A race weekend of community and being nimble
The Enchanted at Erwin race weekend started with a thousand questions weeks before the race. Can these trails be ready in time? The North Texas teams (North Texas Composite, South Metro, Highland Park Scots) rallied together to put in over 1,000 volunteer hours to work on the trails. It was an incredible showcase of community and determination!
The rains came in Thursday night before race weekend and all of that hard work was about to be put to the test. On Friday morning, league staff and volunteers walked the course and evaluated conditions. It wasn’t awful, but it certainly wasn’t great. Camping arrangements were shifted and locals leaned in for setting up contingency plans left and right. The entire 4.5-mile course was marked ON FOOT.
Fortunately, the sun and the wind decided to join us for our race weekend. Pre-rides were pushed back to the afternoon and volunteer after volunteer (including students!) showed up to help.
By Saturday afternoon, activities were in full swing and the course was starting to ride better and better!
The rest of the weekend can best be told through race weekend photos below! There is a bit of trail work we’ll need to do following this weekend’s race, but nothing this community can’t handle!
Saturday Highlights
Pedal Kids
Pedal Kids USA came out on Saturday and set up their bicycle playground for kids! The future is looking bright for kids on bikes!
Pedal Kids will offer 10 weeks of 5-day camps for the DFW area in 2024!
Adventure Zone
Saturday’s adventure zone brought students together to play games other than bikes! Of course there were also bike games!
Trek Try-it-out Ride
The Trek Try-it-out ride was open to students in grades 4 through 12 to come out to a race and… try-it-out! Participants get to ride half or the full race course with NICA coaches and local Trek store employees!
GRiT Activities
The GRiT tent featured our Ambassador’s favorite jams and hosted friendship bracelet making this weekend!
The GRiT ride (open to any female athletes who are mountain bike curious) took off at 3 p.m. and offered options of a full race course lap and a half lap.
Race Weekend Photos
Official Race Photos
Our race weekend photographers are 100% volunteers! They share their talents because they love the heart of NICA. Their photos are for sale for $2 each on SmugMug, but all proceeds go towards a bike scholarship at the end of the season!
Contribute Media
We’re hoping to develop social media content to help the league grow and we need your help! If you’re a photographer or student who would like to contribute your photos or videos, please submit them to our Google Photos collaborative album.
To collaborate in the album, you must have a gmail account – this also means that your submissions are not anonymous and are visible to anyone else viewing the album. BUT it also means your content could be used in our hype videos/reels and social media!
YouTube Videos
Did you have your GoPro on during the race? Want us to feature you on the league’s Race Course Preview playlist?
Submit your videos to our Google Photos collection OR send us a link to your posted YouTube video and we’ll review it for a chance to be added to our YouTube Race Previews and Recaps Playlist!
Beyond Racing
While our north conference teams were racing at Erwin, our south conference teams got together for a big community ride hosted by the Lake Travis Mountain bike team. Riders from the Austin Maroons, Hays County Stingers, and Austin T-Hawks joined Lake Travis at Pace Bend.
Get your fundraiser moving!
The league’s fundraising campaign, presented by Trek, has launched! You can find details and collect donations through the RallyUp fundraising site.
