Developing My Cycling Talent at Berkeley High

I have for a long time wished to participate in the Tour of California, so when I joined Berkeley High, I knew it was time to work on my goal: join the school’s cycling team and hone my skills in readiness for my Tour of California debut.

With this in mind, I easily adapted to the school’s training schedule and within a couple of weeks, I had fully mastered riding my 2011 Specialized Crosstrail Sport bike and caught up with the rest of the group. We normally did two training sessions everyday; one early in the morning and the other once classes were over in the evening.

I must say I was overjoyed when our school’s cycling team participated and won not only the local Californian league but also boasted having produced the star cyclist who went on to compete in the highest level.

To further nurture cycling talent among California’s schools, a teacher from our school in 2010 started a program “California High School Biking League” to help biking students in grades 9 to 12.  The league organizes regular camps that provide a platform to teach safe riding techniques to students to enable them enjoy cycling safely. I have benefited from these camps immensely as I now know how to administer first aid in case someone gets hurt and how to respond in case of an accident.

 Biking and safety techniques are not the only lessons administered in the camps; coaches also strive to create a friendly environment where students can form friendships and develop a sense of responsibility among them.

It has been 2 years now and every day, I am improving my skills and according to my coach, I just need to be consistent and focused on the overall goal. My target is that by the time I graduate I will be in a position to compete in the tour of California.