Mettle to pedal Dean Swank (5) of Bear Valley Bikes and Tim Zandbergen (45) of Velosport/Sho-Air/Sonance won their respective division races. (KATHY PORTIE/Big Bear Grizzly) Ely Woody wins, Bear Valley Bikes retains team lead By KATHY PORTIE Reporter Published: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 7:07 AM PDT Sometimes all the strategy and carefully thought out plans don’t work in sports. In cycling, a common strategy is to sit pretty in second position early before making a play for the front during the heart of the race. That’s what veteran mountain biker Sean Donovan of Cytomax/KHS appeared to be doing on the first lap of the pro cross country race at Rim Nordic July 25. Donovan shadowed early leader Jason Siegle of Bike Religion during the second climb of the first lap. More than a bike’s length behind Donovan was Ely Woody of Chains Required. Woody wouldn’t be there long, passing Donovan by the second lap and never looking back. While the other riders tried to pick up the pace, Woody never slowed down. He clocked a winning time of 1 hour, 47 minutes, 11 seconds in the three-lap race. Donovan closed the gap late and looked to challenge for the win but faded. He finished about two minutes behind Woody in second place. Siegle dropped out and did not finish. Thus ended the latest installment of the Rim Nordic mountain bike series in Running Springs. Bear Valley Bikes remains the team leader in the series over Sho-Air. The Mandalay Bay is in third place with Chains Required of Big Bear holding on to fourth place. Bear Valley Bikes claimed several first-place finishes in the cross country race on July 25 including Casey Williams, Steven Fogt, Griffith Vertican, Dean Swank, Cameron Williams, Connor McCutcheon, Alec Burton, Ryan Burton, Lauren Gregg, Karen Lundgren, Ronda Warden and Elle Williams. “Connor got me today,” Taylor Lamson of Bear Valley Bikes said about McCutcheon’s win. “I crashed and threw a chain. I guess it was a pretty good ride considering. The switchbacks were really soft.” For Warden, it was her second win in two days. She won her division’s Super D race on July 24. “Derek (Hermon) worked on my new bike and it took maybe six minutes off my time,” Warden said after the cross country race. Warden dropped her chain on the first lap, but quickly fixed the problem and made up for lost time. “The first lap I didn’t feel too good but I battled it out,” she said. “I smoked the field on the last lap and beat up some boys. It was a good, strong race today.” Rim Nordic mountain bike series Point standings after three races Cross country Pro men�”1, Ely Woody, 648; 2, Romolo Forcino, 624; 3, Derek Hermon, 408; 4, Matthew Cochran, 312; 5, Jeremy Thatcherm 262; 6, Chris Crosby, 232; 7, Sean Donovan, 216; 8, John Nobil, 216; 9, Jason Siegle, 192; 10, Doug Andrews, 192; 11, Vincent Lombardi, 168; 12, Paul Freiwald, 136; 13, Ben Jones, 120; 14, Garnet Vertican, 88; 15, Steve Kinney, 80. Junior Cat 1 men 18-and-under�”1, Casey Williams, 240; 2, Quint Berkemeier, 228. Cat 1 men 19-24�”1, Steven Fogt, 360; 2, Kody Adams, 300; 3, Vu Le, 216. Cat 1 men 30-34�”1, Griffith Vertican, 240; 2, Mykyta Yurtyn, 108. Cat 1 men 35-39�”1, Bryan Taylor, 228; 2, Stuart Gonzalez, 204; 3, Chris Bates, 164; 4, Chris Kasey, 160; 5, Jason Charlebois, 160; 6, Robert Snyder, 128; 7, Gary Douville, 120. Cat 1 men 40-44�”1, Mike Hileman, 360; 2, Tom Koerner, 300; 3, Paul Adamson, 248; 4, Jay Hammond, 216; 5, Mark Campaigne, 120; 6, Paul Romero, 84; 6, Tom Faukner, 76; 7, Bill Mosher, 76; 8, Alex Ter-Vrugt, 68. Cat 1 men 45-49�”1, Raul Tarango, 248; 2, David Stowell, 204; 3, Ron Harris, 204; 4, James Leist, 192; 5, Tim Zandbergen, 120; 6, Henry Valenzuela III, 120; 7, Adan Guzman, 120; 8, Ralph Bonnin, 84. Cat 1 men 50-54�”1, Eric Airheart, 300; 2, Dean Swank, 240; 3, Steve Herrera, 224; 4, Randy Liechty, 192; 5, Patrick Eldridge, 192; 6, Rick Lane, 120; 7, Dale Raymond, 76; 8, Philip Beckman, 68. Junior Cat 2 men 18-and-under�”1, Cameron Williams, 174; 2, Joey Musser, 144; 3, Evan Williams, 134; 4, Nickolas Schultz, 96; 5, Cody Philips, 60; 6, Cole Avery, 42; 7, Alex Bagg, 38; 8, Christian Husband, 34. Cat 2 men 19-24�”1, Taylor Lamson, 174; 2, Connor McCutcheon, 60; 3, Richard Rethoret, 54; 4, Brett Stevens, 48; 5, Ian McLean, 48. Cat 2 men 25-29�”1, Raymond Snoke, 108; 2, Manual Luna, 60; 3, Van Geslani, 60. Cat 2 men 30-34�”1, Williams Daniels, 114; 2, Matthew Hunt, 98; 3, Jeff Olin, 96; 4, Jose Laureano Ramos, 60; 5, Jaramie Duke, 54; 6, Patrick Green, 54; 7, Bryan Brusick, 48; 8, Nathan Preston, 42; 9, Micahel Page, 42; 10, Kevin Roos, 42. Cat 2 men 35-39�”1, Ryan Arnold, 114; 2, George Umale, 90; 3, Roy Alvarado, 66; 4, Steve Schmidt, 64; 5, Dean Bricker, 60; 6, Carl Patton, 60; 7, Jeff Stanners, 54; 8, Adam McCamish, 54; 9, Mark Naylor, 52; 10, Moises Molina, 48; 11, Omar Estrada, 38; 12, Ovidio Veliz, 38; 13, Tim VanGilder, 34; 14, Marshall Evans, 30; 15, Gaurav Malhotra, 24; 16, Mike Owens, 22. Cat 2 men 40-44�”1, John Umale, 114; 2, Paul Elkins, 102; 3, Dave Lippert, 102; 4, Thomas Hamilton, 80; 5, Geoff Albert, 74; 6, David Lawson, 68; 7, Mark Mazakas, 60; 8, Michael Dowdle, 56; 9, Andy Alli, 38; 10, Christopher Bautista, 30; 11, Ed Mercado, 24. Cat 2 men 45-49�”1, Reggie Lamson, 136; 2, Richard Baylor, 120; 3, Tom Robe, 102; 4, James Fuller, 86; 5, Mark Milam, 84; 6, Kevin Bailey, 42; 7, Rich Rethoret, 38; 8, Fred Shiga, 34. Cat 2 men 50-54�”1, Francisco Vidal, 120; 2, Adam Conaway, 108; 3, Gary Scheidler, 88; 4, Gary Stewart, 72; 5, Steve Knueven, 48; 6, Ernst Mueller, 48; 7, Brad House, 48; 8, Andy Somerville, 42; 9, Michaael McNamara, 38; 10, John Williams, 38; 11, Clint Sandusky, 34. Cat 2 men 55-59�”1, Fred Uttke, 174; 2, Steve Engelgau, 134; 3, Ken Ridley, 114; 4, Glenn Yarber, 96; 5, Keith Honda, 42. Cat 2 men 60-plus�”1, Ed Mundy, 174; 2, Dan Hanebrink, 102; 3, Dean Ferrandini, 60; 4, John Clemmmitt, 54; 5, Bob Wolf, 42. Junior cat 3 men 10-and-under�”1, Jonah Sanchez, 60; 2, Ethan Sanchez, 51; 3, Alec Burton, 30; 4, Dylan Vanek, 27; 5, Zach Burton, 27. Junior cat 3 men 14-and-under�”1, Ryan Burton, 30; 2, Sean Murphy, 27; 3, Austin Morgan, 24. Cat 3 men 19-24�”1, Jonathan Dadilla, 30. Cat 3 men 25-29�”1, Ryan Sarancha, 60; 2, Juan Silva, 54. Cat 3 men 30-34�”1, Anthony Musser, 30; 2, Adam Gabler, 30; 3, Matt Smart, 27. Cat 3 men 35-39�”1, Mark Klasa, 90; 2, Jeremy Rich, 54; 3, Jesus Ortega, 45; 4, Robert Crosby, 24. Cat 3 men 45-49�”1, Kevin Haile, 60; 2, David Williams, 51; 3, Greg Ackerman, 30; 4, Wayne Cottrell, 27; 5, Stein Husoy, 24; 6, Tom Solury, 21. Cat 3 men 50-54�”1, Dale Carter, 60; 2, William Woody, 54; 3, Jim Calkins, 30. Cat 3 men 55-plus�”1. Richard Teachout, 90; 2, Lonnie Kimball, 65. Cat 3 men clydesdale�”1, George Smith, 60. Pro women�”1, Joy Duerksen, 240; 2, Rebecca Tomaszewski, 240; 3, Dorothy Wong, 216. Junior cat 1 women 18-and-under�”1, Alexis Ryan, 120. Cat 1 women 19-29�”1, Amanda Schaper, 336; 2, Lauren Gregg, 240; 3, Anna Dvorak, 96. Cat 1 women 30-39�”1, Lisa Crowe, 240. Cat 1 women 40-plus�”1, Heidi Bowen, 216; 2, Heidi Volpe, 120; 3, Angela Wimberly, 120; 4, Karen Lundgren, 120. Cat 2 women 19-29�”1, Sabine Petersen, 120; 2, Kimmi Runner-Hotchkiss, 102; 3, Brooke Warner, 54. Cat 2 women 30-34¸�”1, Cassie Charlebois, 120; 2, Michelle VanGilder, 54. Cat 2 women 35-39�”1, Cynthia Miranda, 60; 2, Kim Williams, 60. Cat 2 women 40-49�”1, Ronda Warden, 174; 2, Beatrice Dormoy, 60; 3, Suzanne Hoyt, 54. Cat 2 women 50-plus�”1, Jeanne Bernhard, 60; 2, Janet Grisham, 60. Junior cat 3 women 14-and-under�”1, Elle Williams, 60. Junior cat 3 women 15-18�”1, Danika Bates, 60; 2, Alyssa Valenzuela, 30. Cat 3 women 19-29�”1, Rachel Ewert, 30; 2, Jennifer Duquette, 30; 3, Melissa Gillham, 27. Cat 3 women 30-34�”1, Andrea Donald, 30. Cat 3 women 40-plus�”1, Susan Maya, 30; 2, Jan Ackerman, 30. Elle Williams was back after winning the national mountain bike cross country title a week ago in Colorado. She won the Rim Nordic race on July 25 despite a bad fall during the race. Elle bruised her shoulder and scraped her knee but got back up to finish and earn points for Bear Valley Bikes. Bryan Taylor of Chains Required also took home Rim Nordic gold in the cross country race to go along with Woody’s pro victory. Other local teams participating included Dan Hanebrink of Hanebrink Bikes and Steve Kinney of Steven K Sports. The Rim Nordic cross country series continues with races on Aug. 15 and 29. For more information, visit www.rimnordic.com