OFFROAD RACE SERIES Alaska Coffee Roasters Six Stage MTB Race -- May 23-26, 2003 -- 6 Stages This year the six-stage Memorial Day weekend mountain bike race was sponsored by the Alaska Coffee Roasting Company who provided prizes and support for the event. The series is organized by sports legend Rocky Reifenstuhl, who with the help of a few volunteers, puts together four days worth of mountain bike races each Memorial Day weekend. The courses are challenging to mind and body, requiring athletes to focus and concentrate, yet be relaxed. Stage one, held Friday night, was a tough hill climb event. Racers started near the base of Ester Dome road, and rode about a half mile up the road, turning into the woods on the Marathon trail. Some rode, some pushed over the first rooty section. Halfway to the top, the trail left the woods and joined Ester Dome road again, all the way to the top, with the finish at the last of the antennas. The next morning, racers assembled at the Moose Mountain Clubhouse for the first cross-country (XC) event. Racers rode to the top of Moose Mountain, then took a muddy powerline trail to Old Murphy Dome road. Encrusted with mud and chains squeaking in protest, racers took off downhill, riding about three miles west on Old Murphy Dome road. After a brief uphill climb, the course dove into the woods, heading south on a very bumpy narrow trail. Though this portion of the trail was downhill, it was not easy, and at least one racer flew over their handlebars because of a miscalculation. After three miles, racers finally left the woods and joined Moose Mountain Road again. Expert men rode another torturous lap, going to the top of Spinach Creek, heading east on Old Murphy Dome road and then riding the narrow bumpy trail again. The finish was at the Moose Mountain Clubhouse. Immediately following the completion of the Moose Mountain XC, the observed trials stage was held. Participants had to negotiate stairs, a teeter-totter, a ramp-to-ramp gap jump, a 16 foot long plank, a soda-bottle obstacle course, a flat automobile tire and finally a ten-second stop -- all without touching a foot to the ground. Racers had three tries at each element before going on to the next. If a rider couldn't complete the element, a thirty second penalty was assigned to their overall time. Most riders cleaned all the elements. Sunday was an easy day, meeting at Gail and Rocky's house for the predicted time event and the miss-and-out. The predicted-time event required racers to estimate how long it would take to ride three laps around a short course. Racers were given the opportunity to ride the course once to see how long one lap took. Then, leaving all timing devices behind, they rode three laps. The net difference in time between the predicted time and actual time was added to the racers overall time. Following the predicted-time event was Stage Five, the miss-and-out. Each division assembled at the start line and rode a short track through the woods. Each time the group passed the start line, the last racer was pulled out. This was repeated until the field was cleared. The last racer received no time penalty. The second place finisher received 15 seconds. The third place finisher received thirty seconds, etc. Finally, on Monday morning, racers met at the Vallata Restaurant parking lot for the final XC race. Racers went up Cordes drive, along Skyflight and turned into the woods for a long, wooded climb to Pandora. At the end of Pandora, racers entered the woods again, bouncing and bumping along a harsh trail that left backs aching and hands numb. After what seemed like hours, racers left the trail and rode east on Old Murphy Dome road and exiting onto the pipeline corridor. After two or three climbs and descents, racers dropped down the last hill, some riding, some walking and some crashing, until they crossed the finish line on the other side of the creek. Cookies and sodas were enjoyed by all... Stage1 Stage2 Stage3 Stage4 Stage5 Stage6 TOTAL Place Senior Men 5/23 5/24 5/24 5/25 5/25 5/26 ========== Jim Lokken 0:37:22 2:17:04 0:00:00 0:00:20 0:00:00 1:20:52 4:15:38 1st Kevin Petrone 0:36:50 2:17:01 0:00:00 0:00:54 0:00:15 1:22:56 4:17:56 2nd Rocky Reifenstuhl 0:38:10 2:24:50 0:00:00 0:00:20 0:00:45 1:32:01 4:36:06 3rd T.G. Taylor 0:46:13 3:03:53 0:01:00 0:01:02 0:00:30 1:42:53 5:35:31 4th Brandon Acheson 0:43:48 2:40:45 0:06:00 - - - - Nathan Adams - 3:03:53 0:06:00 0:02:00 0:01:15 - - Dave Cerny - 3:10:00 - - - - - Dave Delcourt 0:38:55 - - - - - - David Dohnal 0:44:15 - - - - - - Fred Harbison - 2:52:44 0:06:00 - - - - Rick Johnson 0:44:57 2:46:06 0:00:00 - - - - Christian Psoch 0:43:57 - - - - - - Matias Saari 0:41:56 - - - - - - Chris Shaw - 3:10:00 - - - - - John Shook 0:44:40 2:58:26 0:00:00 0:01:28 0:01:00 - - Wes Wagner - 3:03:53 0:06:00 - - - - Senior Women ============ Heidi Rader 0:47:27 1:46:13 0:06:00 0:02:13 0:00:00 1:52:56 4:34:49 1st Karen Taylor 0:52:13 2:03:01 0:00:00 0:01:14 0:00:15 2:20:44 5:17:27 2nd Eloise Brown - 2:03:01 0:06:00 - - - - Gail Koepf 0:48:36 1:42:06 0:06:00 0:02:30 0:00:30 - - Kelly Scanlon - - - - - 1:53:53 - Junior Women ============ Kristen Rader 0:52:44 1:45:33 0:02:00 - - - - Masters/Vet Men =============== Tom Clark 0:41:24 1:21:22 0:00:00 0:01:19 0:00:00 1:33:33 3:37:38 1st Dave Lokken 0:57:21 2:03:34 0:00:00 0:02:30 0:00:15 2:15:22 5:19:02 2nd Dan Harris 0:56:16 2:05:03 0:06:00 - - - - Dave Leonard - 1:24:57 0:05:00 - - 1:57:35 - Don Norris - 1:51:14 0:00:00 - - 2:15:47 - Pete Wilda 0:43:40 1:30:40 0:00:00 - - - - Junior Men ========== Tommy Lokken 0:44:26 1:24:27 0:00:00 0:02:59 0:00:15 1:37:52 3:49:59 1st Andrew Branhan - 1:51:17 0:01:00 - - - - Josh Carlstrom - 1:17:07 0:01:00 0:02:18 0:00:00 - - Todd Collin 0:47:59 - 0:00:00 - - - - Michael Levison 0:47:17 1:17:07 0:00:00 - - - - Noah Merry 0:47:17 - 0:06:00 0:02:59 0:00:30 1:46:22 - David Norris - 1:36:08 0:06:00 - - 1:42:36 - Steven Norris - 1:51:14 0:00:00 - - 1:51:17 -