We're Famous

Just wanted to let all of you know...We're Famous! In case you hadn't already heard, Mrs. Aubert submitted a great story on our mountain bike team to local newspapers. A great story ran in the Pasadena Outlook last week, and may run in the La Canada Valley Sun and Outlook very soon.

Thank you again to our sponsors for your help this year!!

More Skills Training

It's winter time. Short days. Cool rides. Bust most importantly, it's the time of the year for us to work on our mountain biking skills.

It should be easy enough, but it's not. Riding a mountain bike, at any speed, takes some talent. We all want to make sure that we're prepared as our rides go longer, and faster. Our first race is in March, and we're going to be ready!

Here are some videos from our last ride on Wednesday.

Our Team Rocks!

Today was the first day of our club rides for the 2009-2010 season, and boy did we have fun! 17 students made it out, and along with the coaches, we looked like an army cruisong around on the trails!

Today's ride focused on a lot of basic mountain biking skills that will help get us to our first race in March. We have students from all four grades in our club, and everyone got along great. The best news of all...no crashes! OK...we did have a couple of tip-overs, but some of us are still getting used to the clipless pedals.

Regrouping

Practicing Braking Modulation

Coach Bird and Coach Nick talking about gears

Shift, shift, shift!

More drills

O-Dark-Hundred

What happens when you ask teenagers to get up at 6:00am on a Sunday? Well, if it's to help setup a cyclo-cross race course, they do it! On Sunday over 10 St. Francis MTB Club members and their parents helped setup the course for the annual Gene Galindo Memorial Turkey-Trot race in Glendale.

Not only did we enthusiastically help setup the course, Steve and Eddy also raced! It was early, but we all had a great time. Thanks to Eddy for getting us our team sweatshirts, and to Mr. Kronfli for bringing the hot chocalate, coffee, and donuts!

The gang, in the dark.

Matt, Lance, and Matt.

Eddy and Steve made over 40 sand bags.

Mr. Garrison and his son Nick.

Cameron was pounding stakes.

Eddy showing good 'cross form.

Steve racing his 30 lb mountain bike. That's hard to do!

Bike Maintenance Clinic

Today was our first outdoor meeting. We'll be riding in two weeks! But first, it was important for us to go over how to keep our bikes in tip-top shape, and how to repair flats. You know, it's easier to practice changing flats in a parking lot then out on the trail!

Sponsor Thank You's and Important Dates

We're on our way and are getting ready for another fantastic year! We've already had four club meetings as well as our very important parent's meeting. Before I get too much further down the road, I want to extend a grateful thanks to all of our sponsors. All sponsors from last year have renewed their commitment to the club, and we also have new sponsors on board. Please view their information on the left-hand side of this blog. And, if you can use their services, please do! THANK YOU SPONSORS!

OK, now for those important dates. Please bring your bike to the school for the mandatory bike inspection on October 31st from 8:00am to 11:00am. We will be meeting in front of the performing arts center and will also have equipment on display for those riders that still need to get all of their gear.

Club dues are due to me by November 1st. Clothing orders will be submitted soon after that, so please don't delay.

See everyone again soon!

Here we go again!

And....they're off! Yes, the 2009-2010 season has officially begun! Today we had our first club meeting, with many new faces as well as a lot of returning students. I'm confident that we are going to have another great year!

Please keep checking back often for updates and news. Next meeting is on September 29th at lunch, Room 102. See you then!

That's a wrap!

Our season has ended. Last Sunday was our final race at the beautiful Firestone course in Los Olivos. It turned out to be a great way for us to end the season. Beautiful venue, great course, and great racing.

This picture says it all. 4 friends out on their bikes on a great ride.

Lance showing good form.

Matt chasing hard.

Matt with a strong finish.

Another great shot of Matt amongst the cows.

(Thanks to Michael McClure for MANY great pictures)

Joseph was unable to race because of a bad ankle, but still made it up to the race. What a great teammate!

Steve with a sprint finish for position.

Steven and Andy out on the course together.

Here are some more notables on what we accomplished this year:

1. We had 39 official club rides!

2. I estimate based on attendance that we had a total of 676 hours of riding!
3. Burining appx 500 calories per hour = 338,000 calories = 697 Big Macs!

4. If we averaged 10 miles per hour, we would have ridden 6,760 miles! That’s enough to go to NY City and back, and then to Salt Lake City and back!!

Thanks again to the staff at St. Francis, Coach Patrick Donovan, the parents, students, and of course our sponsors. We had a fantastic year and can't wait to get started again in November!

End of the Line

Yesterday was our last club ride of the year. We have our final race on Sunday, an end of the year party next week, and then we're done. Our last ride was a fantastic ride! We had 10 riders out, beautiful weather, rode some new trails, and celebrated Steven's birthday afterwards with Pizza, cupcakes, and Gatorade!

We're Famous!

Well...almost famous. Our mountain bike team received some cool press in the June issue of Mountain Bike Action! The article is a glowing review of the first SoCal League race held in Vail Lake.

Tim and Garret on the starting line of the JV race

Here are the Frosh/Soph riders getting ready. If you look closely you can see Joseph, Lance, Steven, Andrew, Matt, Eddy, Cameron, and Russell.

Race 3 - Lake Arrowhead

Sunday, April 5th found us in Lake Arrowhead for round 3 of our 4 race series. Nine riders made it up the hill for this fantastic race venue.

Upon arrival we were greeted with very cool temperatures, but things warmed up nicely by 10:00am for our race. As has become common practice, the parents had our pit area setup quickly and brought lots of food...fantastic food!

By 9:00am the team headed out for a pre-ride of the course. The altitude affected a couple of us on our pre-ride, but the fast, rolling course was a blast to ride! Thanks to the team from Rim of the World High School and the SoCal League for working so hard to get the course setup for us.

Race time started and our first rider off was Tim in the JV category. Tim's been playing a lot of volleyball but still gets out to join the team and have fun racing his mountain bike. In the Frosh/Soph group, we had great results with Eddy getting a 5th place and our second podium of the year. Also in the top 10 of the Frosh/Soph race were Russell, Matt, and Lance...all finishing within 15 seconds of each other. Also putting in a strong race were Steve, Cameron, Joseph, and Steven.

The day ended with the team palling around with riders from other teams and the awards ceremony, where we were able to cheer on Eddy.

Great job guys! Next race, May 3rd in Los Olivos!

Getting the bikes ready for the race.

Coach Donovan and Coach Bird

Waiting for the call up.

Tim looking strong up one of the tough climbs.

Matt (L) and Lance (R) spent most of the day battling it out for position.

Russell showing good form in one of the tough technical sections.

Eddy still had enough energy to cheer on Lance at the finish.

Talking post-race with the guys from Orange County.

Eddy Kronfli - 5th Place

A nice cold, rainy day for a bike race - Warner Springs

That title sounds funny, doesn't it? Sorry for the delay in getting this blog updated. Our second race was on March 22nd at Warner Springs. Warner Springs is a nice little resort about 40 minutes inland from Temecula. Many of the riders and their families stayed at the resort the night before the race and enjoyed the natural hot-spring pools. Nothing like sitting in a 104 degree pool for a few minutes to relax you! There had been the threat of cold, rainy weather, but we were hoping that we would miss the storm. Unfortunately, the rain started at about 10:00am as the girls race got underway. Soon we learned that the boys race would be shortened, much to the delight of our riders.

The guys all toughed it out and we eneded up having a lot of fun. Even the parents made the most of standing in the rain. What else could we do? In the race, Eddy just missed the podium with a 6th place. Russell suffered through a head-cold, and Joseph had a fall into a cactus. The best part of the day was that for the second race in a row, all 12 of our riders finished. Nice job!

On the way home, a few of us stopped at the nearby St. Francis church. We thought that was only appropriate. Turns out that the church was built in 1830. That's old! It was a beautiful church and a nice end to a great day. Two races down, two to go.

Vail Lake Race Report

Our first race is done! WOW! What an intense and exciting day. 12 of our 15 riders were able to make it to the race, and 9 of them experienced their first ever mountain bike race. Ready for the best news? All 12 finished!!! That must be some sort of record. Mountain bike races are hard to finish! One rider was suffering with the flu, a couple had crashes, and one flatted near the start/finish lap on their second lap. But, like the Knights that they are, they all persevered and worked their way through any adversity that they were faced with. I couldn't be more proud!

">

For Lance and I, the day started at 5:00am. By 5:30 am we were on the road headed to Temecula. Arriving at Vail Lake, we were greeted with 30 degree weather. Ouch! By 7:30am, most of the families had arrived and in short order our pit area was setup. Team prayer, and then we were off for our pre-ride.


The racing came soon enough. The riders all had the pre-race jitters, but everyone made it off the starting line safely. The JV riders were off first, and headed out for 3 laps. 5 minutes later, the Frosh/Soph riders were off for 2 laps. Our podium award came from Russell Mays who finished 5th in the Frosh/Soph race.


All of the riders waited around the Finish line to cheer on their teammates. We all waited until the last rider was in. After everyone was off the course we gathered back at the team pit for more food! All of the families out-did themselves with the food and drink. What a sampling. It was also Joseph's birthday, so we were all treated to cupcakes!

At the awards ceremony, our team took pride in knowing that they all tried their hardest. It was fun to watch all of the riders receive their awards. Our greatest accomplishment was that our first race was now done, and we have 12 excited mountain bike racers. Our next race at Warner Springs is just two short weeks away. Look out competition!