The SoCal League, is a group of student-athletes in grades 4th through 12th, that ride and race cross-country mountain bikes on varied terrain with an emphasis on fun, skills, competition and safety. Although most of these athletes are from high school and middle schools in the South Bay area, the South Bay Composite Bike Team takes in student-athletes from any student living south of Interstate 8.
South Bay Composite & Eastlake High School Mountain Bike teams director Allyn Olsen said the teams are in the middle of their 17th season and compete as part of the SoCal League.
“We encourage all our kids to try racing, but they are not required,” she said. “The races for middle school are about two 5-mile laps cross-country style. High school can be anywhere from 12 to 21-laps. With cross-country style racing, the terrain is rolling hills, some rocks, dirt, some climbing. We practice around a lot of trails in Chula Vista and Bonita, around the Otay Lakes area, San Miguel, Rice Canyon Snake Trail. We teach the kids a lot of different skills like bike handling, control, speed, breaking, cornering.”
Olsen said the group was started by a group of teachers who really saw the need for another way for kids to get outside.
“Everyone can race. So, it is a little bit different than all-sports and team sports in that everyone gets to ride at their ability level,” she said. “We have about 40% girls, which has been a huge growth for us. We started with only two girls on the team. And the league is about 25% of girls. We have really developed our girls by encouraging more women coaches and coaching mentors.”
Olsen said the league has a program called FAST, which stands for Female Athletes Shredding Together, which also promotes more women in mountain biking. She said the SoCal League has teams as far up as Santa Barbara, Riverside County, Imperial County, San Diego County. She said this is a stand-alone league only in Southern California.
Olsen said she became involved with the team when her daughter became involved with Sprockids, an organization that provides after school programs and summer camps for mountain biking.
“My kids began in this after school program in Kumeyaay Park where they were holding this after school program. The coaches encouraged kids to join the team, so the coaches really encouraged me to start coaching as a parent. The idea that a lot of our coaches are parents, this is something that is really cool compared to cross-country, or swim, where the parents are participating with the kids. We have a lot of parents riding bikes with the kids. Mountain biking is a life-long family sport, so we really promote riding with your families.”
Olsen said the league runs a summer camp up in Big Bear, with camping for all its families, and also does some team camp nights at Sweetwater Park in Bonita.
The team recently was awarded a grant from Ride 4 Autism for its inclusivity and support for kids on the spectrum, and we will be the recipients of the Bike the Bay off-road sector in August.
“Ride 4 Autism is an organization that was started by a few mountain bikers who had children on the autism spectrum. They really wanted to partner up with an organization that shares their mission. We have a few riders that are on the spectrum who are just really thriving on the team. They have developed friendships. They are learning at their own level. Their parents are really involved. Everybody cheers for everybody during the races, so it has been really cool to see these kids to find a place to be accepted and included in a sport,” she said. “Bike to Bay is one of the two events where you can ride your bike across the Coronado Bay Bridge, and the off-road sector is an additional 8.5-mile dirt loop that goes down through Swiss Park at Otay Regional Park. It goes by the Greg Cox Bike Park in Chula Vista. So, our team will be running the eight station down there. Our riders will be volunteering as course marshals, doing some trail maintenance with the rangers at Otay River Valley, so we will be hosting that extra loop that people can add on that bike that day.”
The team’s next local race is April 26-27 at the Vail Lake Vailocity Bike Park in Temecula and is open to the public.
Olsen said 2025 registration for the team is open in October. For more information visit https://sites.google.com/view/ ehssbc/join.
For more information about the SoCal League, visit www. socalyouthcycling.org.
For more information about Sprockids, the feeder program for elementary youth, visit www.sprockidssd.com.
