Written by: The Editors
California’s two high school mountain bike leagues have started the season this month with the SoCal league holding its first race March 1 in Monterey and the NoCal season starting March 8 at Temecula.
Both races drew enthusiastic crowds who kept the cowbells and cheers going all day.
100 students representing 14 school and regional composite teams attended the SoCal race, held at the popular Vail Lake Mountain Resort.
With plenty of talent out on the course, racing was often close. Winners in the Varsity age group were Garrett Garcia (Independent), who broke clear from a group of three on the last lap. Tina Row rode solo to claim maximum points in the Varsity Girls category.
The Junior Varsity Boys field was dominated by Quint Berkemeier (Rim High), who last year placed second in the southern California championships. Nicolas Avallaneda (Independent) came back strongly from a mechanical on lap one and looks like another rider to watch. Amanda Duarte (Independent) rode solo to win the JV Girls race.
The SoCal calendar:
March 8, Vail Lake Challenge, Vail Lake Resort, Temecula, California
March 22, Warner Ranch Roundup, Warner Springs, California
April 5, Arrowhead Challenge, Lake Arrowhead, California
May 17, Cow Pie Invitational, Santa Ynez, California
NorCal
The SoCal riders will have to wait until the high school state championships on May 17 for the opportunity to test themselves against the best of NorCal high school mountain biking.
National team member John Bennett (El Cerrito), was one of the stars of a gray, rainy day at Fort Ord, Monterey, on which 415 riders entered the first round of the NorCal series, a 15 percent increase over the 360 that started last year’s series.
Predictably, Bennett won his race, but Christian Fernandez (Los Gatos) chased back from a mid-race crash to claim second place 1:18 back. With two of the race’s fastest lap times, Fernandez gave the impression that he could have given Bennett a tough battle.
The NorCal calendar:
March 1, Central Coast Invitational, East Garrison at Fort Ord, Monterey, California
March 15, Granite Bay, Folsom Lake, California
April 5, Mountain Goat Challenge, Pilarcitos Canyon at Fort Ord, California
April 26, Brown’s Ravine Invitational, El Dorado Hills, California
May 17, State Championship, Boggs Mountain, Cobb, California
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Written by: The Editors
California’s two high school mountain bike leagues have started the season this month with the SoCal league holding its first race March 1 in Monterey and the NoCal season starting March 8 at Temecula.
Both races drew enthusiastic crowds who kept the cowbells and cheers going all day.
100 students representing 14 school and regional composite teams attended the SoCal race, held at the popular Vail Lake Mountain Resort.
With plenty of talent out on the course, racing was often close. Winners in the Varsity age group were Garrett Garcia (Independent), who broke clear from a group of three on the last lap. Tina Row rode solo to claim maximum points in the Varsity Girls category.
The Junior Varsity Boys field was dominated by Quint Berkemeier (Rim High), who last year placed second in the southern California championships. Nicolas Avallaneda (Independent) came back strongly from a mechanical on lap one and looks like another rider to watch. Amanda Duarte (Independent) rode solo to win the JV Girls race.
The SoCal calendar:
March 8, Vail Lake Challenge, Vail Lake Resort, Temecula, California
March 22, Warner Ranch Roundup, Warner Springs, California
April 5, Arrowhead Challenge, Lake Arrowhead, California
May 17, Cow Pie Invitational, Santa Ynez, California
NorCal
The SoCal riders will have to wait until the high school state championships on May 17 for the opportunity to test themselves against the best of NorCal high school mountain biking.
National team member John Bennett (El Cerrito), was one of the stars of a gray, rainy day at Fort Ord, Monterey, on which 415 riders entered the first round of the NorCal series, a 15 percent increase over the 360 that started last year’s series.
Predictably, Bennett won his race, but Christian Fernandez (Los Gatos) chased back from a mid-race crash to claim second place 1:18 back. With two of the race’s fastest lap times, Fernandez gave the impression that he could have given Bennett a tough battle.
The NorCal calendar:
March 1, Central Coast Invitational, East Garrison at Fort Ord, Monterey, California
March 15, Granite Bay, Folsom Lake, California
April 5, Mountain Goat Challenge, Pilarcitos Canyon at Fort Ord, California
April 26, Brown’s Ravine Invitational, El Dorado Hills, California
May 17, State Championship, Boggs Mountain, Cobb, California
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2008 Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein (Eugene, Ore.) leads a competitive men’s field and 2004 Olympian Kate O’Neill (Palo Alto, Calif.) will defend her 2008 title Sunday at the 2009 USA Half Marathon Championships, hosted by the Aramco Houston Half Marathon.
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Written by: Jason Sumner
The dual slalom at NORBA national No. 1 will likely go down as the beginning of a youth movement. After years of seeing names like Brian Lopes and Wade Bootes at the top of the results sheet, it was a trio of under-21 kids who ruled the day at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, California.
The winner was the youngest of them all, 17-year-old Mick Hannah of the Global Racing team. The Australian teenager was part of an all Global final where he squared off with Greg Minnaar, a 19-year-old from South Africa. Minnaar reached the final by knocking off Lopes (GT-Fox) and Bootes (Trek-Volkswagen) in back to back rounds, while Hannah took out Eric Carter (Mongoose-Hyundai) and Michael Deldycke (Schwinn).
In the first heat of the final round the two Global Riders were neck and neck until Minnaar slipped a pedal and missed the last gate. That gaffe gave Hannah the maximum advantage of 1.5 seconds, a bulge he would easily hold onto in the second heat.
“This is unbelievable,” said Hannah, who called his mother in Australia on a satellite phone just moments after his win.
Meanwhile in the consolation finals, it was the 20-year-old Deldycke taking down Bootes, the reigning world champion.
“We’re young but we’re fast,” said Deldycke, a native of France who hooked up with the Schwinn team during last offseason.
In the women’s race, it was Leigh Donovan putting a fitting conclusion to her long run of racing at Big Bear. The 29-year-old Schwinn rider, who says she’ll retire after this season, got her first career NORBA win at Snow Summit back in 1993. Saturday she got another win here, knocking off Katrina Miller (Jamis) in the finals.
“Out of all the races I’m going to do this year, this one was by far the most important,” Donovan said.
In the final Miller took the first heat by .343 seconds despite dabbing a foot right before the finish. But during the second run the stocky Australian’s number plate came loose and she said it was just enough of a distraction to cost her the race. Whatever the case, Donovan took advantage, putting more than a second on Miller to take the first dual slalom of the 2001 season.
In the women’s consolation round it was Tara Llanes (Yeti-Pearl Izumi) beating No. 1 qualifier Missy Giove of Global Racing.
Racing at Snow Summit concludes on Sunday with the men’s and women’s pro downhills. Check back to VeloNews.com for a full report.
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Written by: Jason Sumner
The final day of the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, saw a shake-up in the women’s cross-country stage-race standings, but no change at the top of the men’s leaderboard.
Specialized’s Caroline Alexander came from 17 seconds back to win the women’s overall. Alexander supplanted teammate Barbara Blatter, who entered Sunday’s race wearing the leader’s jersey.
In the final stage, the 36-mile cross country, Alexander was second to GT’s Alison Dunlap, who won a sprint finish. Blatter held on for third, despite a problem with her fork that left her without front suspension for most of the race.
Dunlap covered the two laps around the course in 2:35:42.90. Alexander was 0.20 back, while Blatter was 25.20 behind. After that the gaps grew with Jimena Florit coming across next, 5:04.40 off the pace. Alison Sydor followed, at 7:21.70.
The final women’s GC had Alexander first, Blatter second and Dunlap third. Florit and Sydor rounded out the podium spots.
Dunlap was 40 seconds behind Alexander and Blatter at the race’s halfway point. But Dunlap was able to bridge the gap on an early descent of the second lap, where Blatter was struggling with her broken shock. From there the Colorado Springs resident was able to pull away from the slowed Blatter, giving Alexander no choice but to leave her teammate.
“We had hoped that one of us would win the overall, but the plan had been for Barbara to do it,” Alexander said.
In the second half of the race’s final lap, which ended on the asphalt of the Laguna Seca Raceway, Dunlap was forced to pull Alexander along or risk allowing Blatter to catch-up.
“Caroline just sat on for the last half of that lap,” Dunlap said. “But I knew I’d be in a good position if it came down to a sprint.”
Meanwhile, Blatter was left to ponder what could have been.
“My fork got flat and it felt like it was locked up,” she said. “It was really hard on my head.”
In the men’s race, Giant’s Bart Brentjens had no trouble holding onto his GC lead. Brentjens took second in the final stage of the three-day race, barley losing a hard-fought sprint with Trek-VW’s Roland Green. Green covered the two laps around the 18-mile course in 2:09:45.60. Brentjens was 0.10 behind, with Bas Van Dooren next at 1.90. Ryder Hesjedal and Cadel Evans followed at 23.40 and 25.70.
Green’s win allowed him to move into second in the final GC standings. Bas Van Dooren (Specialized) was third, followed by Cadel Evans (Volvo-Cannondale) and Ryder Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher).
“I knew on the last lap that I wasn’t going to be able to get the overall win,” Green said of a deficit that was 36 seconds when the day began. “At that point my focus was just getting the stage win.”
Green, Brentjens and Van Dooren rode alone most of the race, with Evans and Hesjedal the only real threat to bridge, hanging about 30 seconds back most of the way.
Like teammate Blatter, Van Dooren was stymied by problems with his front shock. A team mechanic said both riders were using a prototype that none of the other team members were using.
“I just couldn’t keep up in the downhills,” Van Dooren said.
Brentjens finished his weekend with one stage win and two second-place finishes to go with his overall title.
“Today wasn’t so hard because I was riding for the GC and Bas and Roland were riding for the stage,” Brentjens said. “I just had to follow them.”
In other final-day action, GT-Fox’s Brian Lopes and Volvo-Cannondale’s Anne-Caroline Chausson won the mountain cross, a new event to the Sea Otter where riders take on a gated gravity course four at a time.
Check out the next issue of VeloNews for a complete wrap-up of the 2001 Sea Otter Classic.
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