Tag: <span>Amanda Scholz</span>

Lebanon Hills West Trailhead grand openingDespite the windy and cold conditions, a big crowd showed up for yesterday’s grand opening of Dakota County’s  Lebanon Hills West Trailhead, featuring the new mountain bike skills park (see my Aug. 7 blog post of preview photos/video of the park’s technical features). 

Willis Branning, Thomas Egan, Nancy Schouweiler, Chris Anderson ribbon-cutting, Lebanon Hills West Trailhead grand opening Amanda Scholz, Meghann Fedde 
There were dignitaries on hand, including Dakota County Commissioners Willis Branning, Thomas Egan and Nancy Schouweiler. MORC‘s 2012 Land Manager of the Year award went to Dakota County Parks and board member Chris Anderson presented the commissioners with a cool plaque, prior to the official ribbon cutting.  And board member Amanda Scholz presented Meghann Fedde with MORC’s 2012 Volunteer of the Year award.

The Blue Door Pub crew The Indeed Brewing crew mountain bikers pigging out
Crews from the Blue Door Pub and Indeed Brewing kept the crowd well-nourished.

See the large slideshow of 60 photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:

Events Organizations Photo album

My first-ever mountain bike race, the Sagamore SnowXross Race at the 2012 Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout, started out well for the 15 of in the Beginners Class.  After about 50 yards across the parking lot, however, soft snow created a big pileup and I soon learned firsthand what the phrase hike-a-bike meant. As Aaron Hautala wrote in this blog post:

XC race, Beginner class start, photo by Aaron HautalaEarly into the Sagamore SnowXross Race it was obvious it needed a new name.

The IRONYETI.

The snow pack turned into champagne crystal powder overnight with the dramatic drop in temperature from Friday night, which made the race course a bit more challenging than we originally intended.

After about two miles of pushing the Mukluk, I lowered my rear tire pressure from about 4 PSI to near zero—I could feel the rim by pressing the tire hard with my hand. Much better traction.  Another mile and it occurred to me to do the same to the front tire. Better yet.

Last discovery at about mile 4: I quit trying to always ride in the narrow tire ruts made by other riders.  The amount of energy required to keep my balance while riding a rut wasn’t worth it, speed-wise. Instead, I could often go faster (especially when the terrain was flat or downhill) if I rode where riders had been walking.  The low tire pressure usually gave me enough grip to get through the footprints if they weren’t too deep.  Still, I estimate that I pushed my bike for 3 of the 6 miles. Uff-da. I finished in just under two hours.  I’ve not yet seen the results posted but the top three riders (Beginners Class) finished in approximately 1 hr and 35 minutes. I’ll post a link to the results at the bottom of this blog post when they become available.)

Whiteout Festival activities in Crosby's Memorial Park Whiteout Festival activities in Crosby's Memorial Park Serpent Lake Ice Bike 500 races
After lunch at the Heartland Kitchen Cafe, I took in some of the Whiteout Festival activities in Crosby’s Memorial Park. I didn’t compete in the Serpent Lake Ice Bike 500 races (I didn’t have studded tires) but instead, opted for some solo fat bike riding in the Yawkey Unit.

  Haul Road trail, Yawkey Unit  Haul Road trail, Yawkey Unit Tugger trail, Yawkey Unit
Unlike Friday night, the Haul Road trail to the parking lot in the center of Yawkey was mostly packed down, sometimes to a width of 12 inches or more (left and center photos above). This makes for splendid riding. 

I then rode Tugger, normally an intermediate difficulty trail that’s at the base of Bobsled (see the inset on page 2 of this DNR map of the park). It’s a gorgeous trail but like Friday night, riding it was very difficult because there was only a single rut from the few previous riders.  I took it easy and just enjoyed the scenery.

Ya Betcha Bar & Grill in Crosby Aaron Hautala Amanda Scholz Women racers Cuyuna dirt boss and race director Nick Statz Yours truly with Whiteout beanie and stein
At 5 pm, everyone convened at the Ya Betcha Bar & Grill in Crosby for free appetizers, drawings for prizes, and the awards ceremony hosted by MORC Board member and Events Director Amanda Scholz. The event swag (beanie and stein) was impressive.

See the large slideshow of 50 photos of the entire two-day event (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:

Competition Events Photo album Trails

Rumors of the Cuyuna Lakes Yeti were confirmed last Friday via this video which quickly began circulating on the intertubes:

httpv://youtu.be/PGlD-FNYmFQ

I was among the mountain bikers assaulted on the Friday night ride in the Yawkey Unit, part of the Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout. Yesterday afternoon, the Yeti was captured after this stunt on a fat bike:

httpv://youtu.be/GxleCHMzjCI

Cuyuna Lakes Yeti being assaulted Cuyuna Lakes Yeti being assaulted
Event organizers forced the creature into duty at the awards ceremony at the Ya Betcha Bar & Grill in Crosby where male and female mountain bikers took turns assaulting the brute. Payback, baby!

Amanda Scholz and Isaac Ohman (AKA the Cuyuna Lakes Yeti) Isaac Ohman (AKA the Cuyuna Lakes Yeti)
MORC Board member and Events Director Amanda Scholz stopped the mayhem and with a little feminine charm, got the Yeti to reveal its inner self in the form of Isaac Ohman, Graphic Designer and social media geek at RedHouseMedia in Brainerd.  Isaac’s famous for this 2009 YouTube video (1.2 million views thus far) in which he passes out and smashes his face after doing a deadlift:

httpv://youtu.be/k8RcDb_wZfQ

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