About

2023 is our fifth season as Southeastern Lakes Scholastic Mountain Bike Association (SLSMTB). SLSMTB is a is a 501(c)3 charitable organization mountain biking team comprised of private, public and homeschool student athletes in grades 6-12 from SE Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. The team competes in the Wisconsin High School League, a league of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA). NICA was founded in 2009 and develops programs throughout the United States. Our team was started in 2014 by Head Coach, Dave Bender, with one athlete under the team name Westosha Composite. In the past nine years, we have grown to a team of over seventy athletes!!! We expect to experience significant program growth in 2023, with current projections indicating 90-100 athletes.

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In 2020 we became a sanctioned USA Cycling club.  This allows us to expand our team to include athletes younger than 6th grade, and conduct training in almost every format and setting throughout the year.

 

For 2023 the team will be open for athletes that want to participate, in a few different ways. 

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SLS Competition Program

This program is for those athletes who want to race and will represent SLS at any of the scheduled events they attend on our team calendar. You don't need to be the best or fastest to be in the competition program, you just need the desire to compete, push yourself and find your limits. If you want to participate in various races over the spring and summer months such as WORS events or other mountain bike races, this is the program for your athlete. If your athlete plans to participate in the NICA or other fall race events, this will help prepare and get you ready for the competition. Athletes who are younger than 6th grade and do not yet have the stamina or riding skills to keep up with the race practice groups, will be placed with the SLS ride groups for continued development. Workouts will vary from endurance rides to practicing sprints and everything in between. When you sign your athlete up for the competition program, they will be provided and expected to wear a full team kit consisting of jersey, bib shorts and socks. You'll also get support at the events on the team race calendar. Additionally, coaches will help ensure you are ready to take the start line. Athletes who sign up under the race program and fail to wear the SLS kit at any of the team events will be subject to removal from the club practice roster.

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SLS Ride Program

This program is for those athletes who love to ride but are not interested in racing or competition. We will still practice important skill building but will leave out the ones that you really only use in racing. Our ride speeds will be based more on what the group feels like doing. There won't be a focus on hard efforts or hill repeats. One day might be a more casual pace on the trails and the next might be a harder effort and you are trying for a personal best. Athletes in the Ride program will still be split into ability level groups. Those athletes with more experience will be able to ride together and have a different objective for the day than those hitting the trails for the first few times. If after a while you decide that you do want to participate in some competition and compete in the fall NICA season or other races, you can make the switch to the Competition program. Younger athletes that sign up for the SLS race program (generally 5th grade and under) who still need to focus more on building basic skills will be placed in this group. Periodic race specific practice sessions will help ensure these athletes are also getting coached on basic racing fundamentals. Ordering a team kit is not a mandatory part of the Ride program but athletes will have the option to purchase if they would like.

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SLS Practice Program

This program is for those athletes who want the benefits of the practices and coaching SLS offers but will not be wearing the SLS kit and representing SLS at the teams race calendar events. Athletes in this program will be placed directly in with all the SLS race team members and can expect the same practice structure experience. Athletes will not receive an SLS team kit with their dues payment, but may purchase one separately.

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SLS NICA Only Program

This program is for athletes who do not plan to participate much, if at all in spring or summer races or are just busy with other seasonal sports. These athletes still plan on participating in the NICA races for fall but would not benefit from a program that starts in spring. Practice for these athletes will not start until July 1st. A practice/club race kit is not included but can be purchased separately. A race jersey is still provided for the NICA race events.

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Everyone is welcome and everyone rides. While we have humble beginnings and continue to develop, we are proud to share that our team was ranked as the Division 2 State Champs in 2017.

Our team is managed and coached by Dave Bender along with a volunteer board of directors. Dave is
assisted by over 50 volunteer coaches. These coaches are certified by NICA and trained at various
levels to include safety, risk management, and skill development.