This season we have asked our students to help us write a race recap. First race of the season was Boyce Park on August 26 & 27th, 2023. This was a rally style race with timed and untimed segments. You can read Zoe Kellogg’s recap and impressions as a brand new first time racer below the team stats.
Lehigh Valley teams had both seasoned PICL racers and first time students who were completely new to the league and mountain biking. We were thrilled with how many families made the trek out to Pittsburgh to participate in the first race of the season.
Middle School categories raced a total of 4 segments on Saturday. High School Students completed 5 timed segments in Sunday’s race.
Congratulations to 8th graders Tessa Fix for taking 2nd place MS Girls & Teague Hunner coming in 5th MS Boys
High School top finishers were Dayna Hunner finishing 5th place in the JV3 Girls category and Addison Winfield earning the leader’s jersey for JV2 Girls. Congratulations, ladies!
Boyce Big Ring Rally – Student Race Recap by Zoey Kellogg
“It was so fun to go down because you could see the finish line with everyone cheering! “
— Zoe Kellogg, 8th Grade Girls, Lehigh Valley Composite West
Hi, I am Zoey Kellogg, and my first mountain bike race was the Boyce Big Ring Rally.
My friend introduced me to mountain biking in the fall of 2022, and I loved it, so I decided to join the team the next year. I was excited that I could go to the first race, but I had been away for the summer, so I’d only been to three practices. I was nervous because I didn’t know how to pace myself or what the start would be like. I was also anxious about passing people and how that all works.
When we got there it was very wet and muddy. I was glad I could do the Friday pre-ride because it was really useful and helped me know what the course was like. The next day was the race, and I was excited but also a bit scared.
On Saturday, it was still muddy, but it wasn’t quite as bad as it had been the day before. I got my race timing chip when we got to the pit zone and was ready to go! It was kind of stressful waiting in the staging area before the race. When I was up, the announcer asked me some questions, but I didn’t know the answer to one, so I made it up.
At Boyce, the very beginning of the race wasn’t at the starting point. It was at the top of a hill. I didn’t have to go fast at first which was nice so I could warm up and get myself more comfortable on the bike and with the muddy conditions. Then, when I got to the top of the hill, I started the race. I rode at a fast pace like a sprint because it was rally style. It was somewhat hard because I didn’t know where the finish line was, so I didn’t have a great finish on my first segment, but it was fine. I didn’t know that there would be a snack stand which was nice! The second segment was fun. On the third stage, I passed some people which was as bad as I thought it would be. Then someone got hurt, and I waited because I wasn’t really sure what to do, but after the race, someone told me next time not to wait unless it’s an emergency, so I won’t. Then, when I got done with that section, we had to go up some big hills. Some of my friends and I walked it so we wouldn’t waste energy, which was nice because we could talk about how the race was going.
Then we got up to the last segment that was pretty much all downhill. I was nervous because it was extremely muddy and slippery. Then I was off. It was so fun to go down because you could see the finish line with everyone cheering! I got to the bottom and was pedaling hard, but I was in the wrong gear, so it was not the best finish. I learned for next time. At the end, I almost ran into the person taking off the timing chips, but thankfully I didn’t. Everyone was cheering and it was great!
After I finished the race, I got a snack and went to cheer on the rest of the team with my friends! The cheering was really nice and relaxing after the stressful but fun race. Then we went to the podium in which two middle schoolers from our team had podiumed.
Overall I had an amazing experience, and I can not wait to race again!