Cycling: More than pedaling

“The person who drops last is done,” coach Anya Bruhin told the struggling students as they did wall squats in the hallway at Pea Ridge High School. “Everyone else will have more work to do.”

Straining, perspiring, quivering, the students tried to keep their thighs parallel to the ground, supporting their body weight. One by one, students dropped to the ground, panting and exhausted. The competition came down to two students until one dropped and the winner rejoiced. The only girl in the group, Avery Escajeda, obviously competitive, held on longer than all but one of her team mates.

Escajeda won first place in her division at the team’s first competition.

“While the league is officially about the kids,” Bruhin said, “I have to mention that the environment at a NICA race is not like any other athletic event.”

The Pea Ridge Cycling Team is part of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association. This is the inaugural year for Arkansas and Pea Ridge is on the forefront.

“Every person there takes an active part,” Bruhin said. “Pea

Ridge had five representatives volunteer to course marshal all day. At the end, all the spectators, parents and athletes help take down the chutes and fencing and return the park space back to its original state. There is an enormous amount of buy-in from all those involved.

“It was a great day and Pea Ridge was extremely well represented by our outstanding riders, parents, volunteers and coaches. I am full of gratitude to be in the presence of these wonderful humans,” she said.

The nine riders from grades 7-11

have been practicing together since July. By their first race, they had put in close to 80 hours of work.

Team captain, Bryce Wall, a sophomore, said he’s been interested in mountain biking for a long time.

“I’ve been involved in a fast group,” he said, adding that he heard of NICA at a First Friday in Bentonville. He wanted the group at Pea Ridge and heard Mrs. Bruhin was starting a group. “I said I’d love to be in on it. Ever since then, I’ve been recruiting people onto the team.”

The group has been meeting since January, practicing in the grove of trees between the Middle and Primary schools. They’ve attended small races and clinics, Wall said, and plan to race in three other races this fall.

“We start out with yoga workouts then ride about six laps around the bus loop and grove of trees,” he said. “We work on skills like tight turning, powering up and down hills, improving our control.”

The students take their bikes to school on Tuesdays. Some keep them at school, some take them home in between practice days. All take the bikes home on Thursdays.

Safety is taught and enforced.

“As long as we’re walking, we don’t have to wear helmets,” Wall said, “but if we’re straddling the bike, we have to have on a helmet.”

All students must wear close toed shoes, gloves are recommended but not required.

“I’m loving it. It’s great. It’s a really fun way to stay active and keep enjoying my passion for biking,” Wall said.

TIMES photograph by Annette Beard On a rainy afternoon, instead of cycling and practicing sharp turns, cyclists stretched and exercised under the guidance of coach Anya Bruhin. “You get out of it what you put into it,” one boy said.