High school bike team gearing up

Base miles, intervals, climbs and fun

In a town renowned for its bike trails and biking prowess, it only makes sense that the Crested Butte High School would have a mountain bike team.
The team formed back in 2010 and continues to gain strength, numbers and speed with each new fall season, thanks to local bike enthusiasts and sponsorship from Alpine Orthopaedics.
Several local iron lungs and legs have agreed to help develop the fledgling program and bring it to a new level.

Head coach Torrey Carroll is back to lead the program, with Jason Stubbe returning to the fold as well. In addition, Dale Kramer, Mark Robbins, Randy Swift and potentially Dave Ochs will help out with a variety of skills and fitness exercises for the young team.
All but one rider from last year’s team returned with a new class of freshmen and upperclassmen filling out the roster 13 riders strong.
“I think word of mouth keeps the kids coming in and the kids are having fun,” says Carroll. “We have some positive team spirit.”
The team started workouts back in the beginning of August and spent the first two weeks racking up key mileage.
“We try to build a base, get some miles in without too much climbing,” says Carroll.
They’ve mixed in road miles out the Slate River Road and Kebler Pass with some singletrack work on the Wagon Trail, and CBMR trails, as well as Strand and the Lupine Trail.
Just this past week, the team shifted gears to continue base mileage work with the addition of more climbing and is moving into some interval work to build speed.
“This week we’re doing more intervals, building the middle and the top of the pyramid,” explains Carroll, “trying to build a top end.”
According to Carroll, the enthusiasm remains high during workouts and the team is already ahead of schedule compared to last year’s team.
“It seems like we’re a month ahead of where we were before,” says Carroll.
Senior Josh Gallen is the top gun for the team coming off a successful season as a junior last year and a full schedule of racing this past summer.
“He’s ridden a lot, raced a lot and had some good results this summer,” says Carroll.
While his base is in place, fatigue was the biggest concern so the coaching staff sidelined Gallen during preseason temporarily.
“We had him not ride at all for six or seven days,” explains Carroll. “He’s feeling good again and is well rested. We’re expecting him to be at the front of the race, podium at least. But, there are some really fast kids out there.”
Senior Lizzie Curvin joined the team this year for the first time and should gain speed and strength as the season progresses.
Junior Tristan Kraatz appears to have picked up right where he left off last year, and classmate Cristo Church made the move to the bike team to hone his racing speed.
“He’s been riding fast and has a great skill set,” says Carroll.
German exchange student Jan-Leo Kaak (a classic bike racing name) brings in some bike knowledge from his homeland and is excited to get some Colorado trail miles under him.
The sophomore class of Emerson Wohlers, Oz Scott, Derek Schomler and Colton Schnaitter all tested the waters of high school bike racing as freshmen and look to build on that in their second year of competing.
The freshmen class of Kai Sherman, Patrick Curvin, Liam Rose and Benjamin Swift has already logged miles on their mountain bikes with strong fitness family lineages and look to make the transition from ride mode to race mode.
They open their season of racing on Sunday, September 9 with the Chalk Creek Challenge in Nathrop.