Yesterday was a great day for the Nike team in Hutchinson with Hutch Composites, the Disciples of Dirt. We split the team into two groups, and one group went to the trails in McPherson while the second group went to the Castle and Trails at Coronado Hills, Kansas. I was with the group that went to Coronado Hills.
We had seven riders with us and two coaches, and man, the fun was off the chain. First, the kids got to check out the castle and, of course, climb up to the roof and take pictures of the surrounding countryside. Next, we performed the A, b, C inspections of our bicycles. We clapped in for practice. DOD, and then we hit the trail.
This trail was more advanced than any other trail I’ve taken the team on so far. There were decreasing radius turns, bank turns, ruts, route rocks, all kinds of changes in terrain and challenges for vertical climbs as well.
The team did two laps altogether. The first lap showed the team some of the challenges that they would face. We did a coaching talk between the first lap and the second lap, and on the second lap, many kids on the team greatly outperformed their original lap. Can we put some shoes on? Not only that, but we were able to see kids encouraging each other and helping each other around the trail.
