Interviews
The questions typically were:
1) What happened at Sea Otter?
2) What are your plans/goals for the last race/State Champ?
3) What are your plans for the summer?
4) What do you think makes your team so successful?
Allen Hardin • Redwood High
sea otter- good race and good turn out, started about four rows back and got to the single trak about 10th. pushed hard the whole race and passed a lot of people. i wish that the high school results had been posted and maybe even awarded, but i know that it would have been very difficult. there was a whole experience at the race that we didnt have at the others just because of the size of it. there was a lot to see and a lot to explore.
state champs- i am going to try to place very high and hopefully beat out Rikard and Aaron from my team which might just get me the leaders jersey. the whole team is going to try to stay focused and finish high again and hopefully win the race. that would be a great ending to a great season.
summer- this summer i am going backpacking in alaska for a while and then i am going immediatly to the camp if it is possible. i am then going to workfor four weeks in the tahoe area at a boyscout camp. i will be doing a part of the camp called high adventure which involves mountain biking, camping, climbing and things of that sort (racing this season helped me get this job). last summer the team went on a weekend trip and rode the flume trail in tahoe. we plan on doin that again this summer. if i have the time or energy to do anything else this summer i will do it.
team success- every wednesday we do a gruesome spin class at which people end up with a puddle of sweat underneath them and a painful look on their face. on sundays if we do not have a race then we go on a long ride. the rides are usually around 3 hours and include a lot of climbing. Rikard and I also ride road every once in a while. if there is a short day then the team without the coaches go on a ride. there is a lot of training going on besides what is done with the team. for example, redwood had this week off and this was my schedule. sunday- sea otter, monday- rest/recovery, tuesday- spin class at 9:15 and another at 6:30, wednesday- was going to go to a morning spin and an afternoon ride, but felt sick, thursday- with the team went on a ride up mt. tam, friday- a few of my team mates and i went and pre-rode the NVDC course in angwin, and on sunday- raced at the NVDC just for fun.
Nick agate • Albany High
1) this year at Sea Otter i rode in the Jr. X category. We rode TWO laps this year. It hurt but was worth it all. I felt great middle of the first lap and attacked but blew up after. I hurled four times after the finish. I ended up taking 16th out of about 40. my time was 2:41 so i was pretty pleased but knew there was room for improvement.
2) Truthfully I need and would like to win but it will be tough. Right now i'm sitting in 1st or 2nd and it's real tight. This season so far has been great and i have already exceded my expectations.
3) This summer i hope to be going to all of the NORBA with Team NSO races and to ride consistently throughout Then this fall i want to hit cyclocross pretty hard . I plan to race through college and am thinking of attending Chico but i've still got time to think about it.
Alex Weissman • Berkeley High
1. At Sea Otter we were a strong, visible presence. Unfortunately, most of the team got to the line late, and ended up starting with most of the field infront of them. As a result, most of our riders didn't place as high as they are capable of. Regardless, the feeling I got from the first year riders was that the Sea Otter was a good learning experience. I personally got a spot at the front of the field and managed to enter the single track within the first five riders. I was able to navigate the madness of the race and get to the long, ~4 mile climb in third or fourth place with a lot of strength left in my legs. I found a rider in my class who was going up the climb very quickly and I drafted behind him for much of the climb, until he hit the wall about twenty yards behind Michael Margraff, the leader. When the rider began to slow, I jumped and got into Michael's draft and kept with him on the race track. As we rounded the last corner, Micheal jumped, and I tried to counter attack, but my legs were dead, so I ended up crusing into second place.
2. My goal at the state championships is to win. I will be able to preride the course, and I hope that I can use the terrain to my advantage and have the best race I have ever had. I will need it to beat Mike.
3. Over the summer, I plan to go to the regional developement camp, and if I qualify, to the national developement camp, but that is probably a long shot. I plan to go to a couple more races after that, but my season will be mostly done once school gets out. I am planning a trip to Vancover, and I am working at a summer camp during August.
4. I think that the team is successful because we have an extremely motivated coach who manages to find very motivated riders. This atmosphere makes less motivated riders more motivated.
Matt Goebel • Sir Francis Drake High
1. Of course I would have like to do better at sea otter. Unless I’m coming in first I always want to be higher in the standings, but with all the competition at the race I’m happy with my results. I didn’t have the best start, I was probably in the low 30’s, but I passed a bunch of people on the second lap. I would chase down one guy then go after someone else a couple hundred yards ahead. Last year I felt like I didn’t go as hard as I could have, but this time I had nothing left over at the finish and I have no regrets.
2. I want to win the championships. A win or top 3 finish could put me ahead of Rand in the overall standings and bring me into top 3 overall. I’ve never been one to plan out my races, they’re too unpredictable to go into with a strategy, but I’ve noticed that the guy who takes the lead in the beginning of the race usually finishes there, so I’ll try to get a good start.
3. It’s been great to have some support so I’m not always out there doing it alone. I’ve met a lot of people who I didn’t even know rode a bike, and I’ve had a lot of people come to me inquiring about the team. I think we should have a really good turnout next year since we didn’t get started until December and a lot of people who would have joined didn’t have time to get organized or already had other commitments.
4. The secret to our teams success is that we have exceptionally dedicated riders. Our three freshmen, Grant, Kevin, and Daniel are really enthusiastic, and have been showing up to 3+ group rides a week without any incentives. The fact that Grant hasn’t been scoring high or getting trophies hasn’t deterred him at all, in fact he’s usually the one who gets us out there and never wants to call it a day. I expect these guys to make a big impact in under-16 next year.
Rand Miller • Pleasant Valley High
1) As far as Sea Otter goes, I definitely ranked Sea Otter as a primary early-season goal...after all, it is the largest race in the US, and I wanted to give SOULCRAFT bikes a good showing. For training, I upped the mileage a bit for a couple weeks, then worked on intensity two weeks before sea otter. I backed off the mileage/intensity a bit for the week prior to the race to make sure I was fresh. In addition, I hope to build on the strength that the 36-mile race forced me to uncover, so in a way it served as a training race for the rest of the season.
2) Since I now sit in the lead of the Jr. X points rankings following Sea Otter, I hope to maintain that lead at the State Championship Finals. I hope to hold my peak (even improve it if possible) from Sea Otter, and I feel that if I can achieve that, I have a chance to win the Finals. That is definitely my main goal, as it would nicely round out the first half of my last Junior season. Also, the schwag at the awards is nice!!
3) This summer I will race the majority of the NORBA NCS races (specifically Big Bear, Durango, and Idaho with the possibility of W. Virginia). I am shooting for podium placings at these events, while secretly striving for a National Championship medal; however, that would take a lot of work (and luck). I will work some road racing into my schedule, and then the last part of the season upgrade to Semi-Pro/Pro in some of the local MTB races. Paul Thoman and I hope to race a Single-Speed event, and Todd Norwood suggested a 24 Hours of Tahoe Junior relay-team with some of the other NorCal Experts. Then, starting in August-September, I will be moving down to Palo Alto to attend Stanford University next fall. I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to study at such a great institution, and the riding there is superb! I will be studying biological sciences, and I hope to do some undergraduate research with genetics or biochemistry.
There you go... I hope that isnt too much info. I also hope I didnt come off as overconfident or anything...thats the last thing I want to do. Thanks for the questions. And by the way, your series is so awesome...I love seeing 150 Junior Olympic riders at races. You have pretty much guaranteed the future of CA XC racing for the next 15 years. Great Job!!
Jenny Cornelison • Rocklin High
Thanks a bunch! Sea Otter was awesome! I had a blast as usual. The series has really grown. I'm really impressed at the turn out of girls last year and even more so this year! It's great!
This was my third Sea Otter. I didn't race the first year I went. I just went to hang out. Last year I raced my first DH race along with XC. It rained the whole time up at DH. It rained this year as well, imagine that! I got there on Wed. and practiced dh for 4 days. They put this killer peddling section in at the bottom, so my legs were shot by the time Sunday rolled around. The pedaling section was up and down so even for pedaling downhill it felt really slow. In DH, I beat my SoCal rival Whitney Jetteg. I lost only to Leanna Gerrard (she got 4th at Jr. Worlds last year). I got 2nd. In XC, I was totally ready for the mileage, but as soon as we left the starting gate it was pretty clear that I was not going to be able to pedal standing up. There was a lot of traffic with the older women that went off in front of us. A lot of the women had very poor trial etiquette, (not allowing people to pass, and yelling at us when we did). I love the course out at Laguna Seca and this summer I want to go out and try to do it twice. I knew I had a girl from Nevada City on my tail, so when I hit the raceway I worked really hard to catch this lady riding for Velo Bella so I could draft off her. I passed her at the finish line. I was beat after that race.
My goal for the last race is to win! Really, I just want to ride a good race with (knock on wood) no mechanicals. Winning the race would top off a great ride.
My plans for summer begin in Big Bear, at the National Championship Series. I recently got sponsored by Karpiel (ran by Mike Town) and this summer were hitting the road. My ultimate goal is to qualify for the 2003 Jr. World Downhill Mountain Bike Championships, held in Lugano, Switzerland. There are seven spots open and last year only two girls qualified. In order to qualify I have to finish in the top five at two Norba events, or win one, in Jr.X. We're running into major resistance trying to come up with the funds, but hopefully it will all come together. If I earn the opportunity to go, it will be awesome. I applied at Balance Bar for a grant, but I'm not going to be 18 until one week and three days before the National in Durango, so I'm pretty sure that makes me ineligible for the grant. If you or anyone you know, would like to contribute to the "Get Jenny to Switzerland" fund, please e-mail me (ha-ha)!
; I think our team is pretty successful, because we all have our own training routines that work for us individually. The boys take a spin class like two times a week, I hate going to spin. I ride with my mom’s boyfriend Christopher (a top sport rider) a lot. We do a bit of road riding and a lot of mtb riding. And sometimes on Monday's, he takes me up to Auburn and shuttles me in his 4 Runner, so I can ride some dh.
I've enjoyed racing in the high school series and I'm going to miss it next year, but I'm really looking forward to focusing on my dh career. Thanks!
Michael Margraf • Rocklin High
Sea Otter was pretty crazy. On the start I hit bars with somebody and had to put a foot down. I was about 15th going into the single track. I slowly worked my way up to the front and on the "climb home" Alex and I were drafting off each other. I knew it was going to come down to a sprint and sure enough about 100 yards from the finish I attacked and beat Alex by 2 seconds. my plan for state champ, I want to go out strong. No regrets. I want to finish the series on a good note. This summer I plan on moving up to expert class. I plan on doing some road races and going down to Big Bear to do the state championships. Our team works pretty hard. As you know our team is not very big so it is pretty important that all of us perform well at every race.
Russ Forthuber • Benicia High
Sea Otter was a fun race! Unfortunatly, I had been sick before and hadn't been putting in the training hours I should have. I kept up with Alex and Mike up until the last climb where I didn't have the energy to power up the climb. I was dissappointed with my 10th place finish but I placed 3rd in the league for that race.
Becuase of a DNF at Billycross, I'm out of contention for 1st or 2nd place overall, but I still have a very good chance at 3rd place. I have the chance to beat Alex and Mike in the race and/or get 3rd overall. This will be a great race, I can't wait!
After the final, I will be doing as much racing andtraining as I can. I plan on going to Big Bear with my team, Team NSO, and hopefully doing other races with them. I will be doing some road racing too. Also, I would like to attend a camp if it is at all possible. I plan on moving up to expert class sometime over the summer. I will also be doing some vacationing with my family, camping, hopefully a job, and hanging out with my friends. I'm going to try and recruit more young riders and get some to start racing.
Rikard Grunnan • Redwood High
1) Sea Otter was very different from the other races it was a much longer race, many more riders and better riders. I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, I just didn't feel that I had any power in the beginning.
- For State Championships I am hoping to get top three and hopefully win the series, however there are some other great riders following close behind me, we will see what happens.
3) This summer our team is planning on a trip to Downyville and around lake Tahoe for some fun downhill riding. On my own I will try and ride as often as I can.
4) I think what makes our team so successful is how committed everyone is and how we all encourage one another. How all of this became possible was with the skills of our two coaches Paul Ippolito and Patchen Homitz and all of there time that they have spent to make the team that we have.
Lauryn Willis • Redwood High
1) Yes, this was my first Sea Otter. I have been riding mountain bikes for years with my family all around Marin, but this was the first time I have ever been in a race circuit I was thoroughly impressed by all the Sea Otter had to offer, and the somewhat technical and grueling terrain During my race, my chain fell off twice, causing me to lose valuable time, but I made up most of the lost time on the single track downhill and up the very steep hills. Our Redwood High team is notorious for our climbing ski�lls. The most difficult part of the race for me was battling the uphill finish, but it was definitely a nice reward by finishing right on the Laguna Seca track.
2) I am continuing to train hard for the May 4th finals by keeping on my bike, and running. My whole goal for this year was to have a fun safe time (Which unfortunately wasn't the case in early January, where I went to the hospital to get sixteen stitches put in the inside of my ankle from an unfortunate incident with falling and hitting my chain ring), but this didn't discourage me, and I continued to push myself hard in training and see how far I could come. I am looking forward to having my whole team a�ccompany me to the championships, and for us all to finish and have a great time.
3) This summer our team is going on various bike rides all over California. We do a yearly trip up to Lake Tahoe to ride, but usually stay close to home and ride all through Mt. Tam and Fairfax. I also am attending an academic National Young Leadership Conference, in Washington DC and doing a summer internship with a Marine Biology lab.
4) There are many reason why I believe our team is as successful as we are. If it wasn't for our motivated and persistent riders, none of this could have been accomplished We all do so much more than just get on our bikes and ride. All of us on the team have formed such close friendship, and they are really a pleasure to be around. We all have leadership qualities in us that made our team really flourish and achieve all that we have. Some of our riders, especially Aaron Varn and Dillon Meredith have been w�orking at Trips for Kids, and helping in different way in our community. Many of our riders specialize in certain things that are a huge attribute to our club, and we all work at certain jobs to make everything run smoothly. The students on our team take charge whenever possible, and lead our team to be the best we can be. Our team started out very differently at the beginning of the year than it is now. We dreamed of being able to participate in huge races throughout California, but none of that could hav�e been possible without the motivation of our two coaches, Paul Ippolito and Patchen Homitz. They have pushed our team to achieve as much as we possibly can, and have been with us every second along the way. They attend all of our races, spin class sessions, practice rides, lunch time meetings, etc., and for all the hard work and time that they put into our team; They do not get paid a single penny for it. They also helped us raise over $3,000.00 dollors in sponsership money, which paid for our jerseys, bi�ke tool kit, bike stand, spin bikes, clipless pedles for spin bikes, and much more. They are truly the reason why we have come so far, and why all of our dreams for being a successful team have come true. It was intimidating for me to start the year, being the only female rider for our team, but everyone was extremely accepting, and took extra time with me to help me become a better cyclist. Our team hopes to continue with all of our success, and show our high school, and our county, how great a sport moun�tain biking is.