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THE UPDATE

Tomorrow’s “Hammer in the Hay” mountain bike race may be on a beautiful mountain bike trail across parts of 4 Eagle Ranch near Wolcott, but it’s not neces-sarily easy.

Racers should be ready for a hill at the beginning, some water crossings and “sneaky, gradual uphills,” said Tom Backus, general manager at the ranch.

“It’s always a little challenging for them,” Backus said. “But nobody else gets to ride mountain bikes on the property. The feedback we get is that people really like the course.”

Hammer in the Hay, scheduled for Wednesday, is the

first in the Vail Recreation District’s (VRD) series of mountain bike races this summer. The loop course is 3.8 miles long for youth 8 and older. Pro and expert riders get a 14.8-mile race course. Backus walked the course recently with Vail Recreation District personnel to make sure it would work out well for the riders.

“They’re kinda bouncing along the ranch,” Backus said. “The trails have had cows and horses on them.

After the race, riders also will get a chance to kick back with a free keg of beer and tunes from the lo-cal favorite Hardscrabble. Raffle prizes at the race and throughout the series feature products from race spon-sors, area merchants and national companies.

New this year is a men’s Clydesdale category, where men over 200 pounds will compete against each other,

said Beth Pappas, the recreation district’s sports coor-dinator.

Many men asked for the new category, Pappas said.

Race series dates— The Eagle Ranch Classic is the next in the series,

scheduled for June 10 at the 4th of July trailhead in Eagle Ranch.

— The Berry Creek Bash will be held in Edwards on June 17 on the U.S. Forest Service Road that accesses Berry Creek.

Bike race series begins tomorrow‘Hammer in the Hay’ hits 4 Eagle Ranch

May 26, 2009

Pulitzer winnerin town

TUESDAY

Awesome beard winner not in town

page 7

page 8 page 8 & 18 page 18 page 9

page 3

A group of men ride in last year’s Vail and Beaver Creek Mountain Bike Race Series event at Camp Hale. Spike Hoban photo.

By Beth PotterMountaineer Staff Writer

[See BIKE RACE SERIES, page 12]

Pulling an efficient engine out of thin air

Most car companies are racing to bring electric vehi-cles to the market. But one startup is skipping the high-tech electronics, making cars whose energy source is pulled literally out of thin air.

Zero Pollution Motors is trying to bring a car to U.S. roads by early 2011 that’s powered by a combination of compressed air and a small conventional engine.

ZPM Chief Executive Shiva Vencat said the ultimate goal is a price tag between $18,000 and $20,000, fuel economy equivalent to 100 miles per gallon and a tail-pipe that emits nothing but air at low enough speeds.

Elsewhere in the world, the technology is already gaining speed. The French startup Motor Development International, which licensed the technology to ZPM, unveiled a new air-powered car at the Geneva Auto Show in March. Airlines KLM and Air France are start-ing to test the bubble-shaped AirPod this month for use as transportation around airports.

N. Korea conducts nuke testNorth Korea defied world powers and carried out an

underground test Monday of a nuclear bomb Russian officials said was comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The incident drew condemna-

[See THE UPDATE, pages 8-9]

1

Iraq war veteran Ibrahim Garcia color guards the 5th annual Memorial Day Service at Freedom Park in Edwards. Garcia has served two tours in Iraq. The Mountaineer chose to put Garcia on the front page today because the efforts of veterans like him protect the rights of Americans to make free choices. Avery Cunliffe photo.

Protecting our rights . . .

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 Vail Mountaineer 11

WWE stages raw takedown of Nuggets

Vince McMahon got his takedown of Denver Nug-gets owner Stan Kroenke Monday night.

Sort of.During the World Wrestling Entertainment’s “Mon-

day Night Raw” show, McMahon shoved a mock Kroenke to the mat and the faux Kroenke fell out of the ring at the Staples Center. The wrestling card was switched from the Pepsi Center last week to Los An-geles due to a scheduling conflict with Game 4 of the Lakers-Nuggets series in Denver. Originally, the date was held by the WWE.

In the TV skit, the counterfeit Kroenke, microphone in hand, sauntered toward the ring with a basketball under his arm. He handed the ball to an equally fake Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who was standing next to a phony David Stern and Jack Nicholson.

The imitation Kroenke then announced that he is “the owner of the soon-to-be NBA champion Denver Nug-gets. And I cannot stand the WWE or its fans, for that matter.”

“Do you think that I care that I screwed thousands

of WWE fans? I do not. I have much more important things to do with my team than worry about you peo-ple.”

McMahon then entered the fray, ambling into the ring and telling the pretend Kroenke, “None of this had to happen. All you had to do was pick up the phone, say ‘I didn’t think my team would make the playoffs, I screwed up.’”

Seconds later, McMahon shoved “Kroenke” after warning him, “When you push the WWE universe, they push back.”

Saint Collapses in VegasTMZ.com is reporting that New Orleans Saints tight

end Jeremy Shockey was found unconscious at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas and he had to be taken by stretcher to a local hospital.

According to the story, sources said Shockey was found around 2 p.m. unconscious at Rehab - Hard Rock’s Sunday pool party. A Saints official responded to the story saying Shockey suffered from dehydration and will recover.

Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre of Spain won the 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Monday, a gruel-ing route made even tougher by 100-degree heat.

Denis Menchov of Russia kept the leader’s pink jer-sey. Levi Leipheimer was the day’s big loser, cracking on the final climb and dropping from third to sixth in the overall standings.

“I was not as strong as those guys, it’s plain and sim-ple,” Leipheimer said. “It was hot for everyone. Today was the day that separated everyone and you see who’s strong and who’s not.”

Sastre was timed in 7 hours, 11 minutes, 54 seconds on over the 147-mile leg from Pergola to Monte Pe-

trano. The stage featured three major climbs and ended with an uphill run.

“I knew I had a chance to do something today and I did,” said Sastre, who also won the most difficult stage in last year’s Tour, at Alpe d’Huez. “This was the toughest stage of this year’s Giro.”

Menchov was the runner-up, 25 seconds behind. Da-nilo di Luca of Italy was third, 26 seconds back. Men-chov increased his lead over Di Luca to 39 seconds and Sastre moved into third overall, 2:19 back.

After a rest day Tuesday, competition resumes Wednesday with a 52-mile stage from Chieti to Block-haus. The race ends Sunday with a short individual time trial in Rome.

—The Associated Press contributed to this report

Sastre wins stage-16 at GiroBy Dean Blazier

Special to the Mountaineer

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