Minnesota State Championship Series

By Troy Melhus

MANKATO -- In a word, perfect.

That'd be the only way to describe the Bluff Rider's Charge at Mount Kato Sunday.

Perfect summer weather. Perfect race course. Perfect day.

"This is such a fun course," Comp Rider Ton Tran raved, after the race. "It's like a roller coaster out there!"

Skies were mostly sunny, temperatures were in the pleasant 70s, and a steady breeze kept riders cool. And trail conditions couldn't have been better: Just tacky enough so that tires stuck, but didn't get stuck.

OK, so I've always had a soft spot for the trails of Mount Kato. I've spent a chunk of my last five Minnesota summers working in Mankato and riding this ski area's thrills in my time off.

So I've gotten to know and love Mount Kato's opening, twisty climb. I love the long Outlook Traverse across its peaks; the wily, curving descents through the back woods. I love zipping through the twists and turns on the flat back stretch of "The Maze."

And let's not forget the white-knuckled "Quick Release" -- one of the longest and steepest technical drops in the Minnesota series. If there's a descent in the MNSCS where you have to scoot your butt back further off the seat to keep from going over the bars, I have yet to ride it.

"We saw lots of guys doing endos there," Wanna Bees' Comp Racer Cal Collins told me after the race. "That was pretty hairy."

Mount Kato is a great course because it contains the whole range of challenges, and it's as fast as you want it to be. Plus, it's almost all wooded singletrack.

And, I might add, the kids doing the water handups on Sunday were AWESOME.

The usual suspects -- the Oftedahl brothers, Brendan Moore etc. -- continue to blow this series out of the water.

Sam Oftedahl blazed a path to the win, almost a minute ahead of Cam Kirkpatrick of Urbandale, Iowa. Moore was about another minute behind him. For women, Jennifer Fisher of Inver Grove Heights cleaned house, nearly 7 minutes ahead of St. Paul's Maria Stewart.

Single Speeder Ben Shockey of Decorah, Iowa took the top prize in Comp, Luke Baker of Granite Falls won the Sport Men and Margaret Montgomery of Minneapolis won the Sport Women, barely crossing the line before Andrea Horner of Savage.

And to say that was close doesn't quite capture the drama: Montgomery's time was 1:15:34.34. Horner's time: 1:15:34.76.

In Citizen, Zach Stilwell of Hudson, Wis., won the Men and Darcy Busse of Stllwater won the Women.

Next up, the series travels to Red Wing on July 20, though many of the series riders may hit Eau Claire's Chippewa Valley Firecracker in an unofficial border battle over the Fourth of July weekend. (The official "Border Battle" is Sunday, Aug. 24, at White Tail Ridge.)

See you there!

Troy Melhus is Twin Cities writer and an Expert racer for the Peace Coffee Bike Team. He can be reached at tmelhus@mac.com.

The 2008 MNSCS race schedule has been established.  Get ready for a great season!

You will note some changes from 2007. Steeple - Chase will not be in the schedule in 2008 as the ski area is up for sale. Added to the schedule is the White Tail Ridge race on August 24. This will be a joint MNSCS – WORS race and booked as a "Border Battle". We worked with WORS to reduce race conflicts as much as possible.

 5/11/2008 Erik's Spring Cup, Inver Grove Heights, MN

 6/8/2008 Afton Avalanche, Hastings, MN 

 6/22/2008 Dirt Spanker, MT Du Lac, Duluth,MN  

 6/29/2008 Bluff Riders Charge - Mt Kato, Mankato, MN

 7/20/2008 Memorial Classic, Red Wing, MN

 7/27/2008 Powder Monkey, Spirit Mountain, Duluth, MN

 8/10/2008 Welch MTB Jam, Welch, MN

 8/24/2008 White Tail Ridge - River Falls, WI MNSCS/WORS Border Battle

8/31/2008 Laddies Loppet Stage Race, Callaway, MN

 9/20/2008 Revolution's Single - Track Escape, St Cloud, MN

 As the 2008 Race season approaches you will see positive changes in age groups.
After a complete review of last year’s participation in the age groupings, we have made major changes in the male Citizen, Sport, and Comp class age groups.
In all there are 78 new opportunities to take home a medal!
There are now:

• Five-year age groupings rather than ten-year age groupings up to age 60 and over
• Citizen and Sport Clydesdale will now have two age breaks – 34 and under and 35 and over
• Two age breaks – 34 and under and 35 and over has been added to the Sport Singlespeed class
• A new Singlespeed class with 2 age groupings is added to Comp
• Slight adjustments were made within male and female age groups in the Expert classes with a 15 – 18 age group added for females and a 40 and over age group added for males

Because of the low numbers of female participants we did not make changes in the female Citizen and Sport classes. The Kids Comp age groups were not changed.
We will continue to review the female age groups as participation grows in these classes.
Here are the new age groups and classes:
 

Kids Comp Class                      First Timer
Age Groups
Male            Female
8 & under      8 & under               No age Groups
9 – 10           9 - 10
11 – 12         11 – 12
 

Citizens Class                           Sports Class
Age Groups                               Age Groups
Male           Female                   Male                  Female
10 – 12       10 – 13                    14 & under       12 – 18
13 –15        14 – 18                    15 – 18             19 – 34
16 – 18       19 – 29                    17 – 18             35+
19 – 24       20 – 39                   19 – 24
25 – 29       40+                         25 – 29
30 – 34                                       30 – 34
35 – 39                                       35 – 39
40 – 44                                       40 – 44
45 – 49                                       45 – 49
50 – 59                                       50 – 59
60 & over                                     60 & over

Clydesdale                              Clydesdale
34 & under                                34 & under
35 & over                                   35 & over

                                                  Singlespeed
                                                   34 & under
                                                   35 & over

Comp Class                             Expert Class
Age Groups                             Age Groups
Male                                        Male             Female
12 – 15                                    15 – 18         15 – 18
16 – 18                                    19 – 29         19 – 35
19 – 24                                    30 – 39         36 & over
25 – 29                                    40 & over
30 – 34
35 – 39
40 – 44
45 – 49
50 – 54
55 – 59
60 & over

Singlespeed
34 & under
35 & over

We are also adding a “First Timer” male and female class to give those new riders who would like to give racing a try without being intimidated by race distance and course complexity. This class is similar to the one in the WORS Series and will not count in the Series scoring. This class will be sequenced in with the Kids Comp races.

Citizen’s teams are also being added to team racing.

We believe that these changes will create added interest by our MNSCS racers and will help to attract new riders into the Series. Encourage your friends and family to participate!