2021 – New Year, New Plan

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IICL 2020-06
 

New Year, New Plan

Dear Riders,

Welcome to a new year and a new Idaho League newsletter format, Idaho Dirt News!

We’re thankful to put 2020 behind us as a year that challenged all of us in ways we never expected. While many teams found creative ways to keep riding, we all felt the void of a cancelled race season. We seriously missed you!

This year will surely present its own challenges. But we’re diving in with renewed optimism and a commitment to host IICL events this summer and fall. Our plans (and contingency plans) include different formats that account for limited capacity and Covid safety protocols. Safety has always been, and will remain, our No. 1 priority.

Mountain biking is a wonderful metaphor for life: There WILL be obstacles in your path, and success depends on how you handle them. If we can teach our student-athletes anything, it is how to respond to challenges with creative problem-solving and perseverance.

With that spirit, we wish you a happy new year and thank you for your support as we continue to roll with the punches. Information about this year’s events is going out to Team Directors now, and we’ll share more details as we get closer to Pit Zone registration in April.

Ride on!

Eddie and the IICL Team

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Save the Date: Summer Camps

This summer we plan to roll out our new Day Camp programming. Each camp will have 1 of 3 “tracks” to choose from: GRiT, Adventure, or Teen Trail Corps. The day will begin with workshops specific to each track, followed with rides and/or trail work, concluding with all 3 tracks coming together for a fun, motivational activity. Camps will be capped at 75 student-athletes (25 per track), and Covid mitigation measures will be in place. Look for future communication regarding registration and a request for NICA Coach support. In the meantime, save the following tentative dates:

June 23, 2021: McCall (Jug Mountain Ranch)
July 1, 2021: Bogus Basin Resort
July 20, 2021: Grand Targhee Resort
July 23, 2021: Galena Lodge

Note: No overnight camping will be planned/supported by the league for these events.

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FB Bike Snack Challenge

Recipe Contest

Send us your favorite recipe for a bike-friendly snack by January 31, and we’ll enter name in a raffle to win a pair of socks from our Online Merch Shop. (Three winners will be drawn and announced Feb 5, along with their recipe.) All recipes will go toward a national NICA bike snack cookbook shared with all. (Challenge open to everyone, not just GRiT.)

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IMG 7859 1

Student-Athlete Spotlight: Emma Hurst

“As a junior in the Idaho League in 2019, I took 5th place overall in the Varsity Girls Category. I worked hard over the winter to get into even better shape for the 2020 season so that I could maintain or even top that placement in 2020. Mid-February, I broke my pelvis multiple places, broke my sacrum, and suffered a concussion in an accident involving a snowmobile, tube, and tree. While it was a MAJOR setback, the anticipation of biking with my friends in the Idaho League during the fall race season was a major motivating factor to help me forge through some very hard times during my recovery efforts! It took months, but with competitive racing as my goal, I worked my way from flat in bed to wheelchair, walker, crutches, swimming, recumbent hand-crank bike, roller skis, recumbent foot-pedaled bike, full-suspension bike and, eventually, to my cross country bike. I am still working towards a full, pain-free recovery, but I was happy to prove to myself that I could get back into the sport by taking first place in a (non-NICA) race in September–since Idaho NICA races were cancelled because of Covid restrictions. I’m glad that NICA participation motivated me to work hard to recover this year!” —Emma Hurst, Madison High School

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