After belonging to a composite team for 2 years, Pewaukee schools gathered enough interest and trainees this year to form a team of its own. To find out more about Facebook commenting please check out the Discussion Guidelines and Frequently asked questions Pewaukee High School senior Nathan Warner works his method up a hill during a race at Minooka Park on Sunday, Sept. 10. (Photo: Submitted) A different sort of sport has begun to grow in appeal with trainees in the Pewaukee School District. 2 lots trainees in grades 6 through 12 have signed up for the very first year of Pewaukee’s mountain biking program. The school had actually belonged to a composite group for the last 2 years completing in the Wisconsin High School Biking League, which is in its 5th season and connected with the National Interscholastic Biking Association. The program was begun a couple years ago by Andy Douglass, a social research studies teacher at Pewaukee High School. Douglass decided to integrate his love of mountain biking and his love of mentor in helping to produce the group. He and Horizon Elementary School Principal Pete Gull help coach the team, which has actually been garnering the interest of students, along with a great deal of moms and dad volunteers. “It’s truly popular, and actually, the kids that are truly drawn to it are kids who aren’t already in some other sports,” said Douglass, the team director. “These are kids who are looking for a location to call home, if you will. So a lot of our trainees aren’t always in other sports, (but) some of them are.” Owen Hornburg, a seventh-grader on the Pewaukee mountain cycling group, competes in his team’s race at Minooka Park on Sunday, Sept. 10. (Photo: Dave Reich) The mountain biking season includes 5 races, the very first of which was Sept. 10 at Minooka Park in Waukesha. The most recent race was at Nordic Mountain, north of Oshkosh. Still to come are races in Waterloo, Hayward and the season finale in Iowa. The races are organized through the Wisconsin High School Cycling League, which follows the guidelines of the NICA. Points are earned throughout the season, and can be accrued by winning races, putting and simply contending. A general series champ is granted at each grade level in each department. Grade levels are divided into 5 classifications: middle school, freshman, sophomore, junior varsity and university. There are also guidelines about exactly what competitors might take in. For example, anything with caffeine, such as caffeinated soda and coffee, sports products such as bars, gels and sports beverages, along with creatine, guarana, root and taurine are prohibited. Another guideline, which is a Wisconsin League rule, allows riders to finish their race no matter what their time is. According to Douglass, the group practices every Tuesday, conference at either the high school, the woods in between the school and Waukesha County Technical College or at Waukesha’s Minooka Park. The kids are split into groups based upon ability and ability level in grades six through 12. The majority of the group has little to no experience, however a couple of have raced because they were 7 or 8 years old, Douglass stated. Douglass said that experience shows throughout hill exercises. Some of the kids are flying up the hill two times in the time it takes a more youthful, unskilled rider to increase when. “The older kids, the much faster kids, their races are a lot longer, so they have to have the ability to ride more times up the hill,” Douglass said. Every week, the group concentrates on a various skill. Douglass said the focus for the advanced riders is doing the skill much faster; for beginners, the focus is how to do the ability itself. The kids likewise learn skills such as ways to fix and maintain their bikes to help teach self-reliance. “I think there’s a worth in taking care of a tool and understanding that this is your tool. This is what you have to get around the trail securely,” Douglass said. “I will teach you how to do this, but I’m not going to inflate your tires for you … You have to find out the best ways to do this.” Sixth grader Gabi Heinemann competes in Pewaukee’s race at Nordic Mountain on Sunday, Sept. 17. (Photo: Dave Reich) In the program’s short tenure, coaches and moms and dad volunteers have already begun to see the advantages the sport has had on its individuals. According to Gull, the sport is inclusive, in part due to parents having the ability to get licensed as coaches so they can participate with the kids. Parent volunteer Jackie Mueller also touted the benefits of the sport, pointing out that it’s no-cut. “It’s cool to see the diversity and the skill level, the enhancement in ability level,” Mueller said. “With that comes self-confidence, individual confidence.” “Exactly what I like about this sport, too, is that you’re racing versus yourself and your best time, yet it’s still a group sport.”
set for success CHAMP cyclist Harry Ellison is targeting further success in the National Cyclo-Cross Series. The 12-year-old from Oxenhope, a student at Hipperholme Grammar School, has actually wheeled his method to a number of honours this year These include being crowned British Schools Biking Association under-13 nationwide and local mountain bike champion. Harry has ambit …
Nick Gould, 39, and Caleb Thompson, 33, visited the capital of mountain biking for the Swiss Legendary, a six-stage mountain bike race in Switzerland that includes a group format. When the race ended up Sept. 16 in Zermatt, the Durango duo rode to a 17th-place finish, the best result for an American team ever in the 4 years of the race. They finished t.
See all stories on this subject
