A guest post by Jesse Poore
Lancaster Composite Mountain Bike (LCMTB) Team will be riding, racing and making memories at Branched Oak Lake trails October 14th and 15th. This is the third race weekend for the Nebraska Interscholastic Cycling League which now supports more than 200 Nebraska students in grades 6-12. Our LCMTB Team welcomed 15 new families this season and now has 41 registered teammates from schools across the County. These kids are the future of the sport and we are excited to help cultivate lifelong cyclists.
Teammates and coaches gather for a group photo taken by Matt Pearson before enjoying an ice cream social provided by Huffman Engineering followed by an urban bike ride to Star City BMX.
Providing a fun, inclusive, and challenging team environment for students to set goals, build community, gain skills, and enjoy riding is a group effort. We started the season with recruiting events in April-June followed by weekly practices since July. It takes a rockstar group of coaches; 15 adults have supported the team activities as volunteers with no financial compensation. They literally pay to participate as coaches. Amazing! This weekend, LCMTB invites the BicycLincoln community to come out to see the events. You can stop out to watch pre-ride activities Saturday afternoon or be extra amazing and donate a few hours as a volunteer Sunday morning or afternoon. The weather will be amazing and the experience will be memorable. The races held Sunday have the following start times.
Middle School Boys – 9:30 AM
Middle/High School Girls – 10:30 AM
High School Boys – 12:30 PM
On International Women’s Mountain Bike Day (May 6, 2023), LCMTB Team brought female riders to Van Dorn Park and continued to expand the Girls Riding Together (GRiT) community during the season.
Volunteer opportunities this weekend are available Saturday and Sunday to support the race.
https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/923164964084
Use this link to sign up for any time slot and make your way out to see the event. Stationary course marshals have the best view of the race. Come on out and lend a hand if you can!
Want to consider becoming a coach? On-the-Bike Training is available for $25 October 14th from 8-12 at Branched Oak. Sign up with this link and gain skills.
https://www.raceregister.net/otb101oct14
You won’t regret the investment of time to improve your skills.
Want to support the League AND have a chance to win a sweet new bike? Trek has donated some great prizes. Use the link below to make a donation. Half of all donations go to the team selected at checkout. Lancaster Composite will continue to grow with your support. https://nebraskamtb.rallyup.com/2023trekbikegiveaway/Campaign/Details
Members of LCMTB Team joined THOR to enhance the ride experience at Van Dorn Park the week before DEVO started summer programming.
What else has the LCMTB team been up to? Well, for starters,
- Two athletes and one coach joined the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Trails Master Plan Working Group and lent their support to the final recommendations, even testifying before the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee about their work and requesting to adopt the plan which will allow more trails to be constructed around Lincoln.
- Multiple team families attended a public open house for Van Dorn Park Master Plan, adding their voices to priorities, speaking with Parks and Recreation Staff and City Council representatives about the value they have found in the trails.
- Teammates showed up to support DEVO for a Try it at Trago Park and brought great energy to this outreach event to get more kids on bikes.
- Teammates and friends joined THOR to help build new trail features and drainage support for Van Dorn Park as well as Branched Oak Area 7.
- Coaches and athletes supported the Lincoln Marathon wheelchair racer with exceptional bike support for Connie and the racers running the course with her.
- Numerous teammates loaded up bikes and drove down to Beatrice to ride the amazing gravel at the Solstice Gravel Grinder at the invitation of Joe Billesbach.
- And dozens of teammates set up to help wash hundreds of mud-caked bikes to support Jason Strobhen, Sofia Gibson and the amazing Gravel Worlds Team.
- Coordinating the Bill Peters Memorial Scholarship with support from the WRK Family Foundation.
- Coordinating three new Trek Pathfinder Scholarships with support from Trek Bicycle Lincoln.
LCMTB strives to be a positive space and represent ourselves as Lincoln’s only coed, interscholastic mountain bike team. It is a great group of students and coaches who love cycling and want to see the sport grow. Please send this team some encouragement and support. If you know of a business or organization that would like to make tax deductible financial support for the team in 2024, please contact Head Coach Jesse at [email protected]