Spread the Word: Our 2012 Scholastic Spring Road Series Race Schedule is below…

March 3/4 – Texas A&M (College Station, TX)
March10/11 - Denton Crit/Jesuit Roundup RR (Denton/Celina (DFW) TX)
March 24/25 – Univ of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)
March 31/April 1 – SMU/TCU/UNT (Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)
April 14/15 – Midwestern State Univ (Wichita Falls, TX)
May 5/6 – Coldspring RR & Houston Grand Crit (Houston, TX

In the 2011 Texas High School Cycling League fall mountain bike race series Sachse high school took both the varsity and junior varsity individual titles on their way to beating out Jesuit in the team overall competition.  Here are just some of the pictures of the action.  Be sure to check back soon for information about our high school spring road race series which should be announced soon.

The Sachse and Jesuit teams all ready to go before the start.

Now with the coaches in the picture: Jesuit’s coach Andrew Armstrong on the left and Sachse’s coach Christine Tucker on the right.

A couple of racers in the Varsity division dueling it out at the beginning of the 9 mile loop led by A Jesuit racer.

Three Sachse racers riding hard in the Junior Varsity race.

Several of the Jesuit JV racers navigating the twists and turns along the early part of the course.

The beaming JV podium was dominated by members of the Sachse high school team.

The Sachse high school team enjoys their victory in the team overall competition and is proud of their first ever cycling team trophy.

Thanks to everyone for helping make our second annual high school mountain bike race series a success. Be sure to pay attention this winter as we will be announcing our spring road race series, other race mini-series races, skills clinics, and a team coaches/organizers conference over the next month or two.

For now, make plans to attend the winter crit in Fort Worth on Saturday, November 26th for a Texas High School Cycling League skills clinic followed by a low key, low pressure non-high school race.

-andrew-

Season two of the Texas High School Cycling League Mountain Bike Race Series is here!

The race schedule was just finalized and we’re really looking forward to our second season so be sure to get out your mountain bike, dust it off, borrow a friend’s mountain bike, and recruit new kids from your schools that might be into mountain biking.

• September 24-25: U. of Texas 3-race MTB weekend at Comfort, TX: Race Flyer
  
• October 8-9: U of Houston 2-race MTB weekend at Smithville, TX: Race Flyer
  
• November 12th: Tyler Speedwaves MTB race at Tyler, TX

After last year’s first high school mountain bike race series momentum has been building for this second series and people are excited.  Be sure to get in on the action.

For all our road racers, please note that many high school kids that are not drawn to road riding/racing are actually really into mountain biking so be sure to post a few flyers aroun your campus asking for mountain bike racers and letting them know about these upcoming high school races. It can really help grow your club.

Additional information and the race flyers will be e-mailed out to our e-mail group, posted on the league webite (www.texashighschoolcycling.org), and posted in the TXBRA & TMBRA forums.

If you have any questions please be sure to ask!

-andrew-

Please see the below information about the USA Cycling High School Cycling Summit as well as junior coaching conference taking place this October 21st – 23rd at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV.  These two conferences will be a great opportunity to learn about running and coaching high school cycling teams and their student athletes.  Anyone with an interest in high school cycling in Texas will benefit from attending either one of these conferences.  I realize it will be somewhat expensive to attend but it will be a great experience for anyone who goes, you will learn a lot, meet some cool people doing h.s. cycling around the country, and will be better able to help grow high school cycling here in Texas.
 
Please take a look at the below announcement and consider going to the conferences.  If you have ANY questions please let me know.  Likewise, if you make plans to attend please let me know as I’ll be there too.    -andrew-
 
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 USA Cycling is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the second annual High School Cycling Summit, to be held on October 21st in conjunction with the USA Cycling Juniors Cycling Conference (http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=6777) at the West Virginia University in Morgantown. The summit is a unique opportunity for coaches to learn the best practices for establishing and running interscholastic cycling teams and race series for high school athletes. Anyone interested in growing the sport of cycling at the high school level is encouraged to sign up now to attend the summit.

The cost to register is only $50, which includes lunch. Attendees can also register for a group dinner with the presenters for only $25 more. As an added incentive, all registrants for the Juniors Coaching Cycling Conference ($199) will receive a coupon code to register for the High School Cycling Summit for free. To register, simply log into your MY USAC account and click on Register for an Event, or if you’re already logged in, click here to sign up (http://www.usacycling.org/myusac/index.php?pagename=registration&eventid=3068&year=2011)!

Presenters will include:
•    Peter Hufnagel and Andy Guptill of the Miller School of Albemarle Cycling Team and the Virginia High School Mountain Bike Series
•    Andrew Armstrong of the Texas High School Cycling League
•    Steve Kinley of the Michigan Interscholastic Cycling Association
•    Tom Sunday of the Forest Acres Cycling Team

Topics will include:
•    Starting and Managing a High School Cycling Team
•    Organizing a High School Cycling Race Series
•    Reaching out to Other Schools and Building Momentum
•    Shared Best Practices from Successful Programs

This summit is intended to help those interested in getting things going in their area learn from those that have done it themselves, and help develop the direction forward for USA Cycling’s high school program.  Attendees are responsible for their own travel to and from the summit, as well as lodging and other expenses. United Airlines gives up to a 10% discount to USA Cycling members, and they do fly directly into Morgantown, WV. Pittsburgh International Airport is also only one and a half hours away by car. Hilton Hotels also give USA Cycling members a 15% discount off the best available rate, and they have two properties in Morgantown. Both of those discounts are available through your MY USAC account online under Member Benefits. If you’re interested in finding a fellow attendee to share a room or car with, please let me know and I can get you in touch with someone else in the group that is also looking for a room- or car-share.

The results from the high school state championship road race and crit as well as the final overall series standings have now been compiled and uploaded.  You can access them via the race series tab.

Congratulations to all of our successful racers and schools.

Be sure to continue building the cycling club or team at your school(s) as we will have more clinics, and races in the next school year including a track series in the late summer and our 2nd annual mountain bike race series in the fall.

-andrew-