Advertisement

Cycle Dawgs improve strength in finishing positions

Share

The Ramona High School Cycle Dawgs mountain biking team finished seventh overall in Division 1 at the Vail Lake Resort in Temecula March 8, representing an improvement from the team’s ninth-place finish at its first race at Lake Perris.

The weather at the Lake Perris race was cold and rainy, while last weekend was hot, dry and dusty. That made for some fast racing conditions over the 5.5-mile lap. The loose-over-hard-pack dirt made for interesting and challenging terrain for the Cycle Dawgs.

The course contained just under 500 feet of climbing per lap, and roller coaster bumps, drops and turns.

Sophomore Hayden Ellsworth earned a call up from a previous race, which allowed him to start in the front. Ellsworth capitalized on his good starting position and raced hard with the lead pack, finishing in seventh position, an improvement over his last race results. He is training to reach the top of the podium soon.

Freshman Stassa Cappos, after randomized field starting order, started in the last row, but during the first lap she worked her way up through the field, battled with two racers and finished in seventh position.

Freshman Brayden Lessler moved up to a 15th place finish, and Nicolas Verhine showed improvement in the junior varsity race by completing all three laps. Richard Grenda, a freshman, completed his laps, and improved his time in the race.

Several sophomore boys — Andrew Finley, Sean Duffy and Travis Wagner — all traded positions in the field over the course of the race, resulting in a spot or two better than the previous race. Also notable top 30 freshman finishers were Joshua Failla and Seth Levy.

It was another incredible race for Gwendalyn Gibson, who set the fast lap for the all-girls categories for the day and won first place for JV girls.

Jaron Cappos survived a fall at near race end, when another racer lost control, fell off of his bike, and collected Jaron. Both racers got up and continued the race, and Jaron finished in fifth place.

In total, there were 539 high school students competing in the event.

Cycling is a passion for many, like assistant coaches Mike Long and Dave Heiar who had teenagers on the Cycle Dawgs MTB team, and assistant coaches Ron Bacus and Rodney Linder who enjoy sharing their love of riding with the team. The students benefit from their knowledge and experience as they teach them bike handling skills, braking, turning, shifting, mild repairs and training regiments, while trying to have fun.

One of the coach’s goals is to create life-long cyclists because mountain biking is a sport that can be done over many years.

Everyone is welcome to watch the next race on March 28 at Castaic Lake in northern Los Angeles County.

Anyone who has questions or would like to support the Cycle Dawgs MTB team, should email rgrace@ramonausd.net, or check out the website, socaldirt.org.

Robert Grace is head coach of the Cycle Dawgs

Advertisement

At a time when local news is more important than ever, support from our readers is essential. If you are able to, please support the Ramona Sentinel today.