Spring training has begun! As one of the coaches of Moab’s high school mountain bike team, we decided to get a jump-start on preparing for our fall season. Living in Moab is pretty darn great -- we have access to incredible, world-class trails and people from all over the world come here to ride them. However, our little tourist town is quite small when it comes to drawing from the high school kids to form a mountain bike team. The student population for grades 9-12 sits right around 400, and considering there are other traditional fall sports that many of the kids are already involved in, pulling together a full roster for mountain biking has been a bit challenging. On the other hand, we do have some very talented riders. Even with our small group in 2012, Grand County High School proudly claimed a State Championship in the Boys Freshman division! Preston Bagley is a Rock Star!
So, off to the junior high school we went, in search of new recruits to join our cadre of four boys for the 2013 season. We already knew of an 8th grade boy who planned to join us, and today we met an 8th grade girl and a 7th grade boy. After checking waivers and bikes, the group set out for our newly re-formed Moab Bike Park. Upon arrival, the boys immediately hit the Pump Track. I spent some time with our new gal, giving her instruction on some bike handling basics. After getting a little more comfortable on the bike, she was ready to attempt “rolling” some of the dirt jumps. Next up, she did a couple of laps on the Pump Track. While riding both of these areas requires a bit of previous experience, our gal had a great attitude and was willing to give all of it her best shot.
We spent the last part of our session predominantly on the dirt jumps; well for me, they are “dirt rollers“. I wish I had access to this kind of park when I was a kid. You know that saying about teaching an old dog new tricks? Well, maybe this old dog should pick up some body armor to help alleviate some of the fear factor she associates with trying some of these “new tricks”!! Overall, it was good fun for everyone. This session was meant for us to meet the new kids and ride somewhere that was easy to access from the school. Next week, we will have one of our sponsors, Coyote Shuttle, take the group up to the Moab Brand Trails where everyone will be able to get in some serious pedal time.
*Melissa Nerone is the Day Tour Manager at Rim Tours and proudly sports her Deuter Futura 28 for most of her mountain biking needs.
–Melissa Nerone (Outdoor Ambassador)
Get a Futura 28 and get working on your skills for the season!
- Learn all about the Futura 28 at Deuter.com
- Order one up from Campmor.com
- Have one shipped out from Tahoe Mountain Sports
- Get one delivered from Rock Creek