Minnesota State Championship Series

MANKATO -- In a word, perfect.

That'd be the only way to describe the Bluff Rider's Charge at Mount Kato Sunday.

Perfect summer weather. Perfect race course. Perfect day.

"This is such a fun course," Comp Rider Ton Tran raved, after the race. "It's like a roller coaster out there!"

Skies were mostly sunny, temperatures were in the pleasant 70s, and a steady breeze kept riders cool. (And, I might add, the kids doing the water handups on Sunday were AWESOME.)

And trail conditions couldn't have been better: Just tacky enough so that tires stuck, but didn't get stuck.

OK, so I've always had a soft spot for the trails of Mount Kato. I've spent chunks of my last five Minnesota summers working in Mankato and riding this ski area's thrills in my time off there.

So I've gotten to know and love Mount Kato's opening, twisty "Kato Climb." I love the long Outlook Traverse across its peaks; the wily, curving descents through the back woods. I love zipping through the twists and turns on the flat back stretch of "The Maze."

And let's not forget the white-knuckled "Quick Release" -- one of the longest and steepest technical drops in the Minnesota series. If there's a descent in the MNSCS where you have to scoot your butt back further off the seat to keep from going over the bars, I have yet to ride it.

"We saw lots of guys doing endos there," Wanna Bees' Comp Racer Cal Collins told me after the race. "That was pretty hairy."

Mount Kato is a great course because it contains the whole range of challenges, and it's as fast as you want it to be. Plus, it's almost all wooded singletrack.

As for winners: the usual suspects -- the Oftedahl brothers, Brendan Moore etc. -- continue to blow this series out of the water.

Sam Oftedahl blazed a path to the win, almost a minute ahead of Cam Kirkpatrick of Urbandale, Iowa. Moore was about another minute behind him. For women, Jennifer Fisher of Inver Grove Heights cleaned house, nearly 7 minutes ahead of St. Paul's Maria Stewart.

Single Speeder Ben Shockey of Decorah, Iowa took the top prize in Comp, Luke Baker of Granite Falls won the Sport Men and Margaret Montgomery of Minneapolis won the Sport Women, barely crossing the line before Andrea Horner of Savage.

And to say that was close doesn't quite capture the drama: Montgomery's time was 1:15:34.34. Horner's time: 1:15:34.76.

In Citizen, Zach Stilwell of Hudson, Wis., won the Men and Darcy Busse of Stllwater won the Women.

Next up, the MNSCS travels to Red Wing on July 20 -- though many of the series' riders often hit Eau Claire's Chippewa Valley Firecracker in an "unofficial" border battle over the Fourth of July weekend.

(The official "Border Battle" is Sunday, Aug. 24, at White Tail Ridge.)

See you there!

Troy Melhus is a Twin Cities writer and an Expert racer for the Peace Coffee Bike Team. He can be reached at tmelhus@mac.com.