Sunday, August 23, 1998 -- Little Beaver State Park
Little Beaver Mountain Bike Classic
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| No MTB race is complete without a Kids Race! |
They told us this one was going to be a good one, and they didn't disappoint. The first year for the Little Beaver Mountain Bike Classic promised fun for the whole family, a course with a lot of great singletrack, and no "long grueling climbs". Does that mean an easy course? Of course not. Each roughly six mile loop consisted of plenty of grueling short climbs and more than enough rock strewn singletrack to give anyone a workout. But it was a beautiful day for a bike ride on the scenic trails of Little Beaver State Park.
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| Bryan Sterns made a great effort after breaking a chain early |
The Sport classes, getting the extra fun of a second lap, were led to the finish by Chris Caul (1:47:15) who took the lead early and never looked back. The battle for second was not decided as quickly. On their second trip through the very technical Mike's Trail section, Sean Sabol, Jushua Perdue and Bradley McGraw were racing in 2nd, 3rd and 4th, respectively. However, over the final miles their race, it appears that McGraw surged ahead while Sabol was fading. In the end it was McGraw 2nd (1:50:15), Perdue 3rd (1:50:41) and Sabol 4th (1:52:22).
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| Jeremy Shuck wasn't slowed by this log crossing |
What about the big dogs who attacked the course for 3 laps of the best Little Beaver had to offer? By the time we caught up with them, in the middle of the second lap on Mike's Trail, Mike Bowen was in the lead and he stayed there to the finish with a time of 2:30:41. Chasing the whole way was Jeremy Shuck who finished 2nd overall in a time of 2:31:56. Finishing 3rd and 4th overall, and 1st and 2nd in Expert Veteran, were Mike Boyes (2:33:04) and Bryan Sterns (2:34:12) who was slowed by a broken chain early. Rounding out the top five was Ryan Hobbs (2:34:17) who took 1st in the Junior Expert class.
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| Mike Bowen mastered Mike's Trail and the field of expert riders |
