Lake Arrowhead Race Report

The St. Francis GOLDEN KNIGHTS Mountain Bike Team

Power the Pinnacles, Lake Arrowhead CA – May 6, 2012

The St. Francis High School mountain bike team competed in the fifth and final regular season event of the of the SoCal league series at Lake Arrowhead, CA on May 6th. The race was crucial for overall season awards and would be contested in the “thin-air” of the mountains.

The Lake Arrowhead course turned out to be very dry and dusty, unlike the muddy course that the riders faced last year. Besides the altitude and dust, the riders faced a 1.2 mile long fire road climb at the end of each 6-mile lap. This climb tested the resolve and strength of all of the racers.

In the Freshman Division 1 class, Golden Knight rider Austin Hamilton was looking to a secure a strong result and a podium position for the overall SoCal league results. Along with teammate Skyler Payne, Austin and Skyler worked hard to finish in 5^th and 7^th place, and secured the final two season overall podium positions in 6^th and 7^th place. Philip Saulney and Remi Roth battled all day against each other and finished in 11^th and 12^th position. Remi proved that his fitness is improving with his best result of the season. Nick Bedford also had a strong result, placing 19^th out of a deep field of 38 riders, with Nathaniel Blakely working hard for 24^th. Overall, this was the best race for the Freshman who have improved all season long and are looking to peak at the State Championships on May 20th.  

In the Sophomore Division 1 class, Daniel Balsam struggled through an illness to finish in 6^th position and secure a very impressive 3^rd place overall in the SoCal series. Hunter Nalley has steadily improved all season and finished in 19^th, with Keenan Koch and Will Towne finishing in 21^st and 22^nd.

The Varsity and JV race had many interesting side-stories that the riders and coaches were trying to manage all day long. In the JV race, Sean Bird needed to finish ahead of two other riders that he had battled against all season to secure a 3^rd place overall result for the season. Sean managed his race to perfection and finished in 3^rd place, securing 3^rd overall for the season. Racing in his final SoCal league race, JV racer Cameron Aubert had his best result in his 4 seasons on the team to finish in 14^th, with Connor Haas and Scott Marshall close behind in 17^th and 19^th. Matt Kubly persevered through another race filled with mechanical problems, losing 10 minutes to bike repairs, to battle back for 21^st position. After crashing hard during practice the day before the race, Steven Ayoob worked through the pain of his injuries to finish in 25^th. Like Daniel Balsam in the Sophomore race, Varsity racer Christian Breitschwerdt struggled with illness but finished in 26^th. The nail-biter of the day in the Varsity race was all about Matt Misetich. Matt has raced in the SoCal league for 4 years, and needed a solid result to qualify for the State Championships. Matt was two positions behind the result he needed during his first three laps, but pulled out a great final lap to qualify for the State Championships with a finish in 23rd position.

At the end of the day, the Golden Knight mountain bike team had achieved many impressive results. For the race, there were two more podium finishes, and for the overall season result, there were four podium finishes. In all, the team had 16 podium results and 22 top-10 results for the season, more than their previous three seasons combined. Also, all 21 members of the team had qualified for the State Championships. Coach Bird commented “I am most proud that for the fourth straight season, we had no DNF’s”. “This is an incredible achievement and proof that the members of our team are special guys who will not give up”.

The Golden Knights head to Los Olivos to finish off the season and compete against high school teams from the NorCal league at the State Championships on May 20^th.

The Golden Knights mountain bike team are very grateful for the support that they have received from the school and administration, along with their sponsors: Design Imports, Hollandays, VCA Arden Animal Hospital, Merchants Building Maintenance, Bell Helmets, Mountain Pine Shutters, Strategic Law Partners, Nu-Hope, Kevin Martin/UBS, Stratz & Company, Financial Guaranty Insurance Brokers, City National Bank, and JoBesh International.

GO KNIGHTS!

 Austin Hamilton and Skyler Payne

Sean Bird

Keepin' it Real...FUN!

Only 2 more weeks of training and racing left. Since our last race at Vail Lake, we've worked hard on our training, but we have also had a lot of fun. At Carl's suggestion, we played Ultimate Frisbee, did some rain rides, and even had a pizza party after a good training ride. 

 Sean's Birthday = Pizza!

 Nobody remembers who won the Ultimate game. A few injuries though. 

Rain? Yes, we ride in the rain. 

Vail Lake #2 Race Report

Victory at Vail Race, Temecula CA – April 15, 2012

The St. Francis High School mountain bike team competed in the fourth event of the six-race SoCal league series at Vail Lake in Temecula, CA on April 15^th. Great weather and perfect trail conditions made for an exciting race.

Rain showers on Friday and Saturday cleared the dusty trails at the Vail Lake course to create a very tacky and fast track. To make the course even more challenging, the SoCal league added a ½ mile pavement start and additional single-track climbing. The new course would really benefit strong, technical riders.

In the Freshman Division 1 class, Golden Knight riders Austin Hamilton and Skyler Payne again showed their great form on the course with a solid 5^th and 6^th place respectively. Austin’s 5^th place was his third podium finish of the year. Philip Saulny just missed a top-10 finish with a strong 11^th place. Working hard and continuing to improve were Remi Roth in 16^th, Nathaniel Blakely in 19^th, and Nick Bedford in 25^th.

Daniel Balsam continued to impress the Sophomore Division 1 class, battling with the leaders for all 3 laps and finishing with a strong 3^rd place finish, earning him his 3^rd podium finish of the year. Hunter Nalley fought hard all day for a respectable 16^th, and Will Towne had his best finish of the year finishing in 20^th.

The weather and racing heated up at in the afternoon for the JV and Varsity riders. The biggest battles and heartache occurred during the JV race. While battling for the lead on the 2^nd of their 3 lap race, JV racer Sean Bird crashed hard after a mechanical problem with his bike. Sean fixed his bike on course and like all of our tough Golden Knights do, completed the race to finish in 25^th. Scott Marshall worked hard for a 10^th place finish, his second top-10 of the year. Close behind Marshall was Connor Haas with a very strong race and 13^th place. Matt Kubly worked hard for 15^th, while Carl Demolder worked through leg cramps to soldier on for 20^th. Like Bird, Cameron Aubert’s strong race was sidetracked with a crash. Cameron disappointingly watched riders race by as he got back on and finished in a very respectable 21^st. In the Varsity race, Christian Breitschwerdt worked hard for 24^th. Matt Misetich came back from two week break off of the bike due to injuries and persevered for 26^th.

After a tough day of racing, some of the Golden Knights seemed disappointed with the outcome of their races. Coach Bird emphasized to them that racing is comprised of many different emotions and moments – all of which will help build character and strength.

The Golden Knights head to the mountains for their final league race in Lake Arrowhead on May 6^th, and then will compete against the NorCal league at the State Championships in Los Olivos on May 20^th.

The Golden Knights mountain bike team are very grateful for the support that they have received from the school and administration, along with their sponsors: Design Imports, Hollandays, VCA Arden Animal Hospital, Merchants Building Maintenance, Bell Helmets, Mountain Pine Shutters, Strategic Law Partners, Nu-Hope, Kevin Martin/UBS, Stratz & Company, Financial Guaranty Insurance Brokers, City National Bank, and JoBesh International.

GO KNIGHTS!

Remi Roth showing excellent descending form!

Scott Marshall at speed on his way to a solid 10th place.

Got Trail Work?

On Saturday, April 7^th, sixteen members of the St. Francis High School Mountain Bike Team joined 50 other high school mountain bikers for a hard day of trail work on a segment of trail in the Angeles National Forest that had been damaged during the Station Fire.

Under the guidance of local trail advocates Banner Moffatt and Stephen Messer of Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association (CORBA), the students were broken up into groups to perform specific tasks such as brush clearing, trail widening, and relocation of parts of the trail system so that the trails would be safer for cyclists and hikers.

The work was performed on a common trail behind JPL called “Upper Brown”. The students used their mountain bikes to ride the 6 miles to the trail work area, with some students and coaches using trailers to tow up the hand tools that would be required for the work. Despite temperatures reaching 90 degrees, the students put in almost 8 hours of hard work.

The St. Francis High School Mountain Bike Team is in its fourth season of competition in the SoCal High School Mountain Bike League, and performs trail maintenance projects at least three times during its race season.

Even though these students will be racing hard against each other next weekend at the league’s upcoming race, they should true comarardierie and worked hard to help make a difference on a popular trail that had not been used in a couple of years.

Daniel, Austin, Sean and Matt work to clear a slide.

(L to R) Austin Hamilton, Scott Marshall, Nick Bedford, Philip Saulny, Nathaniel Blakely, Sean Bird, Matt Kubly, Chris Sercel, Coach Nick Gualtieri, Will Towne.

Keyesville Race Report

Keyesville Race, Lake Isabella CA – March 25, 2012

The St. Francis High School mountain bike team competed in the third event of the six-race SoCal league series at the Keyesville Wilderness Area near Lake Isabella, CA. A fast approaching rain storm and tough weather conditions made for an exciting weekend.

Saturday’s weather for the teams practice on the beautiful Southern Sierra course saw 75 degree temperatures and beautiful, blue skies. However, the weather forecast for Sunday was ominous and ugly, and the team knew it was going to be a race of attrition in what turned out to be a rainy and cold afternoon.

In preparation for this race, the team dialed-in its race-day nutrition plan and race warm-up in hopes of being better prepared when the riders reached the starting line. Podium finishes and solid results from all of the Golden Knight racers at Keyesville validated that our extra work was worth it.

In the Freshman Division 1 class, Golden Knight riders Austin Hamilton and Skyler Payne just missed their 3^rd consecutive podiums with a very strong 6^th and 8^th place finishes. Philip Saulny also finished in the top 50% of the field with a very solid 16^th place finish. Rounding out the Golden Knights were Remi Roth in 30^th and Nathaniel Blakely in 36^th.

The day’s first podium finish occurred in the Sophomore Division 1 race with Daniel Balsam narrowly missing the top-spot with a hard earned 2^nd place finish and his 2^nd podium result so far this year. Hunter Nalley earned another great finish in 13^th, and Keenan Koch battled for 21^st.

As the JV and Varsity riders approached the starting line for their afternoon race start, the clouds darkened and the wind began to howl. Within minutes of the race start, the Golden Knights were racing in the cold and rain. Working hard and never giving up, Sean Bird overcame some bike mechanicals to earn his top finish ever, a fantastic 2^nd place result in the JV race. The great JV results continued to flow in with Scott Marshall working his way up from 17^th place to finish in 11^th. As they have done all season long, another strong finish occurred with JV riders Matt Kubly, Connor Haas, Carl Demolder, and Cameron Aubert coming in within seconds of each other in 13^th, 14^th, 15^th, and 18^th place. Battling back from a first lap crash was Steven Ayoob in 23^rd place. In the Varsity race, Christian Breitschwerdt continued to improve racing to 25^th and Matt Misetich came back from a first lap crash to finish in 27^th.

Again, the Golden Knights came away with two impressive podium finishes, along with some excellent individual results in all categories.

The Golden Knights return to Vail Lake for the season’s 4^th race on April 15^th. Vail Lake was the site of the team’s best race this season at stop #1, and the team hopes to do well there again.

The Golden Knights mountain bike team are very grateful for the support that they have received from the school and administration, along with their sponsors: Design Imports, Hollandays, VCA Arden Animal Hospital, Merchants Building Maintenance, Bell Helmets, Mountain Pine Shutters, Strategic Law Partners, Nu-Hope, Kevin Martin/UBS, Stratz & Company, Financial Guaranty Insurance Brokers, City National Bank, and JoBesh International.

Daniel Balsam leads the Sophomores

Steven Ayoob cruisn' in Keyesville

Sean Bird being coached up the hill by Coach Lee Bird

Matt Misetich battling back from a first lap crash

Mixin' It Up

The team came off the Yucaipa race looking for some changes. Not that anything was wrong, but our training block had been going for 8 weeks and we were ready to mix it up.

The first week back after Yucaipa was a scheduled rest week and quarter-finals. We took the weekdays off and then had a fantastic adventure on Friday afternoon. On a cool, drizzly day, we ventured out for a fun 3 1/2 hour ride. Our route finished with a nice climb up to the top of Brown saddle. This is an area where we used to ride, but hadn't been to since the Station Fire.

The guys at the top of Brown Saddle

Our next little adventure occurred this week. The team decided that we wanted to be better prepared at the races and to accomplish this, we'd invest in some trainers. League sponsor Kinetic set us up with a great discount and we ordered 13 new trainers for the riders and team. On Wednesday we practiced our warmup at the school before our next race at Keyesville. Spectators described 18 guys spinning on their trainers as sounding "like a swarm of bees".

It was a great two weeks of recovery and training and we all feel good about our Keyesville race this Sunday!

Hog Canyon Classic Race Report

The St. Francis High School mountain bike team persevered through a hot and hard day of racing at the Hog Canyon Classic in Yucaipa – the second stop on the SoCal League high school mountain bike racing circuit.

Leading up to race day, the Golden Knights thought that the hilly course on the outskirts of Yucaipa would suit the team best and provide an advantage for its well-trained riders. Even though the team did well, most riders found the course extremely challenging and exhausting. Located at the Wildwood State Park, the course featured over 900 feet of climbing per lap, technical descents, and dry and dusty conditions.

Coming away with podium results for the second straight race were Austin Hamilton with a well-earned 5^th place finish in the freshman class, and Sean Bird with a sprint finish for 5^th in the JV class. Also coming away with top-10 finishes were Daniel Balsam in 7^th place in the sophomore race, and Skyler Payne also with a 7^th place in the freshman race.

After the team’s best results ever in four-years of competition two weeks ago at Vail Lake, head coach Lee Bird challenged the team to continue working hard and to strive for even better results. “We had 6 riders improve their overall standings compared to the last race. That’s rewarding when you see these students continue to improve week over week. I’m also proud that all 19 of our racers finished another tough race. Our team finds a way to dig deep when the going is tough.” said Coach Bird.

Hard chargers of the weekend were Steven Ayoob, Matt Kubly, and Nick Bedford who all improved significantly over their results at Vail Lake.

The GOLDEN KNIGHTS are back to training for their next race In the SoCal League series in Keyesville on March 25^th.

The GOLDEN KNIGHTS mountain bike team are very grateful for the support that they have received from the school and administration, along with their sponsors: Design Imports, Hollandays, VCA Arden Animal Hospital, Merchants Building Maintenance, Bell Helmets, Mountain Pine Shutters, Strategic Law Partners, Nu-Hope, Kevin Martin/UBS, Stratz & Company, Financial Guaranty Insurance Brokers, City National Bank, and JoBesh International.

GO KNIGHTS!

Scott Marshall (JV) and Carl Demolder (JV)

Matt Misetich and Christian Breitschwerdt getting ready for the Varsity Race

Hunter Nalley Charging Hard

Austin Hamilton leading the Freshman Race