It could be something in the water, jokes coach Bill Smitten, but the more likely secret that's taken the Stillwater High School mountain bike team to five straight state titles is the hills.
The many, many steep, leg-burning, lung-busting, please-make-it-stop hills surrounding this town nestled at the bottom of a river valley.
"Our mental ability for the hills: That's our strong suit, I'd say," said sophomore racer Cate Koelzer.
The Stillwater mountain bike team trains on those hills each fall as they prepare for the Minnesota Cycling Association race season, which this year concluded with a final race at the Redhead Mountain Bike Park in Chisholm, Minn. When the final lap had been run, Stillwater was again crowned champion, a feat that garnered a proclamation from Mayor Ted Kozlowski at this week's City Council meeting.
With official flourish, Kozlowski named Wednesday, Dec. 21, the official "Stillwater Area High School Mountain Bike Team Day."
It's an honor, said coach Levon Kalemkiarian, but he rarely talks to the kids about winning. "We never put any pressure on the kids to win," he said. The focus instead is on each racer's effort.
The program gets a lot of support from the high school, Kalemkiarian said, even though the team isn't part of the Minnesota State High School League. And the racers benefit from their location, with trails near the high school that allow them to bring their bikes to school and ride as soon as classes get out. Many other mountain bike teams in the state have to train in the evenings or drive to a trail system, Kalemkiarian said.
The hills rising up from the St. Croix valley are another plus, giving the athletes "a good edge in mental and physical toughness," he said. The best-worst hill is Pawnee Avenue North, a winding road that climbs a river bluff north of town.
"It's the legendary training spot," said senior John Kubiak, a blazing fast rider who took the state title this year. Kubiak said he joined as an eighth-grader, then trained and trained, eventually narrowing his sights on the individual state championship. In the final race of the season this year, he locked in despite extremely challenging conditions.
The temperature was in the 30s. Wet snow made the clay trails of Chisholm's Redhead park greasy and slick. A crash could have cost him the race, but Kubiak said his mantra is "I don't crash." He likes to race with a calm mindset.
"Racing can put mental stress on people," Kubiak said. "So to keep a cool head is important." His high school career wrapped up, he said he hopes to continue racing in college, or perhaps compete in rowing.
Staying calm in a mountain bike race is about as difficult as most people would assume, with riders going flat-out over rough trails and tight turns, jostling for position within a line of other riders.
"It's kind of a strategy game," said Koelzer, the sophomore. She raced her beloved pink Orbea full suspension mountain bike this season while overcoming anxiety after a bad crash in training that knocked out one of her front teeth. She wiped out after hitting a jump on trails near Detroit Lakes, she said.
"I was wearing braces and I had to pull my lips off the braces," Koelzer said.
It turned out to be a minor setback for the rider who said she loves when races are muddy: "They're fun, and when you're done you just feel so happy."
Koelzer said she joined the team because she saw how much fun her older brother was having on it. Some of the team's success is due to its spirit, she said, which helps the bikers push through tough training days. A junior varsity racer this year, she's looking forward to next year, when she'll compete in the longer varsity races.
The team gets a lot of help from parents and volunteers, too, said coach Smitten. Someone just donated two bikes this week to help equip the riders. Not everyone has the $2,000 or $3,000 to buy a good racing bike, he said.
The local trails help the team get more quality time on their bikes. The team helped build two small trail systems over the years, one at Valley View Park in Oak Park Heights and the other at Reid Park in Lake Elmo.
"You had kids in there pulling buckthorn," said Dan Ralston, the team's director and father of junior rider Jack Ralston. The parents and volunteers, including people like professional bike mechanic Calvin Jones and "Trail Dirt Boss" Matt Lehmann, take care of some logistics so the kids can focus on riding and having fun, Ralston said.
"As much fun as the racing and competition side of it is, we really try to downplay that," he said. "We don't want to put individual pressure on kids. Instead we talk about, 'Ride your bike with your favorite 120 people in the world and rip it. Have fun.'"
