REDDING — Mountain bike teams from Clear Lake, Kelseyville and Middletown opened their 2020 season Saturday in the northern division of the NorCal High School Cycling League race at Swasey Shred, part of the Swasey Recreation Area in Redding.
The 5-mile course is located just outside the city of Redding in an area recovering from the devastating Carr Fire in July of 2018. Depending on division, riders cover as few as 10 miles (two laps) or as many as 20 miles (four laps).
Clear Lake finished 13th out of 22 teams in Division 2, Middletown was 16th and Kelseyville 20th. The top three teams were Del Oro High School, Placer High School and San Domenico School.
Clear Lake
Gary White of Clear Lake placed 10th in the sophomore boys Division 2 blue race, completing the 10 miles in 41 minutes, 35.64 seconds. Teammate Jacob Stahr, competing in the JV boys Division 2 gold race, was 13th overall, finishing the 15-mile race in 1 hour, four minutes, 3.94 seconds.
Bron Falkenberg, the only Lake County rider competing in the varsity boys division, placed 25th with a 20-mile time of 1:25:17.40.
Other Clear Lake leaders were Miranda Cramer, 24th overall in the JV girls division with a 10-mile time of 49:29.20; Rowan Salinas, 20th overall in the 10-mile frosh boys Division 2 blue race at 49:25.92; and Reece Cutter, 23rd overall in the 10-mile frosh boys Division 2 gold race at 48:22.09.
Middletown
Middletown sent 12 riders to Redding and the highest finisher was Camille Schaffer, who was 17th overall in the frosh girls 10-mile race at 51:55.28. Kieran McSween finished 21st overall in the JV boys Division 2 gold race at 1:05:51.29, and Logan Wood was 20th overall in the frosh boys Division 2 gold race at 48:02.25.
Also for Middletown, Rocky Carlin placed 28th in the JV boys Division 2 blue race in 1:16:07.01; Evan Johnson was 24th in the frosh boys Division 2 blue race at 52:46.22, finishing ahead of teammates Chase Wink (25th in 52:47.64), Christopher Petek (26th in 53:09.76), Ryan Schneider (27th in 51:59.39), and Shae Welsh (29th in 57:51.25) in the same race.
In other races, Devon Heubel placed 35th in the JV boys Division 2 gold race (1:30:45.02), and Leslie Chairez came in 36th in the JV girls race in 1:01:10.32.
Kelseyville
Of Kelseyville’s four riders at Redding, three completed their respective races. Tristen Sandhoff came in 15th in the sophomore boys Division 2 blue race in 44:20.12 while Tanner Morris was 15th in the sophomore boys Division 2 gold race in 42:36.51. Michael Salata finished 27th in the JV boys Division 2 gold race in 1:11:29.70.
Schedule
The next NorCal High School Cycling League race is March 21-22 at Five Springs Farm in Petaluma. Lake County’s team will compete along with the rest of the Northern Division on March 21.
Later this season both northern and southern divisions visit Six Sigma Ranch near Lower Lake to participate in the Six Sigma Slinger on May 2-3.
