Mountain Biking

Mountain Bike Team Overview 

By Isaiah Gomez

Friday, September 13, 2024

The Coconino Mountain Bike Club is a fun, active, and challenging experience for the students at Coconino High School. In this team, the riders meet at a trailhead in Flagstaff or at Coconino; we ride trails together for a couple hours before returning. Then, on every other weekend, we gather with the rest of Arizona riders to have a bike race. There are different divisions for each skill level. We hold team dinners before each race, which is a fun way to meet and make new friends. The team enjoys camping together and getting hotels. The family of each student is highly needed for volunteering. This team is a great experience for both students and the community. 

Nixon Twomey said this was his favorite part of racing and the bike team, “My favorite part about racing is the community, as you’ve been racing for a long time you really get to know everyone…my favorite part about the team is being able to connect with everyone and ride with everyone.” One of our new riders, Fiona Gabaldon, who did the first timer race had this to say: “It was fun. It was definitely really hard, but it was good to just do one lap, just to get the feel for it for the next race.” When asked if she will continue races she said, “Yes, I'm gonna do all–all the other races” for the next race she wants to “pace myself better cause I started a bit too hard and definitely practice my hills better.”

Race #1 Fort Tut Hill

The first race of the season occurred on September 7th, in Flagstaff Arizona at Fort Tut Hill. Varsity and JV1 D1 had a clear sky morning, other than the dust made from the riders. Although, before the rest of the divisions could race, a thunder cloud made its way over the course and all races following were delayed by around four hours. And on top of that, the rest of those divisions had to race one less lap than usual. That didn’t stop the riders who rode through the mud to finish the race. Everyone did very well; we had 3 riders on the podium! We also had our first 1st placement by Phineas Shroufe. He had this to say about his big win: “It’s pretty special. I trained a lot during the summer, and I’m happy my hard work paid off. But I’m very happy that I'm able to get the Arizona Leader Jersey; it's pretty cool.” Great job everyone!

Results 

Girls JV2

Elle Scott - 1 Lap - 27:56 - 4th

Ruby Ball - 1 Lap - 29:28 - 8th

Zylee Norton - 1 Lap - 30:56 - 14th

Alice Chelpka - 1 Lap - 31:52 - 17th

Girls Freshman

Eliana Tingerthal - 1 Lap - 30:02 - 10th

Boys Varsity

Nixon Twomey - 4 Laps - 1:26:37 - 5th

Nathan Finney - 4 laps - 1:28:03 - 10th

Boys JV1 

Phineas Shroufe - 3 Laps - 1:05:22 - 1st

Isaiah Gomez - 3 laps - 1:14:17 - 10th

Charlie Winfield - 3 laps - 1:19:33 - 22nd

Jackson Davis - 3 laps - 1:24:35 - 23rd

Boys JV2

Noah Culbertson - 1 Lap - 24:11 - 9th

Zachary Johnston - 1 Lap - 24:51 - 15th

River Bigsby - 1 Lap - 41:22 - 36th

First Timer 

Fiona Gabaldon - 1 Lap - 42:06 - 2nd