January 3rd 2010 marked the start of the 3rd annual Cold Bear Challenge in Elk River Minnesota. The Cold Bear Challenge is a winter race series held in the heart of Minnesota at Hillside Park.
The highly-sought-after Cold Bear pint beer glass
This year’s inaugural race had a solid turnout given that temperatures leading up to the race were well below zero. The course at Hillside park consists of 7.5 miles of tight twisty singletrack with punchy climbs covering approximately 1500’ of climbing. The trails were groomed perfectly by a combination of Pugsley packing and hand grooming.
The hand groomer ready for work
The race was started in 3 waves, Pugsley’s, Advanced, and Recreational and with a starting temperature of 15 degrees below zero 36 of Minnesota’s finest toe’d the line. First to go was the Pugsley class which consisted of 10 racers all looking to test out their winter legs. Next up was the advanced class, a field of 9 men all on traditional mountain bike set ups. Last but not least was the recreational class with a mix of men and women building a field of 18.
The trails were in perfect shape with riders claiming the ability to climb out of the saddle and maintain momentum through the corners. The recreation class endured a 1 lap race with Verlon Langland taking honors with a time of 1:02:48 followed closely by John Smith and Ray Osowski. Corey Coogan-Cisek cleaned up the womens field with a 1:14:51, 45 minutes ahead of second place Samantha Bushendorf. In the advanced field of 9 starters and 4 finishers Dave Hoglund dominated the race from the start with a crushing time of 1:50:32 for 2 laps. Followed by Drew Wilson and CJ smith. The Pugsley class did not disappoint, Larry Sauber cleaned up with a time of 1:51:23 followed by Jack Donovan and Ray Nickles.
After the race I found 50 or so people huddled around a big fire trying to dry out and stay warm and swapping stories from their battles on the trail. The promoter and organizer Rich Omdahl really knows how to treat his racers right. With hot chocolate, cookies, beer and swag a plenty everyone was happy to stick around for the awards (which were some of the nicest I have seen at a race, period!). If you find yourself in Elk River, MN on January 24th stop in to Hillside park for a quick race, you won’t be disappointed.
