholastica and before that, moto cross racing! John is geared up for great things in 2015~!

Maplelag team manager Jay Richards racing in the Great Hawk Chase at the new Mission Creek trail near Duluth. (Todd Bauer images)

Jeremy Hecker rolling through the trees during the Voyageurs Revenge   The recent NCAA Nordic All American from St. Scholastica sneaked in a few races before residing in Finland with a ski training group. (Todd Bauer images)

Matt Lee slicing and dicing at the Voyageurs Revenge. Matt also a Nordic skier finishing up a career at St Scholastica  (Todd Bauer images)

Andrea Horner racing at the Border Battle. Andrea fighting injuries part of the season keeping her from racing but keeping plenty busy with support of her racing family! (Todd Bauer images)

 Griffin Myslivecek rocking and rolling at the Singletrack Escape in St Cloud. Griffin joined the team just past the midway point in the season. Quite a story with this fine young man. Look for Griffin to improve on this years second place overall Comp finish as he makes the jump to the Elite class.

Paul Schomer racing Comp at Great Hawk Chase. Another Scholastica skier waving the flag for Maplelag on occasion.

 Dave Simmons giving it in the Comp race during Laddies Loppet 2014. Dave has specialized in endurance events taking on the Arrowhead 135 and other epic events.

 Matt Engen racing in the Comp XC Laddies Loppet at Maplelag. Massive shout out to Matt for his companies sponsorship and support for the Laddies Loppet. Matt also specializing in the endurance events.

Maplelag master Steve Wenzel racing on the home course. Steve is one of the longest standing members of the Maplelag mountain bike team and helped build a lot of the original single track way back in the 90's!! Thanks again Steve.

 John "Struchy" Struchinski racing in Laddies Loppet 2014. Struchy was part of the winning team at the 12 hour EndTombed race and also participated in the 12 hour race to sunset race.

Head of the household Matt Horner racing in Comp at Laddies Loppet. Papa of the 6 member Horner racing team family!

 Greg Ames racing to a first place finish in the Comp short track at Maplelag. Greg has been custom building a few bike frames. Check him out!!

Thad Schulz racing short track at Maplelag. Chad made the transition to the marathon division towards the end of the year. Good to see Thad racing against after a near career ending cycling injury last summer.

Ben Olson cranking it in the Sport short track. Ben was the overall winner in the Sport class in the series. Ben one of many riders getting in to the fat bike scene and should only get stronger after a "off season" of pushing big wheels in the snow.

Taylor Horner racing at Afton Avalanche at Afton Alps ski area. Taylor also raced in the high school season and is skiing this winter Nordic.

 Tony Schmitz racing in the Sport XC during Maplelag Laddies Loppet 2014. Big thanks to Tony for all his work for this years and past years poster and jersey designs.

 Denny Barry racing Sport at Laddies Loppet. Denny always willing to help build new trail and responsible for helping blow out sections of single track days before Laddies Loppet.

Anne Ellefson racing in Sport at Laddies Loppet. Anne responsible for getting a NW MN high school cycling team going for this fall that included kids from Detroit Lakes, Wadena, Park Rapids and Bemidji.

Isaac Hale racing in the Citizen short track during Laddies Loppet 2014. Isaac competed in both cross country running and the Minnesota Cycling league season this fall. Isaac, has mentioned at the top, recorded a top 3 overall among Citizen males.

Devon Horner making the jump up to Citizen, seen here racing in the short track at Maplelag. Devon ended up 7th overall in the series and 4th in his age group.

Wyatt Horner giving it in the Citizen cross country during Laddies Loppet.

Jens Richards racing at the Flugly, MB Johnson Park in Moorhead. Jens also raced in the Laddies Loppet Kids Comp at Maplelag.

Jon Richards catching some air at the start of the Danimal trail in Copper Harbor MI.

Jack Richards leading out the kids racers during Laddies Loppet 2014.

Thanks again for another awesome mtb season! Any rider I missed, please send me an email and photo to jrichard@arvig.net

Keep the wheels moving!!