Saturday
We welcomed teams to a spectacular new venue, 29 Pines in Henderson, Texas! We heard that this is a new favorite course from many of our coaches and athletes.
If you loved this trail and are looking to build something in your community, contact the 29 Pines trail builder, Mike Ambern with Vanguard Trailworks.
Pre-Rides and Team Fun
The weather was amazing for Saturday. League staff and volunteers spent the morning putting final touches on the trail while teams started rolling in for their pre-rides and a day full of activities.
OTB 101
Texas NICA Coach Supporter, Lynnette Wood, hosted OTB101 for new coaches. OTB101 is NICA’s initial coach course. The course teaches coaches best practices to teach MTB skills to others. It focuses on using common language and instructional skills to help coaches break down mountain biking fundamentals for others to learn. The courses teach coaches how to coach the skills that they already know themselves. Coaches who have taken OTB101 can continue their learning with OTB201.
MOB Skills (Moms On Bikes)
Lynnette hosted another Mom’s on Bikes (MOB) clinic at this race. A collaboration of the NICA GRiT (Girls Riding Together) staff and Coach Supporter Coordinators, the MOB (Moms on Bikes) skills clinics offer basic bike skills instruction for small groups of women. The sessions will progress over time to help improve riders’ skills and confidence on the bike. Stay tuned for more MOB opportunities! MOBs is definitely open to women who aren’t moms!
GRiT Activities
This weekend’s GRiT activities kicked off with decorating and bedazzling safety glasses. It was a hit!
End of Season Awards and Celebration Recap
Sunday
Sundays are for racing!
Once again this year, the weather was throwing us curveballs. With thunderstorms and lightning in the forecast for early afternoon, race laps were reduced and the racing started earlier than normal. With these changes, we were able to get all of our high schoolers and our middle school girls out on course to get their state championship race! Lightning in the area crept in just as the middle school boys were lined up to take off. The race was delayed, then delayed again and again. With storms predicted into the evening the race was officially canceled at 11:30 a.m..
The middle school girls categories were placed based on the order in which the athletes reached the marshal points and were pulled from the course. The times listed for those categories are not accurate and are only used to place the athletes in the appropriate ranking positions (the top 6 8th Grade Girls do have actual chip times.)
Awards will be mailed to team leadership. Independent athletes’ awards will be mailed directly to them. We placed all categories with the exception of middle school boys. All middle school boys who were registered for the state championship race will receive a $50 credit to be used toward next season’s fees. We are so sorry that we were unable to get the middle school boys on the trail. The weather radar showed continuous lighting within ten miles of the venue with a 95% probability that lightning and storms would continue into the evening.
