During my last two years of high school, I raced mountain bikes for the Utah High School Cycling League. This league is a part of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association also known as NICA. If you haven’t heard of NICA, it’s a great organization full of great people with the common goal of getting more kids on bikes. In 2021, NICA had 26,945 athletes. This is 23% more than they had the previous year. About 7,000 of these athletes were participants in the Utah League alone. Utah’s NICA state championship event in St. George is the largest single high school sports event in the state.
Growing up, sports weren’t my thing. I never fit in with the other kids on my teams. I couldn’t ever catch the ball or score a goal because of my lack of depth perception. I remember several times between elementary and high school that I was the last person to be picked for different sports-related activities. I started to become extremely uncomfortable with the idea of going to recess or my mandatory physical education class.
I had also never really heard of mountain biking while growing up. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I thought it was the same thing as dirt biking. However, when I got to 8th grade, I had my first little glimpse of my high school mountain biking team. One of my friends brought his bike to school and I was amazed by the things he could do on it. I wanted to be like him, but I didn’t ever think it would actually happen.
A year later, my mom posted about a hike our family went on. A good family friend who was also previously a head coach for my high school’s mountain biking team commented on that post saying that I would be a good fit for the team. I really looked up to this person so I looked into it. My mom told me that she has always wanted me to be able to participate in a sport with other kids and that she would pay for me to join the team if I decided I was interested.
A group of kids that I am now very good friends with got together to take me out on my first ride. It was hard but rewarding. My legs were screaming in pain but the landscape around me was so beautiful and I was having tons of fun every time we hit some downhill. Then I crashed, but I was alright. Crashing might have been the best part, in a good way. I was hooked.
Fast forward a few months of riding, and I was able to start practicing with the high school team. By that time, I truly felt like I fit in. I happily woke up at 5:00 every morning to ride my bike with the people I grew to love. The best part was feeling the wind on my face and seeing the beautiful landscapes here in Southern Utah. The second best part was being able to make so many friends in such a short time. By the end of the summer, I knew almost everyone on the team.
These relationships were probably the biggest effect mountain biking had on me, but mountain biking also taught me many lessons. At my first race, I clipped a tree with my handlebars and landed on my hands and knees. It hurt, but I still finished the race, and I did well! I was met by almost half of my team cheering me on at the finish line because they had all heard about what had happened to me. It was awesome. My coaches helped fix me up and I was out riding again three days later.
At the end of this awesome season, I posted about the positive impact that my team had on me and how grateful I was for everyone who made mountain biking a possibility for me. This post was seen by the league and was sent out in a NICA newsletter the next month, with a picture of my friend and I as the cover photo for the email.
The next year, my best friend and I were both chosen to be co-captains of the team. This was my first real leadership experience and I learned many lessons from it.
One of the first things I noticed as a team captain during my second season was that there wasn’t any age barrier in the friendships on the team. As a junior in high school, I had multiple friends in 7th & 8th grade who I would ride with and talk to outside of practice almost daily. Just a few weeks into the new season, I knew the names of every rider on the team. By the end of this second summer, we all had our own inside jokes and stories to laugh about.
“That’s what the whole thing is about, is to go out there and have fun on bikes.” - Coty Chadburn (Coach), October 26th, 2022
When we started racing again in the fall, things kept getting better. I enjoyed watching everyone else compete so much that I would show up early in the morning and stay until dark helping out with our pit zone and taking photos of my friends with my sister’s camera.
Looking back on these two seasons, I feel like the best two words to associate with high school mountain biking are community and love. Even between separate teams, there is nothing but kind words and friendships. Every athlete who participates has enough in common to strike up a conversation with anyone else. We all ride & love bikes.
This is the beauty of NICA. We do it for the benefit of each other. Everyone is a winner each day that they take advantage of the opportunity to share their love of bikes with their friends and acquaintances. I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to experience the beauty of this sport.
That being said, I would like to share this quote I have written down from the end of our last ride from the past season.
“It doesn’t matter the age, it doesn’t matter the ability, you can do it the rest of your life. This is something that will stick with you forever. This is the fun of life right here guys. This is where I find my inspiration. Being out here right where the sun sets over the mountain, you don’t get that back. Those are one-time opportunities, and not many people see that. Not many people do what you do, so recruit, recruit, recruit!” - Cody Schmidt (Coach), October 26th, 2022.
If you or someone you know is interested in participating in, coaching with, or spectating this awesome sport you can learn more at https://nationalmtb.org/.
This is my NICA Why. You can read other NICA Stores here: https://nationalmtb.org/nica-stories/
Isaac
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