Ms. Maddrey

Mountain biking enthusiasts have started competing as part of the new combined school cycling team, or B3. The team is made up of four Blake students and two Breck students. B3 trains with the much larger Edina Cycling Team, with whom they share a coach. With just six members, B3 is one of the smaller cycling teams in the state. Zach Dekko ‘18, founder of the B3 team, says, “Until we get enough numbers, we really won’t have a sole team.” While he expects Blake to be part of a composite team for the foreseeable future, he still enjoys the sense of community found in training with the larger Edina team.

Their season consists of five 4-6 mile long races in the fall. The team trains together three times a week at Theodore Wirth Park.

Long time cyclist Will Maddrey ‘18 joined the team to be part of a community that shared his interest, as well as to compete in something he’s passionate about. Maddrey said, “I feel mountain biking is vastly different from any of the sports I’ve participated in – there’s intensity and [a] danger factor, where you have to reach your physical limit to go fast.” Maddrey then explains that “[This] combines with your learned skills to make sure you don’t [hurt] yourself on the technical, rocky trails we race on.”

The team finished 34th out of 43 teams in their final competition on October 15th.