The mission of the Edina Mountain Bike Team is to build a passion for cycling that will last a lifetime. The team embraces the National Interscholastic Cycling Association's (NICA) core values of Equality, Inclusivity, Strong Mind, Strong Body, and Strong Character.
The original Edina Cycling Team was founded in the summer of 2013 by Tom Kendall. Tom coached a local snowboard team and was impressed at how snowboarding attracted young athletes that were not interested in typical high school Winter sports. When the Minnesota High School Cycling League was founded in 2012 Tom thought the sport might attract similar youth that were not interested in standard high school Fall sports. He decided to get involved with the league to learn more about the program. The experience impressed him, and he started the Edina team the following year.
The Minnesota High School Cycling League was founded with the mission of being inclusive, equal, building strong bodies, strong minds and strong charter through cycling. Student-athletes from 6th through 12th grade come from all corners of the state. The majority have never ridden a mountain bike, let alone raced prior to participating in the league. The league is a youth development program that firmly believes that cycling and an outdoor experience will leave a lasting impression on young minds and bodies. The Minnesota High School Cycling League is a local league affiliated with the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA). Founded in 2009, NICA develops interscholastic mountain biking programs for student-athletes across the United States. NICA provides leadership, services and governance for local leagues to produce quality mountain bike events, and supports every student-athlete in the development of strong body, strong mind and strong character through their efforts on the bike.
Tom had three primary goals when he founded the team. First, he wanted the team to be open to all regardless of ability. Second, he wanted to have a competitive team within the Minnesota High School Cycling League. Third, he also wanted the team to give back to both the Edina community and the mountain biking community.
“In the beginning, everyone was on a fast learning curve including NICA, MN League and me with the explosive growth. We all were learning as we went along, lots of bumps in the road. But the kids and parents hung in there with me.” – Tom Kendall
The first two seasons were a lot of work for Tom. Roughly a dozen athletes signed up the first season (see the picture to the right) and 25 athletes signed up for the second season. Tom was the only coach. Both the team and the league were new so according to Tom “everyone was pretty much flying by the seat of their pants.” Luckily Tom gained a team director with John Ellingson in the second season. John took over the often-thankless job of managing the team so that Tom was able to concentrate on coaching.
Tom retired from the head coaching role after the 2014 season. Kristi Trostel, who was a parent of one of the founding athletes, took up the mantle and lead the team through the 2016 season. Although Kristi was an avid road cyclist, she had never ridden a mountain bike prior becoming involved with the team. Leigh Mazion took over from John as team director with the 2015 season. The team expanded to 45 athletes with the 2015 season. Together the two built a strong structure on the foundation laid by Tom. They laid out a more formalized practice structure and importantly they recruited additional parental involvement, which was critical given the rapid expansion of the team.
“I was an experienced road biker, but had never ridden off-road. Needless to say, mountain biking requires a different skill set than road biking. So, although I never grew to love mountain biking, it seemed to me that what the kids needed was someone to provide them structure and keep them safe. I really loved watching the kids grow, improve, and gain confidence in their skills. And of course, getting to be around Lydia (Kristi’s daughter and a former team captain) was always awesome. “ – Kristi Trostel
The Edina Cycling Team was a founded as a club team not directly affiliated with the Edina school system. Kristi and Leigh applied to the Edina school system for affiliation and this was granted in 2015. As a result, Junior Varsity and Varsity Edina student athletes now can letter in the sport. Another exciting development took place with the 2016 season when the team was the Division 1 state champion. In 2018 the Edina high school team took second in state. 2023 was an incredibly successful and consistent season with the High School team taking 2nd place in every single race of the year, including the State Championship at Mt Kato.
The team’s affiliation with the Edina school system originally meant that only students in the Edina school system can be team members. Because this limited the ability of the team to serve the greater Edina community, a second composite team named B3 was founded in 2017 to enable students that attend Blake, Breck and Benilde-St. Margaret’s to race in the Minnesota High School Cycling League while practicing with ECT. The founding B3 team consisted of five student athletes. The B3 team size tripled by the 2019 season. Following the 2022 season Breck School began making plans to operate as a separate team and did so for the 2023 season.
Team growth continued into the 2023 where athlete interest grew to the point where managing team size to 120 athletes became necessary. It was a difficult, but necessary decision to cap the team size resulting in having to turn away some student athletes interested in mountain biking. The energy and excitement around the team resulted in the Benilde St. Margaret's and Blake shifting over to St. Louis Park where all teams could continue to focus on providing a great riding experience for all athletes.
The original Edina Cycling Team was founded in the summer of 2013 by Tom Kendall. Tom coached a local snowboard team and was impressed at how snowboarding attracted young athletes that were not interested in typical high school Winter sports. When the Minnesota High School Cycling League was founded in 2012 Tom thought the sport might attract similar youth that were not interested in standard high school Fall sports. He decided to get involved with the league to learn more about the program. The experience impressed him, and he started the Edina team the following year.
The Minnesota High School Cycling League was founded with the mission of being inclusive, equal, building strong bodies, strong minds and strong charter through cycling. Student-athletes from 6th through 12th grade come from all corners of the state. The majority have never ridden a mountain bike, let alone raced prior to participating in the league. The league is a youth development program that firmly believes that cycling and an outdoor experience will leave a lasting impression on young minds and bodies. The Minnesota High School Cycling League is a local league affiliated with the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA). Founded in 2009, NICA develops interscholastic mountain biking programs for student-athletes across the United States. NICA provides leadership, services and governance for local leagues to produce quality mountain bike events, and supports every student-athlete in the development of strong body, strong mind and strong character through their efforts on the bike.
Tom had three primary goals when he founded the team. First, he wanted the team to be open to all regardless of ability. Second, he wanted to have a competitive team within the Minnesota High School Cycling League. Third, he also wanted the team to give back to both the Edina community and the mountain biking community.
“In the beginning, everyone was on a fast learning curve including NICA, MN League and me with the explosive growth. We all were learning as we went along, lots of bumps in the road. But the kids and parents hung in there with me.” – Tom Kendall
The first two seasons were a lot of work for Tom. Roughly a dozen athletes signed up the first season (see the picture to the right) and 25 athletes signed up for the second season. Tom was the only coach. Both the team and the league were new so according to Tom “everyone was pretty much flying by the seat of their pants.” Luckily Tom gained a team director with John Ellingson in the second season. John took over the often-thankless job of managing the team so that Tom was able to concentrate on coaching.
Tom retired from the head coaching role after the 2014 season. Kristi Trostel, who was a parent of one of the founding athletes, took up the mantle and lead the team through the 2016 season. Although Kristi was an avid road cyclist, she had never ridden a mountain bike prior becoming involved with the team. Leigh Mazion took over from John as team director with the 2015 season. The team expanded to 45 athletes with the 2015 season. Together the two built a strong structure on the foundation laid by Tom. They laid out a more formalized practice structure and importantly they recruited additional parental involvement, which was critical given the rapid expansion of the team.
“I was an experienced road biker, but had never ridden off-road. Needless to say, mountain biking requires a different skill set than road biking. So, although I never grew to love mountain biking, it seemed to me that what the kids needed was someone to provide them structure and keep them safe. I really loved watching the kids grow, improve, and gain confidence in their skills. And of course, getting to be around Lydia (Kristi’s daughter and a former team captain) was always awesome. “ – Kristi Trostel
The Edina Cycling Team was a founded as a club team not directly affiliated with the Edina school system. Kristi and Leigh applied to the Edina school system for affiliation and this was granted in 2015. As a result, Junior Varsity and Varsity Edina student athletes now can letter in the sport. Another exciting development took place with the 2016 season when the team was the Division 1 state champion. In 2018 the Edina high school team took second in state. 2023 was an incredibly successful and consistent season with the High School team taking 2nd place in every single race of the year, including the State Championship at Mt Kato.
The team’s affiliation with the Edina school system originally meant that only students in the Edina school system can be team members. Because this limited the ability of the team to serve the greater Edina community, a second composite team named B3 was founded in 2017 to enable students that attend Blake, Breck and Benilde-St. Margaret’s to race in the Minnesota High School Cycling League while practicing with ECT. The founding B3 team consisted of five student athletes. The B3 team size tripled by the 2019 season. Following the 2022 season Breck School began making plans to operate as a separate team and did so for the 2023 season.
Team growth continued into the 2023 where athlete interest grew to the point where managing team size to 120 athletes became necessary. It was a difficult, but necessary decision to cap the team size resulting in having to turn away some student athletes interested in mountain biking. The energy and excitement around the team resulted in the Benilde St. Margaret's and Blake shifting over to St. Louis Park where all teams could continue to focus on providing a great riding experience for all athletes.
The 2024 Team
