Minnesota State Championship Series

INVER GROVE HEIGHTS -- What a difference an hour makes.

You'd have never known by the bluebird skies on Sunday that less than a day before the annual Erik's Spring Cup we saw nearly an inch of rain.

It rained so much Saturday, in fact, that race director Noah Jensen closed the course to preriding.

"We wanted to prevent as much damage to the course as possible," Jensen said.

It rained so late into Saturday night that Jensen postponed the start of all races on Sunday by an hour, just to let the trails dry.

"The hour later definitely helped with the trails," Jensen said, after the race.

Just helped?

By midafternoon Sunday, thick into the Comp and Expert races, sections of the course were all but bone dry.

The only remnant of the previous day's deluge was the large mudhole near the end of the lap.

"Most of the sections really held up," Jensen said.

Though the weather got off to a chilly start for this annual spring Minnesota rite -- temperatures were in the mid-40s around 9 a.m., coupled with what could effectively be called a wind chill --  it turned out to be perfect for bike racing.

The sunshine certainly boosted turnout: Nearly 400 bikers rolled onto the course at Harmon Hills this year.

"We were expecting a lot less," Jensen said. "We had over 200 preregistered compared to 165 last year. And we were expecting a great turnout -- but then we had the crummy weather.

"But the turnout was great."

Of course, turnout is what makes the Erik's Spring Cup one of the most fun races of the year.

While the course itself presents little challenge -- it's technically the easiest in the Minnesota series; there are more climbs on the streets leading to the park than on the actual course -- it's the camaraderie that makes this springtime classic shine.

Erik's Spring Cup is the one MNSCS event where you can count on seeing dozens of like-minded friends emerge from hibernation. It's almost like an annual reunion.

There were the familiar faces running the show: Libby Shea Hurley managing the Erik's van; Dave Vance with a wrench in hand; Erik the Bike Man himself calling out the winners.

There were the congratulations all around: The weddings (Congratulations to Lonie and Rebecca Sauber, for example, who married last fall); the family additions (Adam and Tracy Emanoff were there with their new daughter; Cal and Angela Collins were there with their new bundle of joy); and then there were just the greetings and salutations among the familiar faces.

Yes, for example, that was Jay Richards who wiped in the first lap of the expert race, before blazing back to a 19th place finish. One found practically the entire Richards clan at various points on the trail -- including two mothers (Mary Richards and Jonell Richards) each cheering on their sons on this Mother's Day.

(Fifteen-year-old Jake Richards, now wearing the Silver Cycling colors, was the talk of the race, after he placed 28th in Comp).

And speaking of Silver Cycling, yes, that was Silver sponsor Jay "Hollywood" Henderson of Hollywood Cycles, still toward the front of the Expert pack. (If his lean stature doesn't give him away, the hair under the helmet is a sure clue. He finished 10th.)

And well in front of Hollywood -- well, in front of everybody -- was Doug Swanson (um, was that really Doug? We couldn't make out any features in the blur).

There was Matt and Andrea Horner -- great to see them back. Barry and Alison Tungseth. There was Bruce Parker, making the jump from Citizen to Sport.

There were the nearly 20 women signed up for Sport class -- some familiar names, like Rebecca McClure, Andrea Horner, along with some new faces -- and then how about that Comp class?

This year's Comp, with 77 racers, featured several familiar Sport class names from years past who decided to make the jump up to a four-lap challenge. (Shout out to Cal Collins, Jamison Beisswenger, Eddie Karow and Ton Tran to name just a few.)

There were winners, of course, too. Rusty Kiser of Minneapolis won the First-Timer's Race for men and Bridget Edar of Forest Lake won for women; Joshua Foster of Rosemount won the Kid's Comp, Steve Stilwell of Hudson, Wis., won the men's Citizen and Minneapolis' Meredith Wolf won the women's race.

Always great to see new racers in the series.

Later, Matthew Allen of Minneapolis won Sport men and Sara Morse of Minneapolis won Sport women; Tim Brandvoid of Minneapolis won the Comp division race and Doug Swanson, as we know, won the Expert Men's race, beating out Brendan Moore of Shakopee by 2 1/2 minutes.

For women, Jenna Zander won the Expert race, beating out Kyia "yes-that's-a-new-last-name" Anderson by 5 1/2 minutes. (Remember? It was Kyia Malenkovich last year.)

Ah, yes. Welcome back to the 2008 MNSCS.

Good to see everyone again.

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