Laddies Loppet Mountain Bike Stage Race Weekend

An awesome weekend on the home course racing at the Laddies Loppet Stage race. Super proud of all our team members and my nephews racing waving the flag for the home team. The team won the overall among all other registered teams including a first place finish by the Elite and Sport teams. With one race left in the series, the team sits in fourth place in the omnium with a chance to move up to third after St. Cloud. Nice! The Elite class is holding down first place. Great job once again to everyone. Everyone raced their hearts out with a great attitude to boot. Awesome stuff.


Jens Richards in Kids Comp.
Nephew Grant Horsager in Kids Comp.
Nephew Reagan Garden in Kids Comp.
Wyatt Horner in Kids Comp.
Garrett Horsager in Kids Comp.
Wyatt Horner in Kids Comp.
Jack Richards singing the National Anthem before the start of Sunday's races. Jack rode with...
....cousin Ripley and nephew Ripley in Kids Comp. Nicely done Jackson.
Taylor Horner in Citizen.
Ethan Brekke racing in Citizen, wearing the first Maplelag team jersey from 1993, Team Zizibakawadaboo!!
Jeff Beck in Sport.
Tony Schmitz in Sport.
Denny Barry in Sport.
Jordan and Sport.
Andrea Horner in Sport.
Eric Lebow in Expert.
Corey Coogan Cisek in Expert.
Matt Horner in Comp.
Steve Wenzel in Comp.
Matt Engen in Comp.
Trent Warner in Expert.
Jeremy Dirk in Comp.
Matt Wenzel in Comp.
Jake Richards in Expert.
Sam Oftedahl in Expert.
Eric Oftedahl in Expert.

Keep the wheels moving!!

Leadville 100 and Great Hawk Chase-MNMBS

Summer is winding down but maybe the best time of the year for mountain biking and racing. Lots of events going on and great riding with temps starting to cool down, no bugs and sweet trails.

Matt Engen competed in the Leadville 100 earlier this month. Read his race recap in the skinnyski report. Team riders Matt and Steve Wenzel along with Jake Richards joined Matt in Colorado for a week of sweet riding in the high country.
Last weekend team members hit the race at Lester Park in Duluth for race #9 in the MNMBS.
Jens Richards above in Kids Comp.
Jack Richards in Kids Comp.
Wyatt Horner in Kids Comp.
Devon Horner in Kids Comp.
Eric Oftedahl in the front in the Elite race. Eric flatted on the day but still rode strong recording the finish.
Sam Oftedahl finishing up 2nd on the day in Elite. Sam was leading the race at times and had a good battle with Erik Tonkin from Portland who is a top Pro in the country. Tonkin raced at Maplelag during the UCI race in May 2007.
Matt Horner in Comp posting a solid 8th place overall.
Jeremy Dirk in Comp. Jeremy has been hitting the entire race series this year in Minnesota. Excellent!
Eric LeBowe cashing in on his exclusive training. Nicely done!

Jake Richards posting his best ever finish in the Elite class with a fifth place finish overall.

A busy weekend on tap with riders spread out all over the Midwest than the home race at Maplelag with the Laddies Loppet stage race weekend. We have to do a team picture on Sunday so tentatively plan on meeting before the Sport race for a group shot.

Keep the wheels moving!!

Birch Bump at Buck Hill and Border Battle in WI

Not only has the weather been hot the month of August, so has the racing. Team members have been blazin' it up the past two weekends, hitting Birch Bump at Buck Hill and the big Border Battle at White Tail Corporate park in River Falls, WI last weekend. Congratulations to the Elite class in taking top honors at Buck Hill. A good battle going on with Peace Coffee, title sponsor of the Minnesota Series, for the overall. Currently the team sits sixth overall in the omnium and looking forward to a strong finish to the season.


Start of the Elite race at Buck Hill as Sam Oftedahl and Eric Thompson keep the front of the field in check.


Jeremy Dirk in the front in Comp at Buck Hill. Jeremy pinned a top 10 finish at the Border Battle this past weekend. Nicely done!!
Eric Thompson running second at Buck Hill who was out in front for a while en route to a third place finish. Eric nailed a top 10 at the Border Battle, just a minute and a half from the top five in a stacked field.
Sam Oftedahl hanging on to Eric Thompson's wheel before passing him at the end for second. Sam was 11th at the Border Battle.

Eric Oftedahl having a great result with a sixth place finish at Buck Hill. Eric O was running good at the Border but ripped a sidewall and had to drop.
Elite female rider Corey Coogan taking the final singletrack turn and a fourth place finish overall at Buck. Corey was 9th at the Border Battle.
Jake Richards moving up in the Elite men. Jake was running top 10 before flatting on the last lap and running the rest of the lap to finish 25th.
Eric Lebow rolling to a 31st place finish in the Elite class.

Denny Barry rolling nicely in the Sport race.

Casey Hildenbrandt recorded a 11th place finish in the JR Open race at Border Battle.

Look for recaps from team riders in the skinnyski recap on Wednesday.

Good luck this weekend to team riders racing in 24 hour events and Matt Engen who is doing the Leadville 100. Keep the wheels moving!

A solid representation by the team this past weekend, hitting the Minnesota series race at Hillside Park in Elk River and USA Cycling National Championships at Sol Vista ski area Colorado. Check out the recaps, results and photos on skinnyski.com
Great job to all riders who raced.

Jonell and Jake made the trip out west to Nationals, hooking up with Sam and Eric Oftedahl, Lars Ellefson as well as Trek-Co Op rider Jack Hinkens. New team member Corey Coogan Cisek was also in Colorado, stepping up on the podium in the Cat 1 30-34 for third place.

Jake in the Super D, rolling to a 14th place finish. Jake also raced cross country recording a 23rd place and 11th place in short track, Cat 1 Jr 17-18.
Lars in the Super D en route to a second place finish and trip to the podium. Lars also scored podium time in the cross country taking third in Cat 1 19-24.
Matt Wenzel racing Sport at Hillside. Matt had chain issues but got repaired and rolling again. (photos taken by Bruce of skinnyski at Hillside)
Denny Barry racing in Sport class.
Andrea Horner
Jeff Beck.
Jordan Horner.
Steve Wenzel.
Tony Schmitz.
Jeremy Dirk.
Matt Horner.

Relatively quiet weekend for the team. Newest rider to the team, Corey Coogan, raced in the Chippewa Valley Firecracker recording a solid 14th place finish among a field of 30 riders. Ben Popp of Endurance Athlete hit the dirt after 15 years recording a 65th place finish in the Comp class.

Comments from Corey

 It was a fun time and a great course. They have added even more
 single track since last year (as always, nothing very technical, but
 it's a lot of fun to ride fast).  Everyone I talked to really had a
 lot of fun out on the course.  I did well enough.  I felt decidedly
 like I had a gear missing (Eau Claire's kind of a sprint), but
 having done 2 weeks with lots of Lv 3 time and avoiding all level 4
 per Piotr in preparation for climbing and altitude, that's to be
 expected.  As far as mud, it only sprinkled during the sport race
 and the sun (and the dust) came out for ours. It was a surprise to
 drive into pouring rain on the way home."

Racing action this weekend will see riders at the Singletrack attack in Elk River as part of the MN MTB Series and handful of team members will be racing at the US MTB National Championships in Sol Vista, CO. Good luck to all team members this weekend.

Wheelhouse Classic

Team riders hit up the Wheelhouse Classic in Memorial Park this past weekend, race #5 in the MN MTB Series. After the Horner family and Denny Barry diced it up in the Kids Comp, and Sport races on a tackish course, it was another mudder for the Comp and Expert racers.

Jordan Horner in the Sport race in route to a 6th place finish, one spot and one second after mom!!


Denny Barry in the Sport race, en route to a 2nd place finish in the age group.

Other nice placings at Memorial Classic include top 10 finishes in Comp by Matt Horner (9th) and Jeremy Dirk (10th)

Elite races had two riders in the top five with Sam Oftedahl in 2nd and Eric Thompson in 4th.

Great job team riders!!

After race #5 in the series, the team sits fifth overall among all teams, all classes combined and only four points out of fourth place! Keep up the great racin'