www.montereycountyweekly.com april 18-24, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 The opening day of any sport’s season brings with it a sense of anticipation, felt by all the athletes, coaches and parents. This particular February morning on the rugged grounds of the old Fort Ord near East Garrison was no different. “We are all here for the same reason—we love to ride and we love to race,” said Jack Denny, a senior and captain of the Salinas High School mountain biking team before the day began. “It’s fun to see some of the same people from last year.” But the morning was also wild, colorful and chaotic, at least to the novice eye. The NorCal league season opened with a race in Monterey County on Feb. 24. There were 45 teams from the Central and East Bay regions alone, with all teams bringing over 1,000 riders—high school and middle school squads, with athletes divided into classes like JV1, JV2, Freshman D1 or D2 and varsity—tearing over two distances, a 12-mile run for freshman riders and a 20-mile track for the other classes. Salinas High is one of the oldest high school mountain biking teams in the state, and probably the country. It’s also one of the larger teams on campus, with 42 boys and girls making up the spring 2024 roster. “We worked really hard to reach out to new riders this year,” says coach Bob Agan. Sponsors have provided loaner bikes for student-athletes without their own ride. There are 25 volunteer ride leaders, adults who work with the team in practice and on race days. Over the 10 years Agan has been directing the Cowboys MBT squad, he has watched the sport grow dramatically. There is now a separate race for middle school riders. And more than 700 competitors routinely show up at NorCal events. Just over a month later, as they prepare for a practice loop that will take them from the Toro Park neighborhood along Highway 68 to the steep inclines at the Badger Hills Trailhead on Fort Ord National Monument, coach Jill Eisner points out that it was not too long ago when none of this existed. There was baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, even tennis. But a mountain biking team at Salinas High? “I wish they would have,” she says with a rueful smile. As the story goes, Berkeley High School math teacher and avid rider Matt Fritzinger wanted to start a cycling team. A few students showed up, however there was little for such a team to do in 1998 but ride area trails and enter adult races like the Sea Otter Classic. According to the Marin Museum of Bicycling, his riders quickly grew frustrated. To address the situation, Fritzinger launched the NorCal High School Cycling League—now shortened to NorCal—in 2001. Salinas was one of the first five schools to form a team and join. Within a few years there were 30 schools involved and over 400 riders. By 2016 Fritzinger and others had formed the National Interscholastic Cycling Association and there were 10,000 students competing in races around the country. Just why the sport is booming depends upon who you ask. Denny says he rides more for the exercise than the thrill of victory, and that he plans to keep mountain biking as a casual activity in the future. “I joined my first year and I’ve come back every year,” he adds. Yet for many, the sense of camaraderie that develops on the trails between teammates, coaches, volunteers and competitors is the main attraction. The NICA rulebook emphasizes supportive behavior. A 20-mile course careening over dirt and gravel, down rocky ravines or rutted and slippery jumps can be daunting, explains Jennifer Morillo Vega, a junior and, like Denny, a Cowboys team captain. “But even if Salinas High School has one of the state’s oldest mountain biking teams, and the sport is growing. By Dave Faries daniel dreifuss daniel dreifuss The Bike Issue Above: Jennifer Morillo Vega, Jack Denny and Diana Rivera pose with their rides. Morillo Vega and Denny serve as captains for the Cowboys. Below: Arianna Casillas tears around a turn during the season-opening race.
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