2020 Registration is OPEN!

Hello SoMont family!

2020 Registration is open! Here's what you need to know!

2020 season will focus on Adventure (vs racing)

Local events (aka Local Dirt) and destination rides on weekends (no state-wide PICL races like in previous seasons)

Full practice program with on-the-bike skills, fitness, ride readiness, bike maintenance

Additional, new practice locations

Teen Trail Corps activities

Family camping weekends

Reduced PICL/NICA fees

Pay-what-you-can SoMont team fee

2020 team apparel for purchase

Full COVID protocols planning and compliance (see website and Zoom meetings for more information)

Registration open thru Sunday July 19 or until roster cap is reached

First practice Tuesday July 21, 6pm at Lorimer Park.

Practices held Tuesday/Thursday 6pm. Saturday 9am. Various locations.

Please be sure to tune in to one of our two Parent Zoom Meetings next week to get full info -- Monday July 13 or Thursday July 16 both at 8pm. See Zoom info below.

To register, start here or click the "Join Our Team - Register Now" link in the navigation above.

Have a question? Reply or ring me anytime!

Coach John Raisch

215 704-1556

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SoMont Parents Zoom Info Meeting #1

July 13, 2020 8:00 PM

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85177697879?pwd=VmJvOEpmT3h6LzhwaHZNa21ING9oQT09

Meeting ID: 851 7769 7879

Password: mtb4life

One tap mobile

+13126266799,,85177697879#,,,,0#,,50237750# US (Chicago)

+16465588656,,85177697879#,,,,0#,,50237750# US (New York)

Dial by your location

        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

        +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

Meeting ID: 851 7769 7879

Password: 50237750

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdArDoGMPH

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SoMont Parents Zoom Info Meeting #2

Jul 16, 2020 08:00

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82736969064?pwd=Nk9uMjhYeDhYY0ZjRlFtVWpOdXNNUT09

Meeting ID: 827 3696 9064

Password: mtb4life

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,82736969064#,,,,0#,,72105070# US (Germantown)

+13126266799,,82736969064#,,,,0#,,72105070# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

        +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Meeting ID: 827 3696 9064

Password: 72105070

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdshgFmzuT

2020 Season Update - Gearing Up!

Thank you everyone for your patience as we all deal with the Covid-19 situation.

As of June 15 as long as Montgomery County trends toward GREEN status, we will continue to plan for our 2020 season. With parts of the state already in GREEN, PICL/NICA are looking to open registration soon.

As of right now many things are still undecided, but progress is taking shape quickly. We expect to start practice during the second or third week of July. Official season events and calendar are still coming together with PICL.

If you have a question, please contact team director John Raisch at 215 704-1556 or jraisch@gmail.com

2020 Season Starts Soon!

With the 2019 season having come to a close, and the 2020 season just around the corner, we want to provide some helpful links to anyone interested in joining the team in 2020.

Here's what you need to know:

• Registration for 2020 will start around April 1. We will also begin to have a number of preseason events starting April 1.
• Official practice season starts in July of 2020. We will practice 3 days a week -- Tuesday 6pm, Thursday 6pm and Saturday 9am. Practice will be held at Lorimer Park and the new Twining Valley Park in Upper Dubin Township.
• We are always in need of coaches to help lead rides, support rides and give skills instruction. Please reach out to us if you are interested in coaching or helping out the team in any way you can.

To learn more about the team, read our FAQ page.

Interested in getting a feel for the league and the team, check out the videos page.

You can always check out the NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) page or the PICL (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League) Page.

Lastly, if you are interested in coaching or have any general questions for us, contact us using this email address: info@somontcycling.org

Gearing Up for the 2019 Season!

We are gearing up for 2019! Pre-season starts April 1. Practice starts July 7. Race and Adventure events start in September. Contact us now to sign up.

Youth MTB NICA Teams in Eastern PA Recruiting Riders & New Teams Now!

Do you have a son or daughter in grade 6 thru 12 who loves to ride their mountain bike? If so, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League, part of NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association), is for you and your family!

Teams all across southeastern PA are currently recruiting riders for the summer/fall season. In some regions, new teams are forming and are looking for youth athletes, parents and volunteers to help them grow.

PICL and NICA are "development oriented" youth athletic leagues where mountain biking experience is not required to join a team. Coaches will teach youth athletes all the necessary skills to be come proficient mountain biking athletes. In addition to race events, PICL programming also includes camps and adventure-oriented events, as you will see in the videos below.

To learn more about the league as well as teams in the southeastern PA region, use the links below the videos. PICL will also be hosting regional "Dirt Tours" in areas where new teams are looking to start. A number of Dirt Tour stops will be at local Trek stores. The Trek Store in Warminster will be hosting a Dirt Tour on Wednesday Feb 27 at 6pm.

2018 PICL Summer GRiT Camp (Girls Riding Together)



2018 Short Video - Gettysburg




PICL - Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram

NICA - National Interscholastic Cycling League

• Website
• Facebook
• Instgram

SEPA/Greater Philadelphia Region based PICL Teams

• SoMont Cycling Youth MTB Team -- hey, that's us!
• Northeast Philly/Lower Bucks County - Facebook
• Bucks County Composite - Website
• AIM Academy - website
• Tredyffrin-Easttown area mountain bike team TEMTB.org
• Great Valley mountain bike team - GVMTB.org
• Lehigh Valley Area teams - LVICMTB.org
• Stroudsburg/Pocono Are Composite Team - 
• Owen J Roberts School District team - ojrmtb.com
• Downingtown Area team - http://downingtownmtb.org/
• Twin Valley Mountain Biking Team  - tvmtb.com

Don't see a team near you or want to start a team? Check out this map or email PICL to get started at info@pamtb.org

We Support Accessible, Multi-use Open Space in Upper Dublin Township

January 21, 2019

Mr. Derek Dureka, Parks & Recreation Director
Upper Dublin Township
801 Loch Alsh Avenue
Fort Washington, PA 19034

RE: Montco 2040 Grant Application for Conversion of Twining Valley Golf Course

Dear Mr. Dureka:

As  a team with athletes within Upper Dublin township, we fully support your township’s submission of a Montco 2040 grant application to assist with the conversion of the Twining Valley Golf Course property from a golf course to a park/preserve. While being built by the Upper Dublin community and with your residents in mind, the size of this site and the uniqueness of what is planned will be an asset for our cycling team and community as well.

Access to open space is the single most important factor contributing to the success of the SoMont Cycling Youth Mountain Bike Team.  Similar to how we use open space, parks and trails in adjacent areas, we anticipate our team community will take full advantage of this new regional asset while learning skills at the graduated bike park, becoming immersed in the beautiful natural landscape, riding the mountain trails and exploring the natural playscape.

We are 40 youth athletes and over 20 coaches across eastern MontCo with the goal of getting #MoreKidsOnBikes! We applaud your vision and commitment to this evolved natural space.

Good luck with this exciting endeavor and we look forward to the grand opening.

Sincerely,

John Raisch & the SoMont Cycling Youth MTB Team community

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To learn more about the proposed idea, click here.

January 2019 Season News and Update

Hello SoMont friends and family,

We are only 9 days into 2019 but I'm sure everyone is eager to hear what's going on with the team. :) I've had a few planning sessions with a few folks so I wanted to provide a quick update.

The big news I would like to announce is Danelle and Jason have accepted new Head Coach roles for High School and Middle School respectively (Danelle - HS, Jason - MS). As the team (both athlete and coach roster) grows, we need a bit more formalized structure. Danelle and Jason have both shown great commitment to the team over the past 2 seasons and have already demonstrated their ability to take this on. I'm not going anywhere and will be working closely with both of them on all of our programs. Please join me in congratulating them on these new roles -- both of them will have more to say about their roles as we move forward! More also on group structure later...

A full SoMont season calendar of events is below. Please keep in mind that some dates are tentative and/or subject to change. (These are SoMont events, not PICL race or adventure events)

We are currently looking for help in the following areas: Events, Registration and Sponsorship/Fundraising. If you are interested in helping in any of these areas please let me know.

A decision has been made that we will be practicing are more/different locations this season. Lorimer will always be our home base and we will have more than half of our practices there, but we'll also look to have at least one practice per week at a location other than Lorimer. We will also, at times, have HS and MS at different locations as well. Logistics and scheduling details TBD.

Some progress is being made on the Trails/TTC front. More on that when we meet in Feb.

For anyone interested in the whole Team Foster/Foster 100 events/causes please see the Facebook posts about the Team Foster 100 Ruff Ride where the SoMont MTB Community has a team -- all are welcome to join!

See you all soon and happy trails!

Coach John

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• Sat Feb 23 - Winter Warmer Social & Ride (tentative date, location TBD)
• Thu Feb 28 - All Coaches meeting (current coaches)
• Thu March 21 - New & Prospective Coaches Mandatory Info Session 
• Sat/Sun Mar 23/24 - PICL Leaders Summit
• Sun March 31 - Snowballs Chance Ride
• Sat April 13 - Keswick Promo during spring Sale (tentative date)
• Sun April 28 - LLWH
• Sat April 27 - Circle Cycle promo event (tentative date)
• Sat May 4 - MTBBQ and “TryIt Ride”
• Sat May 18 - DirtFest, Raystown (not a team event)
• Fri/Sat May 31/Jun1 - Team Foster Ruff Ride (not a team event)
• Sun June 9 - Philly MTB Fest (Also Cancer ride bike-a-thon)
• Sun June 16 - SoMont “TryIt Ride”
• Tue July 9 - First practice of 2019
• Sat July 27 - Nox day trip
• Sat Aug 17 - Batsto Practice, camping/water weekend
• Sat Sept 14 - Foster 100 (not a team event)