AC Juniors Rock Road & Dirt

It was another big weekend for the AC junior team athletes with a win and high placings in both road and mountain events-- all over California!

Rocking the Road
Alex, the current AC roadie powerhouse, and Isaiah traveled deep into VeloPromo territory to contest the Warnerville Road race. This event, like many other VP races, was help on rough back roads in unknown places. Warnerville is a 17-mile loop that Alex and Isaiah's Cat 4 group traversed 3 times. Each lap included a 1-mile dirt/gravel stretch-- conditions that the AC guys are quite comfortable handling a road bike on, given their CX experience.

The 30-odd Cat 4 bunch rode a moderate tempo for the first two laps over the rolling course. On lap 3 however, things really heated up. A small break got free just before the dirt. Alex and Isaiah worked together to stay clear of the ensuing chase group. Isaiah worked hard to keep Alex in the clear. Alex "rode harder than I ever have." It worked because he finished fourth while Isaiah battled within the chase group for a very solid 7th. "I collapsed after the race," said Alex. "I slept the whole way home and went to bed after that!" Readers should note Isaiah and Alex competed in the Elite (19-34 year old) Category 4 Men, not juniors. With this result, Alex secured the points he needed for his Cat 3 upgrade, and with that comes qualification for Road Nationals.

Rocking the Dirt
Meanwhile, about 400 miles to the south, Bob, Spence and new AC recruit Eliel were racing the Pro XCT Kenda Cup West Series cross country in "Fontucky." Although the day dawned clear, with beautiful views of snow on the Angels Crest, the wind was something to reckon with. Blowing a steady 20mph from the northeast, with gusts well over 30, the gale wreaked havoc with the course markings, banners, spectators and most of all the racers. We are still finding sand in various... nooks and crannies!

The Fontana course is set on a small but rugged mountain-- or what's left of it, since it is an abandoned granite quarry. The course was extremely technical with a surprising amount of climbing for its ~5 miles. Lots of rock, decomposed granite, and even man-made "features" like concrete culverts. The rather stunning backdrop on several drop-away turns was the endless expanse of tract homes in the San Bernardino Valley. Cat 1 contested 3 laps; Cat 2, 2 laps.

Spence raced Cat 1 15-16, which started in a field combined with 17-18. The pace was very fast from the gun. The group remained mixed over the first half of the lap 1, at which point the climb and tech sections strung out the riders. The competition was intense, with a high number of mechanicals largely due to the rough course. Spence managed a strong 6th place (1:08:23, 4 minutes off the winner), with familiar names from the NorCal HS MTB varsity ranks above him on the podium.

In the Junior Cat 2 event Bob (17-18) and Eliel (15-16) faced a similar challenge. Bob got the hole-shot from the gun, with Eliel right behind him. It was a fantastic sight seeing the two AC riders negotiate the alternating hard-pack and sandy chicanes and rollers that made up the first half-mile of the race. Bob kept the gas on, and blipped Whole Athlete/Novato High rider Bobby Zideck for the win (0:46:20). Eliel had his own work cut out for him, battling two SoCal riders for an excellent 4th place (0:46:54), barely a minute behind winner and fellow NorCal HS MTB racer Taylor Smith (Whole Athlete/Redwood).

Here are pictures from Fontana.

Great riding, everyone!
Blair

Sobrero Has Krabbe-Like Experience at Bariani

Cat 4 masters racer has a very close call at last Saturday's Bariani Road Race. Here's the first-person recap:
First, 100 participants showed for Elite 4 race. Many teams of riders – not too many individuals. Get this, the race was 98% single lane only with strict centerline enforcement – making a tight 5-6 bikes across a single lane with dicey shoulders of pea gravel and such. 5 laps at about 10 miles a lap. Very intense as no where to pass easily and a bit of talk and arguments in the peloton, add to that it was very hard to drop a big amount of the group since there was not that much climbing – about 400ft per lap. Speeds where very high with an average of 25 miles an hour for 50 miles.

I stayed in the first 25 places through the whole race thinking strategy and surprisingly in the end had much energy to hammer down the straight away to the finish. As I hammered down the straight away I reached 36 miles an hour and was moving through to top 10 spots and feeling like I could have been top 5 – that’s where it all ended with the number 6-7 guys crashing and taking out about 20 bikers behind them including me at 36 miles an hour. Needless to say – broken shoulders and a lot of shredded skin amongst the grounded riders. Luckily I have bruised ribs, two nasty strawberries on each hip, sore shoulder, back, neck – well ..just about everything. Total bummer. Bent my shifters back in place, played with the chain and brakes to be able to roll – and soft peddled to the finish – likely bottom 10. Things can change quickly – although I was lucky – I can still ride a bike today. :)

I wont do that ride ever again unless they open the whole road – not worth it.

Keane Keeps Cool

Jack Keane, sole representative of the AC squad brave enough to face the muck in Cool, CA, pulled off a strong victory in the recent Cool Mountain Bike Race. Though the weather was clear (but cold) the Olmstead Loop course had been drenched in previous days. Course conditions were foul. Though his age-group field was small, Jack had the second-fastest time of the entire Men's Cat 2 field. Way to go, Jack!

NorCal Race #1 - Ft. Ord - five racers, five podiums

Yesterday was the first of five NorCal Mountain Bike races of the year, down at Fort Ord near Monterey. This is a five-race series that other Marin teams, such as Drake and San Rafael High, have typically dominated in years past.

You can read more about the race series at www.norcalmtb.org, but this is the largest High School Mountain Bike league in the US. On Sunday, there were 530 riders registered to race from all over Northern California! The NorCal MTB League is the sanctioning body for high school “club sport” mountain bike racing in Northern California, and currently encompasses about 35 schools and about 1000 athletes.

Originally started in Northern California, the league is now in its 10th season, and has expanded to SoCal and other states too – rapidly becoming THE national mountain bike racing organization. In 2009, the league saw the first ever California HS championship (SoCal & NorCal).

Historically, the Marin schools have been the powerhouses in the league, but until recently, Tam High had yet to realize its rightful position as a powerhouse too. Given that several “founding fathers” of mountain biking are Tam grads (Joe Breeze, Steve Potts, etc., we’re hoping that 2010 may be the year to show the rest of Northern California where mountain biking started!

Yesterday, with a reconstituted Tam High racing team that included five strong new riders, for the first time in many years (we don't know how many), Tam High came away with four podium finishes, including two first place winners! Jack Keane, another AC racer also podiumed, riding as an independent in this race.

Spence Peterson has won many bike events in the past and has been a National Champion, so he upgraded from Freshman to Junior Varsity for this race series. Bob raced in Sophomores, with Alex Howard, Skyler Taylor, and Jack Keane taking on the other Freshmen.

The boys have many other races to their credit in road racing, cyclocross and mountain biking, so they were revved up and ready to race for Tam! The Tam team also included a number of other racers as well who raced in Freshman, Sophomore and Junior Varsity – just not enough girls to get them into Division 1 – that is the goal for the 2010-2011 season!

The races all had very large fields of 50-75 racers with boys from all over Northern California, with our boys racing on a race course they'd never ridden before. But it didn't stop them - they all wound up on the podium!

Alex hammering up through the feed zone

Skyler overtaking a slower rider on one of the climbs

Skyler powering along just behind Alex

Jack heading up the feed zone

Bob battling with Eliel (Branson) for first place

Spence ("no one else in the picture") with a 2 minute lead

Below are the race results:

Spence Peterson – 1st Place Junior Varsity, Division 2 (faster than 1st Place Division 1 finisher)
Bob Siegel – 1st Place, Sophomore, Division 2 (faster than 1st-place Division 1 finisher)
Alex Howard – 3rd Place, Freshmen, Division 2
Skyler Taylor – 4th Place, Freshmen, Division 2
Jack Keane – 5th Place, Freshmen, Division 2

Junior Varsity Podium - Spence Peterson - 1st Place (racers shown to scale)

Sophomore Podium - Bob Siegel - 1st Place

Freshman Podium - Jack Keane 5th (off screen), Alex Howard 4th, Skyler Taylor 3rd

Freshman Podium - with Jack in the picture!

The other Tam riders (boys and one girl) all exceeded their own personal best results, and we expect much more out of them as the season progresses. Credit also goes to Simon Andalib and Anna Davenport, the Tam High team's coaches.

This success is going to turn Tam into a much more recognized school in the High School Mountain Bike racing league!

Full Results for all Tamalpais High Racers are on the NorCalMtb site here, and Tam High race results summarized below:

Varsity Boys, Division 2
Patrick Charlton - 33rd (1:40:01)

Junior Varsity Boys, Division 2
Spence Peterson - 1st Place (1:12:25)
Brent Peters - 21st (1:28:03)
Travis Powell - 30th (1:30:30)

Sophomore Boys, Division 2
Bob Siegel - 1st Place (53:21)
Andrew Henn - 21st (1:05:42)

Frosh Girls, Division 2
Laine Kendall - 8th (1:18:38)

Frosh Boys, Division 2
Alex Howard - 3rd (53:11)
Skyler Taylor - 4th (55:32)
Dillon Charlton - 13th (59:32)
Barry O'Brien - 38th (1:15:35)
Ian Courtney - 41st (1:17:02)

Thanks to our Sponsors!

Tam Bikes, the Mill Valley bike store, is the team sponsor for the Tam High Mountain Bike team, and should be recognized for their support and contributions to the team's success. Bob sends out a special thanks to Quoc and the guys for the loan of his race-winning Niner bike!

Also big thanks go out to Chad and the guys at Above Category for the loan of the fantastic set of carbon Edge tubular MTB wheels/tires that were on Spence's race-winning bike!

Pictures are up here

More pictures are here courtesy of Nicole Taylor.