LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOO! | Youth mountain biking race at 29 Pines, locally, this weekend (W/VIDEO)
What is the Texas Interscholastic Mountain Bike League like?
Well, let’s say you, your family, and – oh, I don’t know – about 3,000 of your friends and people who also love the sport decided you’d all get together one weekend and ride on an amazing trail. And then you took a road trip to do it again, and again.
On top of that, at times, you’re coaching the kids, you’re involved in the competition – and basically, you’re at the forefront of a sport that is surging in popularity in Texas.
It’d be something like that.
Actually, it’s EXACTLY that.
“Teams from all over the northern part of the state will come in (Friday night) and (Saturday),” said Josh Selleck, who’s with ETX Piney Woods Composite, a Kilgore-Henderson-area team with about 14 boys and girls that’ll compete in the event. “These are super organized. Each team gets to pre-ride the trail, so it’s not new to them. Pre-rides and socialization are (Saturday). Several thousand people will be camped at the venue, local hotels and all over the place.
“…It’s a unique sport because of the camping aspect. Our kids come from all different backgrounds. None of them knew each other at the beginning of the year.”
Wanna find out first-hand?
There’s an actual event, a local event, going on this weekend at 29 Pines (plug in 13961 Co. Road 2125, Henderson, TX, 75652). Participants and their families will be out there all weekend, but the actual competition begins Sunday morning about 8 a.m., and wraps up about 2 p.m.
Tickets for the race event are $15 per person if you show up today (Saturday), and $10 for Sunday only – kids under age six are admitted free.
Check out this video on 29 Pines.
The event had been planned originally for February, but inclement weather won the day. It’s on again this weekend, though.
The Texas Interscholastic Mountain Bike League allows kids that are in sixth grade through their senior year to enjoy the sport of mountain biking, one in which they can take part, love and benefit from through adulthood. The TIMBL is a part of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA), and it wasn’t born yesterday: it was actually founded in 2011. It’s a 501 (c) (3).
According to the Texas Interscholastic Mountain Bike League website (Texas Interscholastic Mountain Bike League), the league helps establish recreational and competitive MTB programs, and helps with their development with training, licensing and even insurance for coaches and volunteers.
Their website above is very thorough, very extensive, has video, and clearly lays out what NICA and the state league are all about, right down to a mission statement: “The Texas Interscholastic Mountain Bike League works to establish and maintain safe, quality middle and high school mountain bike programs.”
Selleck, some might remember, is the former longtime city manager of Kilgore. And he helped establish the walking and biking trail here back in 2018-2020 (Creekside Trail | Kilgore; BigHead Creek Mountain Bike Trail).
Selleck has a very-insider viewpoint of what’s going on with mountain biking locally, and statewide, because not only does he participate with his wife Elsa and their family in events each season, Selleck coaches, and is actually constructing other trails, like one he’s working on now in Blanchard, Louisiana, near Shreveport.
“That’s about a half-million project, about six-and-a-half, seven miles of trails there,” Selleck noted. “There’s just SO much cool stuff happening right now in mountain biking, and a lot of it is happening here, locally.”
He talked about what’s happening at Rose City Cycling in Tyler, with a new trail that’s been built through fundraising. “Professional trail-building is something that needs to be incorporated,” Selleck said. “We’ve done four lines in Tyler where the Tyler mountain biking group, in partnership with the city, have paid us to come in and build professional trails. …Building something special there.”
And something special is happening at the 29 Pines trail, as well, where this weekend’s event is happening.
“We’ve been working to improve quality of biking in our area,” Selleck said. “29 Pines is the first professional project in our area. It’s really the only trail of its kind in Texas. We’re extremely proud of it.”
We mentioned a “season” earlier.
Selleck said a season in their league begins roughly in December, January and takes them to all sorts of sites around the state, including trails / courses near Troy and College Station, and to Reveille Peak Ranch near Burnet (Reveille Peak Ranch), where the state championships will be contested May 3-4.
Of course, all of this is made easier by people like ETX Piney Woods Composite head coach Brandon Greer, and by David Hernandez, who helped establish the team – and by sponsors, like Orr Cadillac / GMC of Longview.
Selleck said bike shops Fluger’s (Flugers), located at 1232 West Marshall Avenue in Longview, and Woolley G’s (Woolley G’s Bike & Fitness), at 306 E. Tyler St., in Longview have both been very influential.
ETX Piney Woods Composite also has a fundraiser coming up! For more on the fundraiser: 2025 NICA ETX Piney Woods Fundraiser | RallyUp.
We gave you links to the state site earlier. For anyone who’d like to know more about the local team, the ETX Piney Woods Composite team, their Facebook page is the same as their name, and has tons more information and great photos.
