The Siloam Springs middle and high school mountain bike teams competed and won individual hardware and had the best overall season in the state competition on Oct. 31. They call themselves the Siloam Springs Pedal’rs and they are a part of the National Interscholastic Cycling League. The Arkansas NICA league cyclists competed in Siloam Springs, Barling, Mountain Home and Rogers before racing in state at the world-class Olympic trial venue, Centennial Park, in Fayetteville.
“A lot of the kids have solidified a state championship on the individual levels. All of them have raced really hard and done well,” said head coach Glen Carte.
The season officially began back in July, and racing began in September with time trials in Siloam Springs. Practices are twice a week and include bike checks, warmups by President Pollard’s house, skill-based training and riding the trails.
“This is definitely a growing sport. It starts off slow in most schools, and that’s how it was here,” Matt Timbo, the Pedal’rs team director said. “In our team four years ago, we had about 16 students. Now, we have around 40.”
Timbo expressed how race days are one of the biggest draws to the sport. Families and athletes make race days fun with bustling bikes, kids, grill outs and tons of comradery and encouragement.
“We are cheering on all the kids from all the teams and we want everyone to succeed, because each student is competing against themselves and their previous records,” Timbo said.
Carte’s biggest goal for the team is “to bring parents and kids together around a shared interest,” he said. Carte mentioned his grandfather as inspiration for making this a family sport, as he is 80 years old and still riding his bike on the Siloam Springs trails. Carte also wants to make sure the kids have fun while learning to mountain bike, which is why the athletes play games to learn skills or get to wear crazy socks to practices.
“With this sport, there are no bench players. Everyone races. Everyone rides. Everybody gets to participate,” Carte said when asked what makes this sport unique. “I really like this sport because even other teams will cheer for riders. It’s a very encouraging environment.”
Before next season, Carte hopes to put together programs that benefit anyone that wants to ride bikes, not just racers. “Get a bike and ride. The John Brown trail system, Sager Creek North Loop is one of the best trail systems in northwest Arkansas to learn on. It’s fairly benign and doesn’t have a lot of bumps and rocks. If you are wanting to start out mountain biking, that is the best trail to go on.”
Jeremy Seauve, a senior, felt great about his last race after a tough season. “I felt like I was getting faster each lap,” he said. Seauve was excited to join the team because his dad is an avid biker, along with the rest of his family. He is looking forward to continuing biking and improving his skills after he graduates.
The Siloam Springs Pedal’rs practice near JBU weekly, and they are deeply connected to the Siloam Springs community. The North Loop on the Sager Creek trail is considered their usual trail. Keeping the trails clean by trail cleaning, volunteering and giving back to the community all influence the final standings at state, not just the performance by the athletes that day.
“We love to ride the north and south loop and city lake. We love to ride them, we love to clean them, and we love them clean to ride. It’s fun because everyone else is cleaning up their community too,” said Wendy Carte, wife of head coach Carte. “Having multiple coaches who graduated from JBU who have chosen to raise our families here, we are excited to see these student-athletes represent our community in so many positive ways.”
The Pedal’rs season is officially over, but students will continue to ride, train and grow their love of the sport for next season. Meanwhile, their trophies from this season are on display at the Phat Tire in Siloam Springs. The Pedal’rs also have a Facebook page, Siloam Springs NICA Mountain Biking, where followers can stay up to date on their practices and achievements. They also have a GoFundMe for supplies such as team jerseys, bike supplies, first aid kits and race day supplies.