Carillo,Danielle’s coach, said about her, “Danielle is a talented rider that brings spirit to the team. She has been excited to compete in the league since Leila started telling her racing stories three years ago.”‘

Tell us about how long you’ve been coaching high school mountain biking.
I came on my role purely by accident. The former coach, a good friend, had an accident and was looking at surgery. He called and asked for help while he was off the bike. At that time, the team was small and had only been participating in races for about a year.

I went to a practice and didn’t know what to expect, very wary of making the commitment. I was hooked after that first practice.

I had a long racing career myself, but had fallen out of the sport. Riding with the kids got my soul going again. I had a way to help a younger generation find the love of the sport that he had known and the rekindled the love to the sport in me.

After a month of being an assistant coach, I was left to take the team on as head coach. I dove in head-first and haven’t looked back.

How would you describe your coaching philosophy?
Always keep it fun! That’s why we are all there, after all, to have fun.  Some student athletes have that competitive drive and want to take cycling to another level, and I have helped put them on the path. But I wouldn’t even advocate that for a student if they didn’t express the interest first.  Most kids want to just ride with their friends and have fun, even if they are really fast, and that’s ok! But when a kid comes to me and says “Coach, I want to go to the next level and really go for it” then I have a separate game plan for them that is more serious, more structured.   At the end of the day, though, all that matters is that my kids are having a blast and are establishing a great relationship with the bike and the cycling culture to make it a part of their lives for years to come.

How has the team changed since you got involved?
In 2007, when I started, the team was a rag-tag group of six kids, casually riding, occasionally showing up at races. I added a little bit of structure and helped lay a foundation of skills and fitness to make sure kids could complete rides safely and with a smile on their face. We had practices where the kids did fun on-the-bike drills that they loved, but were really intervals or skills practice in disguise.

Word spread and now we have 18 student-athletes on the High School team with only 200 students enrolled at the school. We also have a junior high team practicing with us as an introduction to the sport.  So total kids including my Junior High riders is 22 kids.

How do you explain having almost 10% of the student body on the mountain bike team?
We always start our practices from the school parking lot because the school is adjacent to a trail system. Because other students could see the team come together for every practice in full gear, shiny bikes, having tons of fun, the word quickly spread.

We also made a big effort to get more girls involved. I put together a video highlighting other female high school riders and why they ride. My Assistant Coach, Sonia Potts has also done a great job of being a mentor to the female student-athletes, no matter what their ability.  Sonia is amazing and we couldn’t have this growth without her.  We now have six girls out of 22 total team members.

How did the first NorCal race go for your team?
The race was the first event for many of our students, so it was an opportunity for them to learn what it is all about. It was an absolutely fantastic experience for everyone. Nothing horrible went wrong, but of course there were a lot of little hiccups – that’s racing. The kids, though, took a lot away from it and learned so much.

But in our post race pow-wows we talked about how they can learn from it. My message is that every race is learning experience. “What did I do well? What can I do better? How can I apply that knowledge to the next race?”  We talk about how they can improve for their next race.

What are you looking forward to at Race #2?
I always tell the kids that the race is a venue to showcase what you’ve learned. I want to see the kids connect the dots between the preparations they’ve made and the success they have. The goals they identified after the first race, and putting them to action.

I don’t care if the goals are as small as getting to the start on time with all their gear, I want to see each rider move forward and learn from their experiences.That is what I love.

What does the team do together off the bike?
Since I started coaching, the team has had a big team dinner before every race. We always go to ClaimJumper and sit at the same table. It’s great because the students come, the parents come and even siblings come. We had 50 people at the last one! It’s a great time and all the kids really enjoy getting together to talk about the upcoming race and work out their jitters!

When did you start riding mountain bikes?
When I was young, my dad was, and still is, an avid cyclist and he saw riding on local trails as a way to keep us out of traffic. I did hill climbs on Grand Ridge with my dad to stay in shape. A few years back a group of friends and my brother started to ride the Soaring Eagle trails during the summer, which was an introduction to Duthie Hill and many other trails.

Tell us about what you did for your 16th birthday.
We worked on a trail at Duthie Hill called Gravy Train, from 9:oo AM to about 4:00 PM. We set up in the recently built cover in the clearing with food and drink, then went out to work for a while, came back and had some lunch, then ventured out again. We built an awesome booster on the line called the Prendergap, named after myself.

Why did you decide to host a trail work day?
I have done work parties at Duthie in the summer, and I thought it would be a great idea to get a bunch of my friends to go build trails.

What would you say to other high school mountain bikers who haven’t taken part in a trail work day?
It is a great way to give back to the trails and the builders by going out and working. The trails that people shred every day have to be kept in tip-top shape in order to be rideable.

I also have a greater appreciation for the trails that I ride, and how much time is put into building those trails. A few jumps can take up to a week to be finished, but the more people are out there the faster you get to ride that unfinished line. And its really awesome seeing your jump being shaped from a pile of logs and dirt into something that is a work of art. You also get input on how to improve your riding and what the best line is to take on the trail you work on.

You also meet new riders and workers who are out there every day. It gives you a sense of community and place when you take part in a work party. It’s pretty cool working with a bunch of guys that ride bikes just as hard as you do, even though they have a nine to five job.

Who helped you organize the event and who else joined you?
Mike Westra from Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, Chad Black is the lead builder on Gravy Train, and of course my parents.

What is your favorite ride?
Any of the trails at Duthie Hill, but mostly Gravy Train! And, of course, Whistler!

Are you a member of your local IMBA Chapter?
Yes, I’m a member of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance.

What is your favorite subject in school?
Graphic Design, or just about any thing that has to do with art or music. I’m really good with design, drawing, layout, photography, editing, musical production. I just love being creative, I get to express myself in so many different mediums in this day and age, and seeing the finished product is really cool.

Part of running a league is the administrative minutiae. You need to have a handle on all the systems that any small business needs, be it communication, accounting, human resources, etc. A national organization can provide templates, training and assistance to multiple regional leagues. NICA attends a dozen national events each year. We put forward the vision, we advocate on behalf of all leagues and we’ve been able to create strong relationships with organizations like IMBA to help further our cause.

How realistic is the goal of having high school cycling programs coast to coast by 2020?
The old saying is you can’t do it if you can’t dream it, and a great deal of the work we are doing internally is to prepare for that reality. Right now we’re getting so much interest nationally that it looks very realistic. If we continue to add 2-3 leagues a year and we have nine years of development to make it happen – including the seven leagues we already have – you’re looking at 25-35 leagues by 2020. Assuming new leagues are in some of the more densely populated states, as many as 100 million high school students in the U.S. will have access to high school mountain biking by 2020.

What is NICA doing for under-privileged students?
NICA is developing a Bike Booster scholarship fund to help economically challenged families purchase a bike for their child. It might be their first bike, which will enable them to participate in a high school league, or it might be a student that is moving up to varsity and needs to go from a heavy bike to a lighter one. Our goal is to have this up and running by mid-2012. In addition, incredibly valuable support comes from volunteer coaches. Nobody can match the impact of an inspired, well-trained coach who can connect with kids.

Why does NICA and NICA leagues have so many full-time employees when some high-level racing series have been operating with volunteers only for so many years?
We work with 70 or more volunteers at most events, so our ratio of volunteers to full-time staff is certainly skewed toward the volunteer side. That said, we would love to have more paid positions, because we believe it increases the quality of service and the scope of what we can deliver. Remember, we are more than a racing organization. We put in a year-round effort to train coaches and new league staff, provide scholarships, develop rules and set organizational structures. We constantly push ourselves to raise the bar and do more for our leagues.

With youth mountain bike races there is a risk management element and a need for consistent quality – not just for one race, but for 4-6 races over an 8-10 week period. Parents want a professionally run program, and volunteers want to feel like they’re contributing to a quality organization. There comes a point in an organization’s growth where you need to start offering paid positions to attract and keep the human resources you need. We wouldn’t be able to grow if we depended entirely on volunteers. The bottom line is to maintain consistency and keep improving the quality of services, so you need to have paid positions.

What is NICA doing to be more eco-friendly? Seems like NICA can be at the forefront on the cycling industry in its use of friendlier materials, group transportation, etc.
We are already making strides in this area. At NICA and league events we use post-consumer recycled materials in many items, and we use compostable plates, cups and flatware. We are encouraging the use of biodegradable bike cleaning products, and it would be really cool to see teams use buses, vans and bike trailers to provide group transport to events. To me, that’s the most significant thing we can do.

Going back to when you first started coaching high school students, and looking at what your mission and vision was then vs. what it has become now, how do you view the progress?
I was thinking back then that I’d do this for five years then return to being a school teacher and coaching a high school mountain bike team – and maybe someday I will still get to do that! My personal mission has remained the same, though it has grown in scale. What I was doing with those kids at Berkeley High School is really the same thing we’re doing now with NICA. I just never knew it would grow like this. I knew what I wanted and how it would work, but the number of quality people that stepped forward and became deeply involved has exceeded anything I could have imagined. And then, making the leap to become a national organization – believe me a lot of things came to bear simultaneously to make that possible, especially getting sponsors like Specialized, Easton, Trek and SRAM.

With some other sports prohibiting practice and competition on Sundays for religious reasons, how come all of NICA’s races are on Sundays?
What we have learned over the years is that an early Saturday morning start simply is not feasible for the majority of families in our leagues. In many cases both parents work and finish the week feeling worn out, so with all the detailed preparation needed for a mountain bike race it is more likely that something can slip through the cracks. From the event organization standpoint, it takes 30-50 volunteers working Saturday to prepare the course for racing on Sunday. Most of these volunteers work full-time and we are not confident we can get them to show up on a Friday for a Saturday event, and that would mean a substantial increase in costs. That said, we are going to give Saturday races a try in Utah and see how it goes. I’m sure we will learn a lot from that experience.

Why the cowboy boots and hat? You live in Oakland!
There’s a reason cowboys working in the field all day started wearing those clothes! It took me a while to figure out what was the most comfortable, because when you put on a mountain bike race you’re outside from dawn until dusk for two straight days. A baseball cap doesn’t keep the sun off your neck, and for me it leads to a headache by the end of the day. But a well-fitted cattle hat keeps the sun completely off your face and neck, and you hardly notice you’re wearing it. As for the boots, cowboy boots keep all the debris out – and I don’t mind the look either.

Jeremy Davis graduated from Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento last June. Jeremy raced for the NorCal League all four years of high schoo

l as part of the Luther Burbank High School Mountain Bike Team. Recently Jeremy spoke at the NorCal League’s annual CycleFest Dinner. Below is his speech.

Thank you for allowing me to share my story. I raced for NorCal for four years where I learned mountain biking skills and how to race, but I got much more during that time. I got to ride in places I never would have, like Santa Cruz, Monterey (where I met Tinker Juarez and Gary Fisher), Downieville and Northstar. I was only able to ride Downieville and the advanced trails at Northstar because of all my practices and races with NorCal.

Not only did I develop my mountain biking skills while racing for NorCal, but I also developed an appreciation for nature. Riding my bike in the mountains brings me peace, makes all my problems disappear; it’s just me, my bike, the trail and the fresh air. I can’t get that at home in Sacramento.

I faced many challenges at home. While I was practicing and racing for NorCal, people in my neighborhood, friends of mine, were active gang members getting arrested and even killed. I’m glad I knew my place was on a bike and not in a gang. Even though I never joined a gang, violence is a part of my community. Two years ago, my friend, who I’d just talked to that day, was shot in the head. He wasn’t in a gang, it was a case of mistaken identity, but it was really hard to know he was dead and that I could have been there with him that day.

Racing with NorCal taught me determination and helped me overcome challenges. There were many times on the trail that I wanted to quit, but other racers would cheer me on. Seeing them not give up made me work harder. When I got close enough to hear the cow bells, I knew I could make it. Most of the time. I made it despite my bike. Our team could not afford new bikes, so we rode bikes donated by the police department that we pieced together. Sometimes I DNFʼd [edit: “did not finish”] during races because my bike broke, not because I couldn’t do it. Despite my unreliable bike, I qualified for

the State Championships this year, the first year NorCal required us to actually qualify. I had learned to push on because it wasn’t the bike, it was the rider and I knew I had to make it on my own.

Today, I take that same motivation I learned during practices and races and apply it to my college work. When I wa

nt to give up or skip an essay for my English class, I remember I didn’t come all this way to quit. I am meant to keep going even when it’s tough.

Iʼm attending Sacramento City College studying Business Administration, and I hope to become a police officer, and

eventually a member of the SWAT team. This year I will take my place as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Police Department Mountain Biking Program because I want to prevent kids from having to experience the violence and death I experienced as a teen.

Thank you NorCal for teaching me to appreciate mountain biking and nature. And thank you to Officer George Martinez; because of you, I learned that police are people too and without you, I would never have gotten this far on my bike or in life. Thank you for seeing the potential in me and for welcoming me into your family.

Chris Spencer poses with the NICA Travel Team in Ketchum, Idaho. Photo credit: Austin Gooder

Tell us a little about yourself, Chris. What is your connection to high school mountain biking?
Straight up, high school mountain biking has done a lot for me. As a high school cyclist, racing in the NorCal League, I gained a lot of discipline, real-world understanding and confidence that helped me grow as a person. As a NICA employee I’m able to tackle big projects with the support of my super sharp co-workers.

Tell us about your summer so far, Chris.
This has been one of my favorite summers! It kicked off with an overnight trail work event at Boggs Demonstration Forest (just north of Napa Valley) .

The following weekend we picked up Washington coaches from the airport for our NICA Invitational Camp at UC Santa Cruz. That week was amazing. We had sixty riders and coaches from NorCal, SoCal and Washington State. We treated the riders to five days of high-level racing instruction. We included a four-event stage race and featured guests such as the UCSC yoga instructor, Julie Kimball and WTB staffer and rider Jason Moeschler.

The Camp qualified ten riders for the NICA traveling team. For eight of them it was their first National-level event. Highlights of the Nationals trip included the races, some epic rides around Ketchum, ID, having some great Q and A with the Subaru Trek Team – and generally spending time with fellow bike racers under one roof.

After Nationals there was also time in there for a few trips with my girlfriend, Erin as well as a few trips with buddies to Downieville, Annadale and a ranch we share in Sonora, CA.

I heard you and Matt originally met at the Invitational Camp backin 2003.
Yep. And I left him with quite a lasting impression. As you can imagine – a camp of high-energy, creative and capable high schoolers, needs a lot of rules including: No late night escapades and absolutely no cuss words. Well, on the third day of camp I let one cuss word slip out.  As a result of my potty mouth, Matt gave me a hard 1-minute time penalty, moving my placing in the overall GC for the camp. That night I had to write him a 3-page essay disputing the penalty. Even though appreciative of the thought put into the essay, Matt made the penalty stick. Matt and I still laugh about it.

Sounds like you have been busy so far this summer! What’s coming up next?
Well, first I get a little time in the office to work on some guides and manuals to putting on our programs. I’ll also be helping the directors in six states get their 2012 programs off the ground and a smooth start.

Other than that, I’ll be be pretty busy with the NorCal League Coaches Training programs and fundraising events. I’ll also be out in Colorado helping them kick-off their Season Opener in Nathrop on September 18th.

What’s the best part of your job?
Sharing mountain biking and all the good it brings with riders and coaches.

Kate Rau has been busy preparing for the Colorado League’s Fall racing series.  Teams start practicing on August 1st.  We caught up with her while during her preparations to see how things are going.

Last year the Colorado League saw 183 riders participate in the race series.  What are you anticipating this year?Last year exceeded most everyone’s predictions.  If 230 student athletes race this season, which is looking likely at this point, it would be a 25% increase. We have six teams registered as Division I with 12 or more riders, indicating growth from existing teams and strong participation among some new teams.

This coming academic year, the filmmakers plan to screen the film at middle schools and high schools across the country. They are working with World Bicycle Relief on a classroom discussion and activity guide that will provide a framework for teachers to weave the bicycle and the

stories in the film into their lessons. In addition, a student grassroots advocacy kit will provide inspired students with all of the tools they need to organize events with the goal to get bicycles to those who need them most, whether it be through a used bicycle drive for a local bike kitchen or a fundraiser ride for World Bicycle Relief.

The filmmakers are looking for inspired teachers, coaches, parents, and student racers who would like to bring With My Own Two Wheels to their classrooms and auditoriums. They will provide the film, the activity and discussion guide, and (schedule permitting) one of the members of the three-man crew to come speak about the film and their experiences as mountain bike racers turned activist-filmmakers. Screening events can be tailored to all class or assembly sizes and subject areas, from school-wide assemblies to small classroom discussion and filmmaking workshops.

If you are interested in bringing the film to your school, please contact Jacob Seigel-Boettner at jacobsb@berkeley.edu with your school’s name in the subject field.  He will send you a copy of the activity guide and a preview screener of the film in late-July so you can decide how best to bring With My Own Two Wheels to your school and community.

Why did you decide to join the NICA team?
While on sabbatical from Specialized this winter, it hit me that I needed to fully commit myself to working with NICA. As a kid and throughout my life, riding has been a hugely powerful force. But my love for the bike isn’t unique; you can’t miss seeing passion in the eyes of every NICA student-athlete. That’s what this is all about – switching kids onto riding to improve their lives and the world we live in. I feel so lucky and honored to join the NICA staff and the larger NICA community on our mission to bring riding to teens coast to coast.

What do you see as the most important thing NICA has to offer youth?
The opportunity to know how much better life is as a rider…. seriously, riding makes you feel great, sharpens your mind, gets you around under your own steam and builds character. There are lots of people riding who wouldn’t be if high school mountain biking wasn’t around.  And 99% of them said they’d keep riding the rest of their lives.  The more the movement grows, the more people will have better lives thanks to biking.

Why isn’t there a high school team in every high school?
Well, there are some areas where every high school has a team, like Marin County.  As new leagues mature and areas without leagues establish leagues, the percentage of high schools with teams will grow.  I believe that one day all high schools will have teams.  It might take a while, but it will happen.  And then people will be asking, “What do you mean, there wasn’t always high school mountain biking?”

We hear you were quite the inventor. Tell us about some of your creations.
Everyone’s an inventor in one way or another.  When we’re young we all innovate, try new things all the time.  Then we learn to edit our creative impulses. But I digress… When I was in high school (WAY back in 1987) I was tinkering around on my Grandpa’s drill press (that I took out of storage and dragged into the closet of my bedroom) and came up with a mountain bike brake design.  I had a few made at a machine shop and took them down to Mountain Bike Action Magazine.  They liked the design, did a write up, and my phone started ringing.  I started a company by mistake!  My second brake was “direct routed”, a design that later became popularized by Shimano as the “V-Brake”.  But the real message for all of us is to keep the creative force alive.

You have ridden your bike all over the world in your work for Specialized – tell us about your favorite ride.
Impossible.  I have many favorite rides.  The place has something to do with it, but really it’s about the feeling.  And that comes from the people I’m riding with and whether I’m able to find the zone or not.  The pure experience – when that’s shared with others it’s transformative. For Father’s Day I rode with my middle child over Mount Tam to Muir Beach.  We met up with the rest of the family, splashed around, and then I rode back over the mountain with my oldest.  I’d say those were probably two of my favorite rides.

father is a former pro cyclist. In a remarkably short time, she had created mountain biking opportunities for students across a whole school district.

How did you get involved with the SoCal League?
Jesse and I competed in events together. We went to a mountain bike relay race, where a friend, Gary Hansen of Wounded Warriors, told me he’d heard there was a high school league. I went home, looked it up, and found Matt Gunnell. I went to the SoCal Leaders’ Summit, came home and set up teams in four high schools. We had 16 riders, and it was named the Hart District Mountain Bike Race Team. In the second year we’ve grown to 23 riders.

How’s it working out for Jesse?
It’s going great! He’s a very strong rider, he finished fourth in the SoCal League and eighth in the State Championship, and his team-mates totally respect him. We also have one other student on the team with Asperger’s.

What are the highlights for you in this team?
Some of the students have not participated in any sport before. They come from families that have not been involved in sports. These families have thanked me for getting their child into mountain biking. This has been very rewarding for me.
What are the challenges of this condition from a coach’s perspective?
People with Asperger’s respond very well to structure. Matt Gunnell is very consistent with the rules, which is a

big help. Their anxiety level tends to be very high, so you have to find ways of calming them down, and learn what are matters of concern to them. They’re often getting in trouble, because while the other kids know to stop messing around when the coach comes in sight, they don’t! But I’ve seen a lot of cognitive progress. For example, when Jesse first started, he couldn’t lead a race because he didn’t understand the course markings. Now he has learned how to ride on his own or at the head of the field. And his personal organization has improved dramatically. Initially he was leaving his helmet and shoes, etc., strewn all over the parking lot. Now he has a method for keeping everything together, and he keeps his bike and equipment clean and organized at home too.

What’s your advice to team directors or coaches who have the opportunity to work with special needs students?
If they can get in with a good team, the League offers the necessary structure. We always follow all of the rules, and we make no exceptions. That’s important. Special needs kids need more boundaries than regular kids. The great thing about the SoCal League is when they go to the races, everything is consistent from one race to the next. They know what’s expected of them and what to do. They don’t function well when there’s grey area.