High School

North Carolina High School Mountain Biking  may soon be a reality.  This weekend there will be an informational/organizational meeting to get things started.  The goal is to bring submit a bid to the National Interscholastic Cycling Association to bring competitive youth cycling to NC by 2015.  I'm hoping to be there - more to learn what the process is going to be like and get a sense of the outlook of starting a league here - and I urge anyone in NC that is able to go, to GO!  The event is on Sunday 12/15 at 2pm.  Back Alley Bikes in Carrboro NC is hosting the event... check it out and bring your bike - there will be a group ride before/after the meeting.

I'm sure the great majority of us would have loved having an organized league when we were in high school.  A friend and I started up a mountain biking club at our high school, but I think we only ever went on one official ride.  On the way to the trail my bike wasn't secured very well to the trailer our bikes were in and when we went over a curb to park my bike bounced, slamming my wheel in such a way that it tacoed....  yeah... great way to start.  We straightened it some and had to release the rear brakes to make it rideable - THAT WAS SAFE!  That was also back in the day when front suspension was a luxury and not the standard.  I remember thinking my buddies front shock was weird, heavy, and pointless.  

Anyway, here's to an organized league for the up and comers.  There are a good number of colleges in North Carolina that not only have mountain bike teams, but are able to provide scholarships!!  So if you can, check the meeting out and see what you can do to support bringing mountain biking into our high schools.  Maybe we can make high school just that much cooler for kids - we don't want Billy Madison to dissuad them from going to high school, now do we?