Austin McInerny, Executive Director
Known as “Coach Bobo” by many, Austin first got involved with the high school cycling movement when he took over the head coaching position at Berkeley High School back when the NorCal League first started. Utilizing the experiences gained from his five years as head coach of a large team, extensive race course marshaling, as well as over 30 years of riding, Austin has contributed to the creation of the teaching materials used by NICA to launch new state leagues and enhance the coach license program. With a background in environmental mediation and a masters degree in regional planning from Cornell University, Austin has also been an effective advocate for expanded off-road riding opportunities.
Lauren Duensing, Programs Director
Lauren Duensing is passionate about the programs of NICA! She manages the program staff in the NICA headquarters, and works with the 9 leagues and a national team to deliver the 65 (and growing) races, events, summits and conferences a year. Lauren is committed to the continued excellence the NICA programs provide for student riders, coaches and parents, and the expanded impact of the high school mountain biking movement. She comes to NICA as a parent impacted by the NICA story. An avid trail runner and reluctant biker, she was lead by her two children who race(d) with NorCal to become an enthusiastic mountain biker. “Mountain Biking has defined and changed our family. It is what we do.”
Lauren Haughey, Finance and Administration Director
Mike Cruz, Tech and Media Manager
Mike graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA (go Steelers!) with a B.S. in Decision Science in December ’07. Originally, he began college as a cello performance major, but quickly decided that wasn’t his calling. After he transferred majors, he needed something else to occupy his free time, so bike racing it was. After he quit bike racing due to recurring overuse injuries in his knee, he took up Brazilian Jujitsu and kickboxing. Little known facts: Mike spent the majority of his childhood years living outside of the U.S and has beaten every level of every Angry Birds game with 3 stars.
Matt Fritzinger, Founder/Special Projects
After a short career in the Mechanical Engineering field (Graduated from UC Berkeley in 1995) Matt discovered teaching high school mathematics a more rewarding experience. Before long he also discovered that his cycling experiences (15 years road and mountain bike racing, 8 years working in bike shops, organizing local races) lent themselves to coaching, and formed the Berkeley High Mountain Bike Club. The success of the club eventually led to founding the NorCal High School Mountain Bike Racing League (2001). In 2008, with a generous grant from Easton Foundations, Matt directed the creation of a SoCal League. That experience, along with the support fo dedicated sponsors and inspired individuals, led to the launch of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association in September of 2009.
Angel Garbarino, Registration, Coach Licensing, and Scoring Manager
Angel moved to San Francisco in June of 2008 after completing a graduate degree at Texas A&M University in International Economics. Knowing little about biking at the time, she was rocking the Schwinn Wal-Mart mountain bike, digging her first bike with front suspension. It only took a couple years of exploring and getting involved in the Bay Area cycling scene until she started adding bikes to her collection and finally left her city job to explore something that fit her growing desire to ride bikes and be outdoors.
She moved to Fairfax, and began working for different Race Directors doing race management and scoring. She eventually became connected with NICA doing operations and scoring at the NorCal and Washington League races. She was immediately drawn to NICA, its passion and mission. She joined the team at the end of 2011, becoming the face of Registration and continuing to help with Scoring and Coach Licensing.
Chris Spencer, Programs Manager
After Graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Global Economics, Chris got back to his roots and started working at the NorCal League. Starting in 2002, Chris raced in the League for three years as an independent for Roaring Mouse Cycles. In 2004 with the help of his coach, Dario Fredrick, Chris took his success in the League as encouragement to race the NORBA National series. He placed 3rd in the Junior Expert National Finals at Durango, CO and in the National Championships at Mammoth, CA. While taking a sabbatical from competitive racing at UC Santa Cruz, Chris stayed involved by coaching high school athletes. Chris says, “My current interest in racing is expanding opportunities for all high school athletes.”
Katie Styer, Administrative Assistant
Katie Styer, NICA’s new administrative assistant, was raised in NorCal and is a lifetime cycling enthusiast. She grew up with two great role models, older sisters who raced collegiate cross-country mountain bike events and taught her that great friends and big adventure were best created on bikes. A passion for empowerment through biking was then cultivated. She has since toured across the U.S., worked as a bike messenger, commuted to school and now work, raced nationally and now locally with the Early Birds Women’s Developmental Racing Team! If that weren’t enough bike involvement, she has worked and volunteered at many bike shops and community bike shops in San Francisco. Katie earned her B.A. from San Francisco State University and currently contributes to local NPR affiliated radio station, KALW. Photo Credit: Pamela Palma
Paul Skilbeck, Communications Consultant
Paul Skilbeck is an accomplished and widely respected marketing specialist with tremendous experience in the cycling world, in both Europe and the USA. After participating in a tiny high school cycling league in Canberra, Australia, where he spent part of his youth, Paul became a lifelong cyclist, living proof that what 99% of NICA student-athletes say is probably true!
