How Bemidji's mountain bike team created a tight-knit community in niche, challenging sport

Aug. 17—BEMIDJI — For Bemidji High School seniors Liam Larson and Ben Lindgren, telling their classmates about their fall sport of choice is all too predictable. They're usually met with a look of puzzlement, with the eventual realization of, "Bemidji has a mountain bike team?" It's true, Bemidji has had a mountain bike team for just about a decade. Composed of students from Bemidji Middle and High School, it's still relatively new, and it's definitely niche in the landscape of high school sports. They compete in the Minnesota Cycling Association instead of the Minnesota State High School League But for those who love it, their passion is shown openly. "It's always so much fun," Larson said. "Sometimes we'll just hang out after practice and go swimming or something, since it's such a small community and a small, tight-knit group of people. But yeah, it's always a blast." The passion for mountain biking was shown on a humid Saturday morning on July 25 for the Lumberjack Singletrack Fundraiser Ride/Race at Movil Maze Recreation Area. The fundraiser helps the team's expenses when it comes to travel and equipment. Head coach Mark Larson has been at the helm since the team's inception. Whether it's recruiting new bikers, competing against an ever-growing list of sports and activities available to students or the expense of buying a competition-level mountain bike, leading a mountain biking team has its challenges. Then there's the problem that almost all Bemidji teams face: travel. A majority of the state's teams come from the Twin Cities area. The closest race can be a three-plus-hour drive or more. For all of its obstacles, the love that students, coaches and volunteers have for mountain biking has pushed them through. "It's a really positive team," Coach Larson said. "And the kids are just getting out and riding. And those that want to compete can compete; those that just want to get out, get on bikes and enjoy some outside time are able to do that too." Liam Larson was seemingly born to mountain bike. "I've been biking since I was in diapers," he said. "I (saw) other people do it; it looks cool. (Then there was) the process of getting with your buddies around the neighborhood, building bad jumps, having fun. Then, naturally, it kind of evolves into just biking on grass. Then you see people bike on the trails and you want to do that too." With his dad Mark as the head coach, he naturally joined the team as soon as he could in sixth grade. Since then, he's felt right at home. "It's a little like a small community," Larson said of the team. "I mean, we've been riding with each other since we were super young." Making friendships is easy to do on race weekends, where Larson spends a lot of time with his teammates. To get to a typical competition, the team piles into a 15-passenger van and camps out Friday night. They then do a pre-ride of the course, making note of the turns and familiarizing themselves with the layout. Saturdays are race days for the middle schoolers. High schoolers normally race on Sundays. Not all members of the team have to participate in race weekends. Some just participate in practices, held two days a week at Mowl Maze Recreation Area. One practice is dedicated to technique, taking the course slower and improving on breaking and the corners. The other practice is dedicated to intervals, improving and working on endurance. "A lot of people here (Nordic) ski, too," Lindgren said. "Nordic skiing and mountain bike kind of go hand in hand." Mountain biking is unique in that most of the teams don't have a home race. Rather, all teams in the state travel to the same track to compete. With six race weekends, including the state championship, locations range from Rochester to Alexandria. As expected, the mountain bike team has gone through a host of challenges since its inception. But in his tenure as head coach, Larson has come up with a list of solutions. First, there was the multi-sport problem. Mountain biking is smack dab in the middle of a loaded fall sports season. At BHS, there are three sports for boys to choose from (football, soccer and cross country) and five for the girls (soccer, cross country, tennis, volleyball and swim and dive). In case other students participate in practices after school, the solution was to hold practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the evening. "We do have a couple kids on the team that play football or hockey and do this," Larson said. "We just worked with those families as needed (in case) if they want to do a more traditional sport that has after-school practice every day." Then there's the expense of the sport. Some competition-level mountain bikes can be over $1,000, which can be a barrier to entry for some families. Over the years, the team has bought bikes for those who just want to try the sport out. "Because of this fundraiser race and some other fundraising we've done, we were able to buy a couple of team bikes that we loan out to kids that are new to the team," Larson said. "Then we navigate their first bike purchase after they know that they want to come to it." The mountain bike team isn't perfect yet. There are still plenty of students who are unaware of the team, and the lengthy travel is a fact of life that Bemidji has to deal with. "I've known these guys for most of my life," Liam Larson said. "So it's more of a riding with your friends type of thing."