High Desert kids working to form composite high school bike team

The High Desert has long been known for its distance runners.

Could the same happen in another endurance sport where athletes trek over long distances?
Maybe, but for now Kelly Myers and Eddie Rea just want to plant the seed.

Myers and Rea are in search of interested high schools students to form a composite High Desert team to compete in the SoCal High School Cycling League starting in spring 2012. Riders don’t need to be experienced in the sport, but just “a bike and passion to ride” Myers said.

“It’s the punk rock of high school sports,” Myers said. “It’s something for the kids that aren’t a part of the big three.”

This is not your stunt-driven style of biking. It is more cross country running for bikers and it is a growing sport.

Mountain biking began as a high school sport in 1998 at Berkeley High School, and more and more teams started to spring up in Northern California until the the NorCal High School Cycling League was formed in 2001 — and in 2008 the SoCal league was spun off.

The next year the National Interscholastic Cycling Association was also created to be the national governing body for high school cycling. More than 60 teams now compete between the NorCal and SoCal leagues.

The sport is organized similar to any other high school sport with teams and athletes divided by grade and ability level. The race season lasts from about February to May with five races plus a state championship meet and students are required to meet a minimum GPA in order to compete.

The NICA has continued to grow the sport with leagues starting up or expected to start in Colorado, Texas, Washington and Minnesota. NICA’s ultimate goal is to have leagues set up across the United States by 2020.

“It’s looking like it’s going to be a reality,” said Matt Gunnell, executive director of the SoCal High School Cycling league. “Really what we are driving at long term is being looked at like any other sport.”

Rea first started to brainstorm forming a team when he tinkered with the idea of opening a cycling shop in the High Desert. While plans to open the business fell through, the idea of forming a high school team never went away.

“I’ve been essentially a lifelong cyclist,” Rea said. “This is an opportunity to me to give back and share some of the knowledge I have.”

Rea and Myers plan to meet with athletic directors and students from local high schools all over the High Desert, including Barstow, in the coming weeks to gauge interest.

“I think our first step to is to identify that we have a definitely interest in the program, which I think we will,” Rea said.

Rea, who has worked in the cycling industry and competed internationally, said he’ll help riders find bikes if they don’t already have them.

So far the team is two-cyclists strong — Kelly’s son Wyatt and Alyssa Valenzuela. Both are already veterans of the SoCal High School Cycling League, having ridden for a season each as unattached riders.

Wyatt, a junior at Oak Hills, has ridden bikes and participated in other sports for most of his life. He seriously picked up mountain biking the sport a year ago after watching his dad ride for years. He’s already competed nationally but wouldn’t mind having others to ride around closer to home.

“It would be pretty cool having people up here to ride with and having a team centered more closer to where I live,” Wyatt said.

Valenzuela, a junior at Granite Hills, transitioned into the sport from running after watching her dad for years. She’s already started the recruiting process with her friends.

“I’m definitely going to try, but they are a little worried about the sport,” Valenzuela said. “They see me and see how dirty and cut up I get. You definitely have to be a certain type of person to do mountain biking. You can’t be afraid. You have to get out there and try something new.”

Despite the apprehension from some of her friends, Valenzuela said she expects a positive response once new riders give the sport a try.

“I definitely think we’ll be able to (build a team),” Valenzuela said. “As soon as kids give it a try, they’ll realize it’s a great sport and they’ll fall in love with it like I have.”

That’s exactly what Rea and Kelly are looking for — athletes willing to give the sport a shot. Rea stresses Wyatt and Valenzuela are the exception and not the rule.

“The emphasis is on participation rather than building the next greatest cyclist,” Rea said. “We want to plant the seed. Winning isn’t really the objective here. The objective is getting kids on bikes and letting them experience how awesome it is. It’s a magic sport for the in-between kid, the kid that doesn’t take to the stick and ball sports.”