NorCal High School Cycling League, Fort Ord, 3/27/2011

By Kevin Giberson

Wow, what a weekend of exciting NorCal High School Cycling League cross-country mountain-bike racing. Several racers moved up in the standings, the team moved up to 3rd overall (out of 28 teams in our division), and the racers learned that a team effort can result in success even after the top rider is out with a mechanical issue.

The race was originally scheduled for Laguna Seca which our team prefers due to the larger hills, but due to the huge amount of mud and water on the course from the week of rain the race was moved to East Garrison at Fort Ord. Luckily that course dried out wonderfully and was in great condition for the sunny race on Sunday.

In the Varsity Boys race, the team’s top racer, Jacob Albrecht, had a mechanical on the first lap as his chain broke and that essentially took him out of the race, though he did finish after repairing his bike. Jacob will be back strong at the next race.

In the JV Boys race Curren Giberson came in second place even with a crash and closed the gap on the lead rider to a mere ten seconds in this race, keeping him in second place overall in the standings. Chase Cummings also had a nice race finishing in sixth place.

In the JV Girls race Dominique van den Dries had the most movement in the standings from the prior week by finishing in third place and moving up seven spots with a strong effort.

In the Sophomore Boys race Josh Krisman also moved up in the standings and came in third place after a sprint to the finish with the top two racers. Leon Markarian moved up to 8th place this week.

In the Freshman Boys race Chance Tiner moved up to 8th place also.

The great side of so many racers moving up in the standings was the team captured third place at this race, and moved into third overall in the standings. All this was possible because teammates stepped up their game this week, even though our top point scorer was unable to contribute due to his mechanical. So a great effort by all, and next week we head to Laguna Seca… should be fun!

As always, thanks to our sponsors for helping to make this all possible.

Kevin Giberson, Program Director
Santa Cruz Junior Cycling Composite

NorCal High School Cycling League, Granite Bay Challenge, 3/13/2011

By Kevin Giberson

This past weekend was the first NorCal High School Cycling League cross country mountain biking race with all teams and riders in the same race. There are 750+ registered racers, with 27 teams in our division which usually has the faster riders since we have all the independent racers and composite teams too. We traveled to Granite Bay which is just east of Sacramento for this race, attended the pre-race ride on Saturday afternoon and then had the races on Sunday.

The conditions were very sloppy, with water on the course in many areas, slippery granite slabs, and mud several inches deep across the trail in many areas. The course was fairly flat overall which is not typical of a true cross country course, with some short quick hills, quite a bit of singletrack that made passing difficult, and some very technical areas where riders got backed up and had to slow or even wait when someone ahead of them had trouble. The advantage was to those riders who do not do well on hills and for those with less endurance who could catch up when the trail got backed up by a slower racer.

Despite this unusual course and set of conditions, our team still had very good results for our first full race. The team finished 4th in points out of the 27 teams in our division, and just a few points behind the third place team.

In the Varsity Boys race (combining both Division 1 and 2 for 40 racers) our sophomore racer Jacob Albrecht took 3rd place behind two senior racers. In the JV Boys race Curren Giberson took 2nd place (with the second fastest time of the 107 racers in both Division 1 and 2), and Chase Cummings took 5th place. In the JV Girls race our top female Dominique van den Dries, a sophomore, took 10th place despite a hard crash in the middle of her race in a thick area of sand where she had handlebars into her ribs and broke a wood post into which she fell... ouch. In the Sophomore Boys race Josh Krisman took 4th place, one second behind the finisher ahead of him. New racer Jose Reynado finished 13th in JV Boys in his first ever NorCal race. The team had four podiums out of 11 racers, on a course that was not our favorite and knowing all the remaining courses have plenty of hills on which we excel as a team.

Next up will be the NorCal race at Laguna Seca on March 27, with one very long uphill that our riders are already smiling about. Hopefully we can get out to the course this coming weekend despite all the rain, and worst case we just come back with lots of mud on our bodies and kits. Thanks again to our sponsors, as none of this would be possible without your generosity and support.



You can view more pictures on the Home page of our team website at www.santacruzjcc.com, and better pictures will be posted soon once received from our photographers with higher quality cameras.

Thanks,
Kevin Giberson, Team Director
Santa Cruz Junior Cycling Composite