{"id":1441,"date":"2022-12-16T22:51:40","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T22:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/?p=1441"},"modified":"2022-12-16T22:51:40","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T22:51:40","slug":"osu-research-forests-are-a-training-ground-for-championship-youth-cycling-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/2022\/12\/16\/osu-research-forests-are-a-training-ground-for-championship-youth-cycling-team\/","title":{"rendered":"OSU Research Forests are a training ground for championship youth cycling team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To the more than six dozen youths who comprise the Corvallis Composite Mountain Bike Team<\/a>, the McDonald and Dunn research forests<\/a> aren\u2019t just a convenience but rather a lynchpin to the team\u2019s existence and excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe research forest is a fantastic resource,\u201d said the team\u2019s director, Matt MacClary. \u201cWe also practice on Starker<\/a> forest land and have a great relationship with them, but the research forest is totally critical to what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventy-five riders from Corvallis-area middle schools and high schools participate on the five-year-old team under the guidance of 39 coaches. The team is growing \u201cas fast as we can train coaches,\u201d said MacClary, noting membership numbers are governed, for safety reasons, by coach-to-rider ratios set by the National Interscholastic Cycling Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of our coaches are parent volunteers and others are just mountain biking enthusiasts who donate their time,\u201d MacClary said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Corvallis team is a founding member of the Oregon Interscholastic Cycling League<\/a>, a collection of 19 teams that compete in a series of four or five racing events each summer and fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The races are a cross country format involving laps of about 3 miles; younger riders\u2019 races are two laps, older riders\u2019 are four. All of the riders in each race start at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a rapidly growing sport,\u201d MacClary said. \u201cIf someone is riding with us in the summer and fall, more likely than not they\u2019ll bring a friend back with them the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central to the Corvallis team\u2019s efforts are twice-weekly practices on the research forest, spread over four days to keep the numbers smaller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll meet at a trailhead, get in some stretching and education and then get out on the trails,\u201d MacClary said. \u201cThe kids learn about trail stewardship, sharing the trail, how to dismount and listen to instructions from horseback riders. And we make sure kids get the chance to work on the trails, building and maintaining trails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always moving around so kids get to see different parts of the forest,\u201d he added. \u201dHaving the good riding opportunities available has shown up with good results \u2013 Corvallis won the state championship this year and last year as far as the overall team result.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To the more than six dozen youths who comprise the Corvallis Composite Mountain Bike Team, the McDonald and Dunn research forests aren\u2019t just a convenience but rather a lynchpin to the team\u2019s existence and excellence. \u201cThe research forest is a fantastic resource,\u201d said the team\u2019s director, Matt MacClary. \u201cWe also practice on Starker forest land… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1444,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions\/1444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}