Sixth Annual Stan Crane Memorial

(30 May 2011 – Draper Utah) Stan Crane loved to race his mountain bike. He had a family, raced sport class and ran a small business. An original member and sponsor of the Revolution Peak Fasteners Racing Team., he was popular figure. Over the winter of 2006 he began to be serious about his approach to racing. Stan passed suddenly that winter. In the words of team mate and friend Bob Saffell, “... the mistake of a little segment of DNA encoding some protein a little wrong even before he was exactly a person yet -- the product of an imperfect world. Or something like that.” Bob and the Revolution Team host the race, a part of the Intermountain Cup Series, annually to honor their lost friend and teammate. So now on Memorial Day Weekend the local mountain bike community gathers to race in the dirt in memory of Stan Crane.

Opening with a short lap of single track, the race then turned up hill. Each lap featured 1200 feet of elevation change. The downhill also crossed a small stream a couple of times. After a week of rain and mixed sloppy weather conditions the course dried out enough to make a mountain bike race as opposed to a cyclocross event. The course did feature one sloppy climb and a log bridge which allowed those with cyclocross skills to strut a bit. A short section of two narrow bi-directional racing as the course crossed under Highland Drive lead to some near misses. Close to 200 riders turned out to compete.

In the pro mens class 16 year old Noah Talley (Revolution/Cannondale) rode to victory in convincing fashion. Covering the 32 mile course in 2:16:05 Talley finished 8 minutes ahead of second place rider Geoffrey Montague (Timpanogos Cyclery). Utah's other young gun Keegan Swenson spent the week racing in Europe contesting his first World Cup race.

The following bit comes from Kathy Sherwin. Kathy rides for the Stan's No Tubes Women's Elite Team. When asked to give a few thoughts on the race she sent this. Kathy so loves to race her bike it just seemed right to use it intact.

Who knew that it was going to be cyclocross weather and racing in Utah on May 30th?! I was really happy to have my full arsenal of cyclocross clothing and cold weather gear packed with me. My clothing choice of leg warmers and a wind proof vest proved to be the ticket. Yes, a tad hot on the uphills (that's what zippers are for!) but perfect on the downhills and a great defense for the howling wind and cold.

Off the line I was able to jump in front of the group of women which gave me a nice head wind to contest as well. I wasn't feeling the love on that first lap and was pretty sure that maybe I should have warmed up even longer than I actually had on this cold day – oops. That was really proven to me on the second lap when I started to feel better and was in a better groove as I climbed.

The trails were awesome, and even muddy in sections which is pretty unique for Utah at this time of the year. There were many parts requiring Cyclocross skills and mudder skills. I felt very at ease on all those sections as I was able to plow through them with not a second thought. It certainly kept you on your toes though....or on your face if you weren't so lucky!

Another thing that kept me on my toes was Sarah Kaufmann who is having a great season. She was in it to win it and kept the pressure on. It was a great race in that respect of having to really think about things tactically and to try and figure out where the best places were to really throw down and keep growing the gap. You are never "safe" in any race so growing the gap is always a goal along with winning which I really wanted to do too! The wind was mighty making every effort I put in seem almost unsustainable but my body and mind persevered as I came away with another win for this season.

Sarah Kaufmann (Elete Nutrition) commented that she held the race close for the first lap. Sherwin opened a 10 second gap going into the second circuit. In a 2 hour event hydration and feeding play a role in the outcome of a race. Kaufmann experienced difficulty hydrating on lap two. Sherwin increased her lead to 30 seconds. In the end Kaufmann finished two minutes adrift of a hard charging Sherwin.