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Casey Middle School Bike Club gets students fired up about biking
Casey Middle School’s Bike Club participates in a race.
Hey! It’s a guest post from Casey Middle School teacher and Bike Club sponsor Catherine Powers!
Casey Middle School’s Bike Club wrapped up a fantastic 2009-2010 school year with a great showing at the CU Short Track race on May 19, helping to kick off that weekly series.
Cesar Ochoa, victor of the CU Short Track race on May 19.
Thirteen Casey students and three volunteers from Trips for Kids showed up to ride and cheer, with 7 participating in the kids race on a fun dirt course of roller coaster hills and tight turns. Seventh grader Cesar Ochoa emerged victorious at the end, biding his time behind a more experienced Boulder Junior Cycling racer to make his move on the final lap.
Cesar is fresh off a Spring Break Casey Bike Club camping trip to Fruita (sponsored jointly by Sierra Club’s ICO program and Trips for Kids). He’s been trying his legs out at local road races, including the Koppenberg and some local criteriums. After his most recent victory, however, Cesar’s love for the dirt has been affirmed.
“It’s hard!” he said with a huge grin on his face. Casey’s Bike Club has been meeting once a week since September to ride, learn skills and race. In the fall, the kids rode cyclocross; in the winter, Bike Club trained on Boulder Indoor Cycling’s velodrome; and in the Spring the group has been focusing on mountain biking.
Casey Bike Club is part of a network of middle school bike clubs that collaborated through Boulder Valley Cycling Assocation to hold clinics, scrimmages and a huge annual Middle Cross Bike Fest which this year drew over 100 participants from 7 local middle schools. The program has really been taking off over the last couple of years due to support from School Transportation Coordinator Landon Hilliard and hard work from a core of teachers/bike club coordinators at Manhattan Middle School, Casey Middle School and Horizons K-8.
“We can’t wait to get started on the 2010 season!” says Mike Eubank of Boulder Valley Cycling Association and the driving force behind Boulder’s new Valmont Bike Park, “This fall we’ll have more clubs, more clinics, more racing and more fun!” Eubank and several middle school cyclists plan to meet this Wednesday, May 26th at CU Research Park to try out the short track race, enjoy a barbecue and get pumped up for next fall’s Middle Cross season.
