Minnesota State Championship Series

MANKATO -- It's always been scorcher at the Bluff Riders Charge at Mount Kato.

But Sunday was the hottest in recent history.

Seriously.

Weather Underground reported temperatures topping 91 degrees Sunday, with humidity at one point reaching 100 percent.

Compare that to last year: temperatures hit only 80 degrees at about 70 percent humidity. In 2005, temps reached 89 degrees, with humidity topping 82 percent. And in 2004, temperatures only reached 78 degrees (though humidity was a choking 88 percent).

A light breeze was all that curbed our suffering this year.

That and the water.

The crisp, cold water, handed up by nearly 30 volunteers on hand for the race. (And thank you, thank you, thank you for that).

"It was just a matter of keeping hydrated out on the course," Expert racer Jennifer Meyer, of Inver Grove Heights, said following the race.

Meyer took third overall in the Expert division, behind second-placer Jenna Zander of North Mankato and St. Cloud's Kyia Malenkovich, who won in 1:34:04.

"Certainly a lot of people had to gut it out because of the heat," Meyer said. "It took a lot out of people."

It wasn't just that temperatures were high.

The air was dry and the trail dusty. And the sun was beat-down hot: an energy-sucking magnet that left more than a few of us with funky brains.

"It took a toll on some riders," said Dave Stoen of the Larson Cycle Racing team. Stoen took second in his age group of 50+ in Sport, and 18th overall.

"You saw that even with the experts. Training in the heat didn't necessarily pay off."

Still, most persevered. Of the 228 registered racers, only 18 recorded a DNF.

"A few people hit the weeds," Stoen said. "It was a good speed-check day."

That's what Stoen's teammate, Tony Benusa of Minneapolis, enjoyed.

"It was a really good track," Benusa said. Benusa took 28th overall in the Comp race. "I was amazed at the technicality of the downhill."

As were most of us.

The downhill to which he's referring was the "Quick Release," a section braved by only those in the Comp and Expert classes and new to the Bluff Riders race.

It's a heart-thump of a white-knuckle ride near the tail end of the loop: some 100 meters of a 60-percent grade singletrack through several trees and a dose of thick roots.

"It's a gas," said Race Director Mike Busch. "It's kind of one of those 'have faith you'll make it through to the bottom' kind of downhills."

And if Busch is saying that, pay attention.

Few riders (and yes, he raced too, in the Sport Clydesdale division, which he won), know the Kato trails better than Busch.

Busch literally lives just down the road from Mount Kato, and has a history with bikes in the region steeper than any bluff there. These days he's the service manager for both Spoke bike shops in Mankato and St. Peter.

Busch said the goal of this year's race was to let all racers experience a little of the challenge of the Mount Kato ski area.

That's why racers still struggled up the brutal climbs along the front of the ski area, as well as suffered the brutal "Staircase" climb on the back side, that forced more than its share of riders off their wheels.

Still, he added, they tried to make the course somewhat friendly.

"We don't want to blow out people who are coming out and racing for the first time," Busch said. "We try to keep in mind that it's more a race than a death march."

As for winners, Paul Hanson of St. Peter took the Expert win, finishing more than 2 minutes ahead of Brendan Moore of Shakopee.

Mark Lewis of Menomonie, Wisc., won the Comp division, single-speeder Devin Curran of Onalaska, Wisc. won the men's Sport race, and Janna Krawczyk of Minneapolis won the women's Sport division.

In Citizen, Elizabeth Shedd of Minneapolis won the women's division and Cody Scott of Mahtomedi, Minn., won in the men.

Joshua Foster of Rosemount won the Kid's Comp.

Troy Melhus is a Minneapolis-based writer and racer for the Peace Coffee Racing Team. He can be reached at tmelhus@mac.com