Every fall at Edina High School marks the start of the Cycling Team’s season, a team filled with a handful of very passionate and committed athletes to the sport of mountain biking. Having recently finished their first race in Austin, Minnesota on August 24th and 26th, the team saw lots of success during the race, with Quentin Loxtercamp receiving 5th for varsity 

“I think the rest of the season will go up from here; Eric [Seng] was injured during the first race, so I think he’ll do better in the next one, and people are just gonna go up from here,” said captain junior Quentin Loxtercamp, who placed fifth for varsity. Along with Loxtercamp’s success, Freshman Bella Mazion placed 1st for her division. 

The team isn’t just based on individual score, however. Like many other individual-based sports, mountain biking utilizes an overall team score ranking. “There’s a team category and an individual category, so for the individual category it’s all for yourself, but the top eight points for any individual go to the team, and Edina did really well on that, so Edina won team overall,” Loxtercamp said. This means that although bikers ride their own race, how well they do adds up to the team’s success as a whole. “Everyone sort of has their own part to play in the score” said captain and senior Gabi Mazion.

One winning strategy the team uses is to ride with other team members during races. When asked about why the recent race went so well, Loxtercamp said “I had a pretty decent starting spot: I started behind Eric Seng, who’s also on the team.”

 Mazion agrees. “It can really help if you find someone to ride with during your race,” Mazion said. Riding with other people during the race is a strategy that bikers use to help pace themselves throughout the ride.

Mountain biking may seem like a solo sport, and there is definitely an element of individualism to racing your best possible race, but whether it is racing together or pooling points to win the overall, Edina Cycling races to win for the team.