Team Traditions
We love the unique things about our team, and how they manifest. Sometimes, these things we do and enjoy become traditions. As a new team, we are still figuring these out and trying things out. Here is a list and description of our traditions so far:
TRADITION | DESCRIPTION/DETAILS | ORIGIN STORY |
|---|---|---|
Otter Pops | We love to have otter pops and popsicles at the end of some of our practices. It’s not every time, but as frequent as we can, we will enjoy this treat. | Coach Clark likes Otter Pops and Popsicles. That’s it. He started bringing them, and we all just enjoy them. |
Spray Downs | We use clean, brand new hand and chemical sprayers (like garden sprayers) to hold ice cold water in and spray down athletes at times after hot practices and races. | At a very hot race in Vernal 2 years ago, we saw a coach using a sprayer to cool down riders when they came in. It was so effective and efficient, we decided to add that to our team when we started. |
Wings | Like pilots earn their wings, we have small stickers (like helmet stickers) that can be handed out by coaches as you do great things. These are recognitions for progress, for great acts, and good attitude, etc. | Just an idea we saw and liked the idea of informal, meaningful recognition. |
Bike Polo | We play bike polo. Like polo on horses, but on bikes. With ski poles modified with pvc mallets. | We were introduced to this game by Sara Tescher from Durango Devos at a training she did for us this year (2021). We loved it and decided to adopt it as a thing we do. |
The Great Pit of Karkoon | This is our local sand pit on the west side of the mountain, above Lake Mountain Road. We do some challenges and have fun riding through it. | Coach Clark discovered this one day, loved riding it, and it was born. We introduced it to our younger riders first, then everyone else. |
The West Side Road Ride | As a team, once a season, we ride the west side road and down to the chevron in City Center. Then, we have drinks and treats. | Coach Clark loves riding that road and felt like taking everyone that way. It was a ton of fun as a team ride, and this year we’re adding the Chevron stop in it. |
Pre-Season Time Trial | At the End of the Pre-Season, we do a team time trial. At the end of the time trial, you earn your “tags” . We invite friends and family to come watch and celebrate with us. We do some fun awards and presentations at the end. You want to be part of this. | Time trials are a part of all teams, but we use it as a hallmark event to celebrate the pre-season and set our benchmark for the main season. |
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