Editor’s note: Last week, the Town Crier introduced the Idyllwild School Mountain Bike team to the community. This week, Coach Josh White

Seth White, an Idyllwild School sixth grader, is finishing his second competitive mountain bike race, which was at Vail Lake. The school’s team has six riders all in sixth and seventh grades.
Photo by Josh White, coach, Idyllwild School Mountain Bike team

talks about the bikers and their March 10 competition — the Vail Lake Challenge.

It rained all morning on Saturday and then at 2 p.m., when the first wave of middle-school girls was to start. It stopped and didn’t rain again until 5:30 p.m., after all the races were finished.

The kids really did well, especially considering it was the first race for three — Mei Li Stroud, Michael Stroud and Colby Sonnier — of the six bikers. Michael’s 10th-place finish is amazing for his first race.

Two weeks ago was the first race of the season at Lake Perris. From that race, Seth White improved 10 spots, Jakob Parsons stayed the same at 13th (he’s in a very competitive category) and Jake Fey improved 10 spots as well.

The kids really enjoyed the weekend, and several of them hung out on Sunday to watch and support the high schoolers [Hemet High School] as they raced. [The Hemet Mountain Bike Team] was first in Division 2, their second-consecutive, first-place finish.

Another thing to note is that each of the middle-school racers has a high-school racer assigned to them as a mentor.

At the races, what this entails is them helping their middle schooler get warmed up about 30 minutes before the race, making sure their middle-school racer reports to their race 15 minutes before their race slot, and then cheering them on during the race out on the course.

They are also available to talk to them about things like nutrition, hydration, nerves, and whatever else they can think of to ask.  The middle school kids absolutely love this and eat it up.

Place Racer Category #Racers

13 Jakob Parson Boys 40

Intermediate (Grades 6/7)

21 Mei Li Stroud Girls 38

Beginner (Grades 6-8)

10 Michael Stroud Boys 61

Beginner (Grade 7)

28 Seth White Boys 56

Beginner (Grade 6)

36 Colby Sonnier Boys 56

Beginner (Grade 6)

45 Jake Fey Boys 56

Beginner (Grade 6)