We had our first race of the season this past weekend in Price, UT. It was really an amazing experience! These kids did such an incredible job, putting their full effort into their races and having a great time while doing it. It resulted in some great finishes, and a 2nd place trophy for our team in Division 3!!

We were lucky to have a green condition race for our first race, and that meant that our families and teammates got to hang around and cheer us on and experience the whole race. Every rider on the team competed and finished their race - a seriously unique and rare thing for a team. Here are some highlights to know about our weekend:

1. We placed 2nd place in our division, missing first place by just 6 points to Copper Hills.
2. We had several top ten finishes, including: Roland Amendola (5th), Brady Lockwood (6th), Steele Elton (7th), Luke Anderson (8th), and Andrew Petersen (10th).
3. We also had several top 20 finishes: Kamber Sasser (14th), Claire Scattolon (15th), Bridger Prince (17th), James Duncan (16th), Will Stansfield (15th), Brayton Ercanbrack (20th), and Kade Johnson (12th). 
4. We had some really amazing, cool performances of note as well:
 - Luke Anderson, as a sophomore, came out and tore through Varsity, ending at 8th place!
 - Kade Johnson (8th grade), in advanced boys and a VERY fast race, placed 12th with an incredibly fast 22 minute first lap time (as fast as some JVA kids). 
 - Ryan Tomseth bolted out of the gate and from way back, threw down a great first lap and was in first place running through his first lap. That was really fun to watch!
 - James Duncan, in his first ever mountain bike race, put down a 16th place in Freshman A, which is a very impressive start to the season in a very fast race.
 
Of course, I could mention every person on the team for the effort they put forward, for their attitudes, and performances. Not one person under-performed or gave up or should be disappointed in any placing or time. I was truly impressed. There were neat moments all day for me as a coach like...

 - When Owen Bradley came around after lap 1 and had a huge smile on his face.
 - Apparently Luke Anderson was having enough fun on the course to make motor sounds when passing certain people (haha - this was told to me - I did not hear it).
 - Claire Scattolon gave a big cheer when she come in and had a big smile on her face.
 - Steele Elton - ever the chill dude, with his casual 7th place...then went home and competed in a major ninja warrior competition (got 2nd place) without any problem.
 - Ryan Pemberton, crashed in warm up and then went and did his whole race, without knowing the whole time he had a fractured wrist and elbow - SAY WHAT??!! Talk about crazy tough!
 - Jaidon Watters totally got into the whole experience and stayed to cheer on his teammates at the finish line.
 - Roland Amendola was a great teammate, hanging out at the finish line, waiting for his group mates. 

Seriously though, I loved all of it. Every kid showed heart, supported each other, and showed awesome team spirit.

I want to give a special thank you to all the parents and coaches for making this race work. Because of you, we had a great experience and were able to support these awesome kids. Thank you!

If you want to see pictures, or contribute to them, see this link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/x9B5VybQREekRAvPA
 

Lake Mountain Trails Association held trailwork tuesday up on Rock-a-billy this week and we had Grant Smith, Mike Smith, Henry Clark, Adam Clark, Kade Johnson, and Steve Butcher from the team show up to help association volunteers do work on 5 berms, 1 drop/jump, fill in some holes, cut back brush, and do some erosion control measures. This section of the trail (upper section) is now a lot better! 2.5 hours of great work put in by everyone and we had some popsicles at the end as an additional reward!

If you haven't gotten involved with trail work in your community, I highly recommend it. In Utah, there are many trail associations that are active in helping plan, maintain, and build trails. Working on the trails gives you a unique tie and perspective to the trails that I think makes you a better mountain biker and a better steward of your community.

There is something cool about thinking through the lines of a berm, looking for risks, thinking about how to make things flow, understanding building techniques, knowing the "whys" of how features are built, and more. 

​We hope to see a lot more of you out there this year! 

On Tuesday nights, we get out and support the Lake Mountain Trails Association (Check out their Facebook Page) and do trail work. This week we had 8 people helping - 6 from the team! We did work in the Eagle Mountain Bike Park. We worked on clearing overgrown brush, fixing feature issues like landing areas and entry lips, etc. Then we hiked up onto the bottom of Juniper trail and worked on some erosion areas and smoothed out a very lose, risky part that needed attention. 

Huge thanks to Connor and Aiden for joining people from the team to get this done. From the team, we had Henry Clark, Steve and Ian Butcher, Jake Bybee, Ryan Srogus, and Steele Elton and myself (Adam Clark). It was a lot of fun and of course, we had delicious Otter Pops. 

So far this year, we have accounted for more than 100+ hours of trail work! Let's keep it up!