Spring Email

Hi GHS MTB Team & Families!

Thanks for taking the time to read this really long, but really informative email! Coach Rob and I have been working hard on our next season. Our first priority is our fundraising push! We have tons of details below.

Here are some important dates to put in your calendar now.

  • Sponsorship Drive: 

    • Our main source of funding comes from our generous sponsors. We need riders and racers to engage and help with the sponsorship requests. Our sponsors want to see athletes! Please use this Doodle Poll to help us schedule (ASAP) a day where we can go visit business and ask for sponsorships. Rob and I will be with riders to help with any logistical questions that sponsors may ask in the process. 

  • Benefit Bike Bingo: May 3

    • We are so excited to be doing a benefit bike bingo this year! Details to come, but mark your calendars! 

    • I need parent help to make this happen! Please reach out to me if you want to help plan this event.

    • We want to do a family-friendly townie ride beforehand. We could have a silent auction, raffle, door prize, etc, to go with it. We can have up to 250 people there and I want to max it out!

  • Jersey Order Due: May 1

    • You will need to set up an account if you don’t already have one, but we must have orders by May 1 in order for us to have our custom jerseys by our first race. Keep an eye out for an email with further instructions on ordering.

    • We do have new sponsors and a new jersey design, so it is essential that we all have new jerseys.

  • Growler Bake Sale Fundraiser: May 24 & 25

    • Every year we have a bake sale fundraiser at the Gunnison Growler Packet Pickup. We will need racers to volunteer to sell both nights. We need to have at least two people there at all times, but the more the merrier! We should have an adult volunteer there at all times. Here are the following shifts that need to be filled with volunteers:

      • Friday, May 24th:

        • 4:30-6:30 - Racer: 

        • 4:30-6:30 - Racer:

        • 4:30-6:30 - Adult:

        • 6:30-8:30 - Racer:

        • 6:30-8:30 - Racer:

        • 6:30-8:30 - Adult:

      • Saturday, May 25th: 

        • 4:30-6:30 - Racer: 

        • 4:30-6:30 - Racer:

        • 4:30-6:30 - Adult:

        • 6:30-8:30 - Racer:

        • 6:30-8:30 - Racer:

        • 6:30-8:30 - Adult:

    • We are also looking for donations of baked goods. All types are welcome. Please wrap them individually in a size that would sell for 2 or 3 dollars. In the past, some people have done a loaf for $10-15. Rice Krispies, energy bars, and brownies always sell well. Gluten-free and nut-free are great additions as well! If you are going out of town, you can drop treats off with a friend who will be in town. Otherwise, please bring them to the Western Fieldhouse around 4:30 pm Friday.

  • Pre-season Training: July 15th

    • The pre-season starts on July 15th, which is when we are asking that you aim to have a certain number of active hours a week in order to make sure we come into our team practices with solid baseline fitness. July 15th is only 6 weeks before our first race! We are asking riders to follow these guidelines for active hours (preferably on bike, but it’s summer and we get it, so backpacking, hiking, swimming, running, etc. are okay too): 

  • Freshman & Sophomore ride 3 - 5 hours per week; 

  • Juniors and JV ride 4 - 6 hours per week; 

  • Senior or Varsity ride 5- 8 hours per week.

    • Crested Butte DEVO

      • Given the friendships that have developed between the CB and Gunnison teams during the fall high school season, I wanted to share information about the DEVO program. It could be a great way for riders to get in some big adventures together during the summer in preparation for fall racing. 

      • New Athlete Applications will be accepted concurrently with their Existing Athlete Registration from April 1-15 with team announcements made on or before April 17. More information can be found at the links below. 

  • Regular Season Practice: Keep tabs on TeamSnap for the first day of practice in late July or early August. 

  • Races: 

    • Below are the race dates. 

      • Race 1: August 24 – 25

        • Leadville (Saturday Race)

      • Race 2: September 7 – 8

        • Eagle (Sunday Race)

      • Race 3: September 21 – 22

        • Fountain Valley (Saturday Race; New Venue)

      • Race 4: October 5 – 6

        • Nathrop (Sunday Race; New(ish) Venue)

      • State Championships: October 19 – 20

        • Glenwood Springs

  • Camping: We have spots reserved in Leadville and Nathrop and would love it if kids joined us for tent camping. Individual families should make reservations now if they RV camp or use other types of lodging. Group sites are communal for dinners and hanging out. 

    • Leadville: Sugar Loafin x3 Spots 8/23/24

    • Eagle: Cookout in League spots 

    • Fountain Valley: League spot, hopefully 

    • Nathrop: Nathrop CG 9/5

 

Other info:

Early season parent and racer meeting will happen sometime in early August. We will update our website to have a lot of the information posted there for earlier reference as needed. 

  • A reminder that athletes can earn PE credit during the race season. 

Team fees will be $200 which fund race jerseys, coach licensing, coach travel expenses, and coach stipends. Something new this year - you will not be racing if these fees are not paid to the school before the first race. In addition, you will need to register with the league and for races. 

CASTELLI STORE WIDE SALE: 40% OFF code for spring shopping! GUNNISON24 is our code. Only one code per family. 

Junior Bike Week Junior Wildflower Classic Registration – This is a great local youth specific race for high schoolers and their younger siblings! 

Middle school families, please hold tight as we continue to develop this program. If you know anyone who would like to coach with us for this or the high school program, please send them our way as we are growing and would like to offer more for our developing racers. They can reach out through the email or website provided below. 

If you have any friends who are thinking of racing or riding with the team, please have them email me here, cowboymtb@gmail.com, or through our website, https://mtbcowboys.com, so that we can get them this information on TeamSnap. We are staying in Division 2, so the more the merrier!

Please let me know what questions, comments, or concerns you may have!

Happy Trails, 

Sierra Cucinelli & Rob Strickland

GHS MTB Team