Highlanders: MTB High School Race Team in COS

Sam Cavin, joined Routes staff in Spring of 2022. Currently, he’s a sophomore with a 4.0 GPA at Palmer Ridge High School in Monument, CO. He races for Highlanders, a composite team of Colorado Springs area schools without their own mountain biking team programming. 

This year was Sam’s second year riding with the Highlanders, even though he was initially hesitant. Highlanders rides and races cross country (XC) events, which focus on distance and speed, while Sam has always loved bombing downhill and racing Gravity. Despite his hesitancy, Sam decided to race XC for Highlanders in order to stay in shape. 

There are 22 kids on the team, including three girls. They practice every Tuesday and Thursday, shredding the best trails across the Front Range - including Sam’s favorite spot, Cheyenne Canon. At any given practice, they have about 10 coaches coaching the racers. They ride for a couple hours and work on different skills together. They are responsible for their own transportation and often carpool - including to races, which are every other weekend. The initial cost for joining Highlanders is $295.

The races are divided by grade: 9th, 10th, JV, and Varsity. For the Fall 2022 season, Sam was stoked to place in the top 40 for his grade in races at Frisco, Leadville, and Eagle out of about 100 kids.

Sam would like to study engineering and ride competitively in college, and someday design bikes for a living. He recognizes riding for Highlanders can play a part in all of that.

To boot, four other RO Staff - Ben, Ethan, Cy, and Kier - all ride for Highlanders. Although Highlanders has allowed Sam to improve his skills as a rider and compete all over the state, his favorite part has been all the good friends he has made.

Ben, 2nd from left, Sam, 3rd from left, and Ethan, far right, all ride for Highlanders and work for Routes.

Living the Dream: Going to MTB Camp in Durango

Fort Lewis College MTB Camp

In the summers of 2021 and 2022, Ethan Werschky (RO Staff) attended the Fort Lewis College Mountain Biking Camp in the MTB heaven know as Durango. It was attended by forty other high school riders, both guys and gals. The Fort Lewis coaches and college riders have hosted the camp for over 20 years. 

The camp goes from a Saturday to a Friday. Ethan’s parents drove him the six hours to Fort Lewis from Monument. His parents gallivanted joyously throughout Durango and Ouray for the week while Ethan was at camp.

Ethan went with a buddy from home and they stayed in a dorm room together. Kids came all the way from Alabama, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Each morning, the campers were split up into 4-5 groups, depending on skill level, and led on a 2-3 hour ride. They rode a variety of trails around Durango - flowy, technical, grippy, or loose. Ethan was stoked to improve his technical skills like navigating through rock gardens, step ups, and drops. 

Ethan racing with his high scool team. He finished top 100 at XC States for his age group in 2022.

Their afternoons consisted of bike games, like foot down and bike tag, and free time. One hot afternoon, their instructors took them to the river to float on tubes. Their evenings were filled with speakers like Olympian Christopher Blevins and pro riders and married couple Cole Peyton and Savilla Blunk (who live in a van, but not down by the river). The guest speakers also rode with the kids in the morning.

Campers ate all their meals at the dining hall and Ethan thought the food was great (unlimited ice cream!) He has stayed in touch with a lot of the kids throughout the year and even saw some of them at races. He plans on going back again this summer.