The Cycling Club Gears up for the New Season

Sarah Lee, Reporter|December 4, 2015

There are many sports that are optional to students at CHS, but unfortunately, biking is not one of those sports. Even though biking is not one of the choices at CHS, Jonathan Chang and sophomore Noah Libeskind decided to share their
passion for biking by creating a team called the Claremont Mountain Biking Team. Chang is one of the four coaches and Libeskind is the captain of the team. The team’s goal is to race at the Southern California High School Cycling League this year.
“I was inspired to start the club when I started mountain biking the summer before my freshman year of high school,” Libeskind said. “I decided that it was the sport that I love and that I wanted to compete in. Jonathan was also interested in starting a team for teenagers to race, and together, we decided to make a team.”
The Claremont Mountain Biking Team hopes to compete in the Southern California High School Cycling League, the league in which all Southern California high school teams are in. However, in order to participate in this league, the team must prepare for the races by practicing. The team practices at the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park about 3 to 5 times a week and bike up to 70 to 80 miles a week in order to stay in shape.
The CHS Cycling Club has advertised this information with flyers and through social media. There are a total of 10 students on the team, and one of the students who joined the team this year is sophomore Nolan Applebee. He expresses his interest in biking and eagerness of joining this team.
“I was interested to join because I don’t enjoy some of the more common cardio sports, such as track and field, cross country, and swimming. In my opinion, biking is a lot more fun, and it requires a lot of skill,” Applebee said. “I enjoy racing and mountain biking in general just because of the rush you get from doing it.”
Although biking is not a CHS sport, through this team, students are able to enjoy the sport together with each other and compete against other teams as well. As the team aspires to become better, they know that they are in good hands with four avid coaches. The CHS Cycling Club hopes to get more members as the program grows and are working hard to be successful in their future competitions.