Juniors Set to Conquer Tam Hill Climb

Blair Peterson, a Mill Valley cyclist affiliated with the Above Category shop on Millwood St., will leave the Stinson Beach start of the Mt. Tam Hill Climb road race at 9:05am tomorrow.

His 15-year-old son Spence will leave a few minutes later, and their paths likely will cross briefly – possibly very briefly - along the 12-mile course. Spence Peterson is a member of the Above Category junior team, a group of young riders who ascend the 2,000-foot climb regularly on training rides.

"I know at least a few of them are going to come flying by me at some point," Blair Peterson said.

Quite simply, the Above Category junior team might be the most unheralded sports story in the Bay Area. Its riders include four Mill Valley residents (three at Tam High and one at St. Ignatius in San Francisco) who have racked up a slew of big wins and top finishes in their short racing careers.

Spence Peterson won the 2009 USA Cycling National Championship in the junior men's 13-14 category in Colorado, and topped men much older than him in grabbing the Cat B overall victory in the Bay Area Super Prestige Cyclocross race in Golden Gate Park last November.

Alex Howard of Mill Valley won the 2010 Junior State Criterium Championship in Livermore in May in the Junior 15-16 category, sitting on the leader's back wheel like a pro before dropping him in the final stretch for the victory. He also finished sixth in the 2010 USA Cycling Junior Road Race Championships in Bend, Ore., in June.

Jack Keane won the Tamarancho Invitational mountain bike in his age group in Fairfax, while Skyler Taylor won two stages in the Gold Nugget Junior stage race in Mariposa County last year. Each of the young riders has earned podium placements at races in road, mountain and cyclocross races.

"This is a group of kids that has really grown up together, they'll be juniors for a few more years," Above Category owner Nordwall said. "I honestly wish I had a million dollars to invest in these guys, because they're that good."

Nordwall is doing what he can. He just set up a nonprofit group called the Cat 1 Junior Development Team that will allow donors to help the team compete at more events, with a distant eye on the 2013 World Cyclocross Championships in Kentucky. The Greg Norris Insurance Agency on Locust Ave. has already signed on as a sponsor, and several individuals have chipped in as well, Nordwall said.

Josh Snead, a seasoned pro racer who has competed in international cyclocross events and won the annual Lion of Fairfax cyclocross race multiple times, has signed on to be the team's director. He leads the team on several rides a week and helps them hone their tactics on the road.

"These guys all work really well together, so it's not like I have to tell them what to do very much," Snead said. "They look out for each other and they're each willing to sell out for the other guys. That's how you get wins in road racing."

The team had a serendipitous birth. Blair Peterson told his son to go down and check out Above Category for him not long after the family moved from Ross to Mill Valley. Spence Peterson encountered the cycling-crazed Nordwall, and his nascent interest in racing skyrocketed.

"Most bike shop owners are not quite as outgoing as Chad," Spence Peterson said.

Peterson set up an unofficial team, wearing the Above Category apparel and recruiting Taylor and Howard. While Peterson, Taylor and Howard grew up riding, Keane didn't catch the bug until two years ago. He competed in his first mountain bike race wearing basketball shorts and sneakers.

"I really owe it to these guys for getting me into it," he said.

Despite their youth, the riders have already developed the killer instinct of seasoned pros. Each was disappointed when the Hill Climb was canceled last year. Peterson said he hopes to crush his 52-minute time of two years ago.

"I know I can," he said.

The group knows the course well, with its flat opening stretch heading north out of Stinson Beach, its twisty climb up Bolinas-Fairfax Road that hits more than a 10 percent grade at times, and the Seven Sisters, a rolling series of climbs along Ridgecrest Road that can make or break the race.

Each rider knows they have plenty of growing up to do on and off the bike, but each holds aspirations of competing at a higher level, whether it be in Under 23 competitions, at the collegiate level or beyond.

"There's still a lot of stuff I want to do on the bike," Howard said.

The quartet had a chance to visit the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., this summer for a week of riding and racing with some of the best young talent in the country.

"It was an amazing place and you get to see the talent that is out there and the guys who really love riding and really want to keep riding," Keane said. "It's cool to be a part of that."

Next up is the cyclocross season, a chance for each to compete in races that tests both their road and mountain biking skills.

"It's second nature to them," Snead said. "They're young and fearless."

For more info on the Mount Tam Hill Climb, visit the race's Web site.