Minnesota Mountain Bike Series

It's difficult to say what was the most exciting about the 2009 Erik's Spring Cup at Salem Hills in Inver Grove Heights.

One could easily say the weather: Clear blue skies and temperatures just shy of 70 degrees.

In a word, perfection.

"These were really good conditions," said Tara Steele of Woodbury, who won the Citizen 30-39 women's race. "The weather was just perfect today."

One could also easily say it was the course.

Organizers spent weeks refining the trails for this annual Minnesota rite of spring, and in the end they surprised us all with a motherload of a twist: The race was backwards.

Backwards?

"Tock-Tick, Tock-Tick," laughed Comp racer Eddie Karow, who ended up placing 42nd in his class. "It was a good riddle."

Indeed it was, turning the familiar twists and turns of this relatively flat and easy singletrack onto its head.

Jay Richards, who took third overall in the Pro category (and who was still fresh from Sea Otter just weeks ago), "just thought it flowed brilliantly for some reason this year."

"It's the most fun I've ever had on this course," Richards said.

For Josh Foster, who won the boys' 10-12-year-old Citizen race, it was his second win in a row.

"I had a lot of confidence because I won here last year," Foster said. "It was fun, sandy and a lot of singletrack."

For me, though, I'd say the most exciting thing about the 2009 Erik's Spring Cup was seeing everybody out on the bikes again, after a long, cold winter of discontent.

And on such a perfect day. So many familiar biking faces came out of hibernation it could just as well been a convention.

Brendan Moore of Velo Rochester, winning the whole Expert/Pro enchilada, for example. Jenna Rinehart doing the same for the Expert women.

Jay "Hollywood" Henderson, placing fifth in Pro. Matt Horner (36th in Expert) and Andrea Horner (eighth in Expert). Jay Richards (third in Pro) and Jake (15th overall in Expert). Tim Wiley (sixth in SS Sport) and Kim Wiley (ninth in Sport women). Angela Collins (12th in Sport women) and Cal Collins (85th in Comp men). Chris Druckenmiller (fifth in SS Comp).

Those are just a few off the top.

And then, of course, there were some of the new faces, too.

Do you realize this year's turnout blew last year's good turnout away? Last year, not even 400 rolled out to Salem Hills -- a day after some pretty heavy rains.

More than 500 racers turned out Sunday.

A whopping 125 showed up for Citizen, almost 200 alone turned out for the Sport race and more than 100 rolled out for Comp. What's best, though, was the turnout for the Kid's Comp: 31.

Proof there's going to be a good racing scene for years to come.

Troy Melhus is a St. Paul writer and Expert racer for the Peace Coffee Racing Team. He can be reached at tmelhus@mac.com.