Aloha at Troy 29 Pines 😉

This venue is worth the 5 hour drive. Rain, yet again, cancelled Troy - the league's most accursed venue - so we pivoted to a normally north-only course in NE Texas. Sandy soil and a forgiving weather pattern allowed us race in Henderson when the rest of the state was flooded. We had a small crew for this fun, but decidedly non-standard event. Our team arrived between 9pm and 11:30 pm on Friday night and threw down camp in the middle of a surprisingly dry field. Pre-rides and races were BOTH held on Saturday, with racing beginning at 12:30 and ending at 6pm. 

The Maroons only fielded 10 riders but 8 of those riders placed in the top 10 (including 4 podiums) (RC)

Lonestar State Championships!
The Wrangle In Warda

We managed to get the best campsite on the ranch. Real campsites, real picnic tables, on the banks of a beautiful pond. Pre-rides on Saturday were eventful but we got through them, lol. The league had several reportable injuries on Warda's famously poorly constructed jumps. Saturday night the Maroons were recognized for series awards: Dash and Ellie won Varsity, Sally won JV1, Maddie won JV2, Penelope went 3rd in 7th grade, and Hugo went 3rd in 6th! The Maroons were also the 3rd place team in the South Conference. The awards ceremony on Saturday night was cut short by a spectacular lightning storm that lasted much of the night. 

Sunday's racing was for all the marbles - a winner-takes-all contest for the State Championship. Racing started off muddy and slow but by early afternoon the course was hero dirt. Sally and Maddie posted convincing wins for JV1 and JV2, bringing home TWO Texas State Championships! The Maroons totaled 10 top-ten finishes at this race. Furthermore, the Austin High School Mountain Bike Team won 3rd overall at this race - quite an accomplishment considering we only brought 12 riders for our HS team (Bulldogs brought 25, North Texas brought 16) (RC)

No NICA, No exceptions

NICA has strict rules about gathering as a team in the off-season. These rules protect riders from overtraining and teams from procuring an unfair advantage at the expense of their athletes.

That said, there are no rules against gathering with your buddies and parents and going for rides - it is in-fact encouraged! Here are some pages with advice for riding, training, and racing in the off-season:

• Off-season riding

• Off-season training

• Off-season racing

Regionals!

November 8th is the NICA Central United States Regional Championship. The fastest athletes from the central United States (AR, IN, KY, KS, MO, MS, NE, OK, TN, TX, WI ) will gather in Fayetteville Arkansas at Centennial Park for a true test of early season skills. Its a tough race, Texas did well last year, bringing 79 racers and securing 8 top-five-finishes, second only to Wisconsin. 

Those states with Fall leagues will be deep in their season - well trained and fit for Regionals. Spring leagues (TX) will just be beginning our training for the year. If you want to be competitive at Regionals, you'll need to train during the off-season (see above)

I want to make sure that all coaches know how thankful we are for all your help this season. This season wouldn't have been possible without all of your effort, input, and time.

Some back-of-the-napkin stats:

• 400 hours of scheduled practices across 80 different days, average 7 coaches a practice. 2,800 hours. 

• 200 hours of race weekends, average 12 coaches a race. 2,400 hours. 

• 10 level 1 coaches = 40 hours of training

• 10 Level 2 coaches = 120 hours of training

• 2 Level 3 coaches = 48 hours of training

That's almost 5,500 hours of coaching! 

Beyond the coaching, so much else happens that coaches contribute to. Planning of practices, race weekends, and meals. Cooking, camp set up, pit set-up and tear-down. Pre-rides, Mark-ups, warm-ups, feeds, and pit support. 

From the bottom of our hearts - thanks coaches!