GRANITE BAY >> High school mountain bike riders from Clear Lake, Kelseyville and Middletown experienced weather of all sorts during a NorCal Cycling League race on April 8 at Granite Bay State Park.
The 6-mile course with 450 feet of vertical climb each lap is generally a smooth and fast track, but it has endured a real beating from Mother Nature this past winner and is now muddy and riddled with ruts and downed trees. Those were the conditions greeting the NorCal riders in the fourth points race of the 2017 season.
Girls
The girls races got off without a hitch under a threatening sky although many of the riders were caked with mud by the end of the first lap. Many also showed the signs of having crashed on the course. That’s what happened to Kelseyville’s Hanna Warren, who locked bars with another rider near the start in the JV race.
“The mud was a good thing because it gave me a soft landing when I flipped over my handle bars,” said Clear Lake High sophomore Rainey Vanoven.
As a result of the treacherous conditions, Lake County’s riders had a tough day on the track although Vanoven, despite her tumble, reached the medal podium with a fifth-place finish.
“It was definitely a tough test race to keep my spot on the podium,” Vanoven said. “The rain was OK but it was freezing at the beginning.”
Kia Kohler of Kelseyville ended up 12th among JV girls, her lowest finish of the season, and Miranda Cramer of Clear Lake placed 14th among frosh girls.
Frosh-soph boys
By the time the freshmen and sophomore boys began their race, the rain turned into a downpour. And if the rain and cold wind wasn’t enough, next came the hail. Riders came around for their second lap wet and red from the hail pelting their skin, but persevered. The JV and varsity boys races were delayed an hour because of the inclement weather. By this time, lap counts had been reduced, making finishing more possible.
Among the boys, the top finishers were Christian Lindsey of Kelseyville, 11th out of 43 riders in the sophomore race, and Bron Falkenberg of Clear Lake, who was 18th out of 48 in the frosh race.
Next up
Riders from Clear Lake, Kelseyville and Middletown return to action much closer to home on Saturday as they compete on the new Six Sigma Ranch and Winery course at 13372 Spruce Grove Road in Lower Lake. Like all NorCal Cycling League races, there is no admission fee and all are invited to attend and root on the riders. Races begin at 9 a.m.
For more information, go to norcalmtb.org and look under “races.”
