Race season is back, which means the Coyotes are back riding bikes, cheering loudly, eating snacks and repairing things that were completely fine when they left the garage.
Thunderstorms rolled through most of Saturday morning because apparently Stony Creek wanted to recreate our last visit in 2023. If you were there, you remember. Rain, mud and every parent checking the radar 17 times like refreshing the app might somehow move the giant green blob.
Even the east side needed the rain, though, and by pre-ride the trail was money. Roller Coaster was fast, grippy and an absolute blast. The best section still isn’t on the racecourse, either. It’s the techy stretch behind the bathrooms, which sounds like a questionable recommendation, but trust us. If you missed it, put it on the list for next time.
No cap, as the kids would say. Or used to say. By the time dads start using Gen Z slang, it’s usually already dead.
One of the coolest stories of the weekend belonged to the Rookus family. Owen lined up for his first race back in 2022 on the same bike Ivan rode in his first race this weekend. Same family, same bike, and now another kid beginning his own Coyotes story on it.
Most kids’ bikes eventually collect dust in the garage, get listed on Facebook Marketplace or become part of a marital discussion about why one family needs eleven bikes. This one made it back to the starting line. That’s pretty cool.
Naturally, race weekend didn’t stay sentimental for long. At staging, Ocean casually mentioned, “Hey, my shoe feels weird.” That’s kid language for, “Something is falling apart, the race is about to start and I have no additional information for you.”
Her cleat bolts were loose and packed with dirt. We picked everything out, tightened them down and got her ready to race with plenty of time to spare, assuming your definition of plenty is about 90 seconds.
So here is your reminder to check your kid’s cleats now and then check them again a few times during the season. Don’t wait until staging to discover that one foot can rotate independently from the rest of their body.
Kaitlyn found her own mechanical issue during her trainer warm-up. The valve nut on her rear wheel was missing, the valve was loose and there was a real possibility of it disappearing into the rim. Fortunately, Dad had a perfectly good wheel available. Well, Dad used to have a perfectly good wheel available.
A quick swap later, Kaitlyn was ready to race and Dad’s bike was sitting there looking like it had been left on blocks in a questionable neighborhood. That’s fatherhood. You spend years carefully selecting parts for your own bike, then hand them over without hesitation because your kid has a start time.
Ryland took the wheel donation program one step further during Saturday’s pre-ride. He went full send and smashed his wheel hard enough to end its weekend. It wasn’t “maybe we can straighten this out” cooked. It was “say a few nice words and move on” cooked. His dad saved the day with another wheel swap, and then Ryland raced great on it. So that may officially be his lucky wheel now. Sorry, Dad. You’re probably not getting it back. At best, you’ll be allowed to visit it during practice.
I’m told these were W dad moves and that the dads had aura. I don’t know what that means, but I’m pretty sure the wheels are still gone forever.
Then came the flats.
Easton. Sammy. Tristan.
At one point, the Coyotes tent felt less like race headquarters and more like a mobile tire repair clinic staffed by stressed parents holding CO₂ cartridges. We went through Dynaplugs and CO₂ fast enough that buying them individually no longer seems financially responsible.
If anyone from Dynaplug is reading this, call us. We have created a very effective product testing environment.
We also got to see Coyotes alum Gerrit Boer back at the race on Sunday. He came out for the day to watch his brother Jakob race before heading to Spain for a semester abroad. Seeing one Boer brother come back to support the other was cool enough. Spending a semester in Spain is freaking cool. Have an incredible time, Gerrit. Ride everything, eat everything and try not to make the rest of us too jealous.
Eating everything was already becoming the unofficial theme of the weekend…
Coach Naum brought homemade gummy worms, which was an outstanding decision from someone who knows the snack and candy business. Unfortunately, he brought them to a team with approximately 4,000 children and underestimated demand just a little.
They lasted about 11 seconds. By the time most of us heard the gummy worms existed on Saturday during the lightening delay, they were already gone. No samples. No restock. Just an empty bag and rumors about how good they were. Excellent product, Coach Naum. The production forecast needs work. Next race, we’re going to need you to scale.
Fortunately, Lucy brought birthday cake…technically, it was a birthday celebration. Strategically, it was race fuel. Carbs are carbs, people. While other teams may be measuring drink mix and calculating grams per hour, the Coyotes have apparently moved into a more advanced phase of sports nutrition involving homemade gummy worms, frosting and absolutely no concern for serving size.
The gummy worms vanished. Bikes broke. Wheels disappeared. Cleats came loose. Tires went flat. The cake just showed up and delivered.
Happy birthday Lucy, and thank you for proving once again that race weekends are really elaborate picnics where children occasionally disappear into the woods on bicycles.
Oh Right, There Was Also Racing
Somewhere between the wheel donations, emergency cleat repairs and disappearance of every gummy worm within a six mile radius, 79 Coyotes also raced their bikes.
Will Hughes and Tristan Hubbard made the jump to Varsity for the first time, which is basically selecting expert mode before reading the instructions.
Will finished 14th in his Varsity debut. Tristan’s first Varsity race ended with a flat because Stony apparently wanted his welcome package to include the full experience. Camden DeJong led the Varsity boys in 11th, while Easton Roberts also had his day cut short.
On the girls’ side, Reese Drajka opened the season with a second-place finish. Ocean Trierweiler took ninth after the last second cleat repair, while Sammy Weaver became another unwilling member of the Coyotes flat tire club.
Eight Coyotes took on the fastest fields in the series. They left with a few strong results, a few hard lessons and considerably fewer CO₂ cartridges.
Junior Varsity brought more speed and slightly less chaos.
Henry Wert finished third in JV 11th-12th Grade Male. Sawyer Willink took second in the 9th-10th Grade race, Tyler Veley finished sixth and Jakob Boer took 13th with Gerrit there to watch.
Harper Roberts earned third in Junior Varsity Female, while Kaitlyn finished 15th on a rear wheel whose ownership remains under active dispute.
Then there was Cruz Woodbury.
Cruz won Advanced Middle School by three minutes. Yeah, you read that right…three minutes. That is a massive gap in bike racing and apparently still not enough time for Cruz to remember that his bike has a saddle. Most riders sit occasionally to recover, pedal efficiently or simply acknowledge the seat exists. Cruz prefers to stand, hammer and treat sitting like an optional feature hidden somewhere in the owner’s manual.
Max Clemo joined him on the podium in third. Ryland Modzeleski finished fifth on the wheel his dad will probably never see again. Michael Eicher took 10th, Easton Johnson finished 14th, James Broughton placed 16th and Gunnar Larson finished 23rd.
Hadley Ruch added another podium with second in Advanced Middle School Female, while Lola Clemo finished sixth.
The rest of the Coyotes apparently saw all that hardware and decided they wanted in.
Emily Eckert won Novice Middle School Female. Dylan Grenier won Intermediate 7th-8th Grade Male, with Michael Count joining him on the podium in third. Camden Host finished second in Intermediate 6th Grade Male.
Ryder Pankey and Sawyer Weaver went second and third in Advanced Elementary Male. Alta Woodbury in Advanced Elementary Female added another second place finish for the Woodbury family, proving Cruz was not allowed to bring home everything.
Coleman Erb took third in the fifth-grade boys’ race, while Ivan Rookus finished 10th in his first race.
The younger Coyotes weren’t interested in easing into the season, either.
Jeremiah Fisher finished second in fourth-grade boys. Gracelyn Host took third in fourth grade girls, followed by Lucy Clemo in fourth and Winnie Richardson in sixth.
Titus Broughton, Wyatt Johnson and Jack Baker went second, third and fourth in third grade boys. That’s not technically a podium sweep, but it is close enough that we’re going to stand near the podium and look proud anyway.
Ashton Naum finished fifth in second-grade boys, although the gummy-worm supply was far too limited to determine whether there was a performance advantage.
Ryan Baker and Adalynn Widmayer both took the top spot in their PreK-1st Grade races. They may race the shortest distance, but they celebrate like they just conquered the Alps.
Honestly, they might understand bike racing better than the rest of us.
There were wins, podiums, first races and first Varsity starts. There were also flats, DNFs and results that didn’t match the work some riders put in.
When all the points were counted, the Coyotes won the Elementary team competition and tied for the top spot in Middle School. Not a bad way to open the season.
Stony gave us thunderstorms, perfect dirt, family stories, mechanical side quests and enough wheel swapping to make NASCAR nervous. Take the good stuff. Learn from the hard stuff. Restock the snacks. Check the cleats.
The tents are up. The cowbells are out. The dads are already missing bike parts.
Coyotes race season is officially back! LET’S GO!
Full results below the gallery of race weekend pictures.
Full Results:
| Name | Category | Place |
|---|---|---|
| Camden DeJong | Varsity Male | 11 |
| William Hughes | Varsity Male | 14 |
| Tristan Hubbard | Varsity Male | DNF |
| Easton Roberts | Varsity Male | DNF |
| Reese Drajka | Varsity Female | 2 |
| Ocean Trierweiler | Varsity Female | 9 |
| Samantha Weaver | Varsity Female | DNF |
| Henry Wert | Junior Varsity 11-12th Grade Male | 3 |
| Kellen Rottier | Junior Varsity 11-12th Grade Male | 13 |
| Sawyer Willink | Junior Varsity 9-10th Grade Male | 2 |
| Tyler Veley | Junior Varsity 9-10th Grade Male | 6 |
| Jakob Boer | Junior Varsity 9-10th Grade Male | 13 |
| Owen Rookus | Junior Varsity 9-10th Grade Male | 27 |
| Calvin Host | Junior Varsity 9-10th Grade Male | 32 |
| Tyler Whipple | Junior Varsity 9-10th Grade Male | 34 |
| Harper Roberts | Junior Varsity Female | 3 |
| Kaitlyn Tungl | Junior Varsity Female | 15 |
| Cruz Woodbury | Advanced Middle School Male | 1 |
| Max Clemo | Advanced Middle School Male | 3 |
| Ryland Modzeleski | Advanced Middle School Male | 5 |
| Michael Eicher | Advanced Middle School Male | 10 |
| Easton Johnson | Advanced Middle School Male | 14 |
| James Broughton | Advanced Middle School Male | 16 |
| Gunnar Larson | Advanced Middle School Male | 23 |
| Hadley Ruch | Advanced Middle School Female | 2 |
| Lola Clemo | Advanced Middle School Female | 6 |
| Anneke Willink | Intermediate 6-8th Grade Female | 12 |
| Alida Ward | Intermediate 6-8th Grade Female | 14 |
| Jeannie Reckner | Intermediate 6-8th Grade Female | 25 |
| Fiona O’Byrne | Intermediate 6-8th Grade Female | 30 |
| Emily Eckert | Novice 6-8th Grade Female | 1 |
| Dylan Grenier | Intermediate 7-8th Grade Male | 1 |
| Michael Count | Intermediate 7-8th Grade Male | 3 |
| Ethan Kirsch | Intermediate 7-8th Grade Male | 7 |
| Wyatt Kirsch | Intermediate 7-8th Grade Male | 16 |
| Brayden Bender | Intermediate 7-8th Grade Male | 17 |
| Franklin Erb | Intermediate 7-8th Grade Male | 21 |
| Camden Host | Intermediate 6th Grade Male | 2 |
| Caleb Heinz | Novice 7-8th Grade Male | 6 |
| Ryder Pankey | Advanced Elementary Male | 2 |
| Sawyer Weaver | Advanced Elementary Male | 3 |
| Raylan Hansma | Advanced Elementary Male | 7 |
| Alta Woodbury | Advanced Elementary Female | 2 |
| Aspen Trierweiler | Advanced Elementary Female | DNF |
| Coleman Erb | Elementary 5th Grade Male | 3 |
| Hunter Heinz | Elementary 5th Grade Male | 9 |
| Ivan Rookus | Elementary 5th Grade Male | 10 |
| Nolan Widmayer | Elementary 5th Grade Male | 13 |
| Gavin Ebeling | Elementary 5th Grade Male | 25 |
| Diego Martir | Elementary 5th Grade Male | 26 |
| Miles Eicher | Elementary 5th Grade Male | 28 |
| Emmett Katerberg | Elementary 5th Grade Male | 32 |
| Rainey Broughton | Elementary 5th Grade Female | 8 |
| Jeremiah Fisher | Elementary 4th Grade Male | 2 |
| William Bernatche | Elementary 4th Grade Male | 5 |
| Bennett Baker | Elementary 4th Grade Male | 7 |
| Micah Warners | Elementary 4th Grade Male | 20 |
| Caleb Grenier | Elementary 4th Grade Male | 21 |
| Henry Stoddard | Elementary 4th Grade Male | 34 |
| Gracelyn Host | Elementary 4th Grade Female | 3 |
| Lucy Clemo | Elementary 4th Grade Female | 4 |
| Winnie Richardson | Elementary 4th Grade Female | 6 |
| Titus Broughton | Elementary 3rd Grade Male | 2 |
| Wyatt Johnson | Elementary 3rd Grade Male | 3 |
| Jack Baker | Elementary 3rd Grade Male | 4 |
| Zion Woodbury | Elementary 3rd Grade Male | 15 |
| Lincoln Nemer-Kaiser | Elementary 3rd Grade Male | 17 |
| Matthew Gallagher | Elementary 3rd Grade Male | NR |
| Ashton Naum | Elementary 2nd Grade Male | 5 |
| Owen Heinz | Elementary 2nd Grade Male | 10 |
| Rory Katerberg | Elementary 2nd Grade Male | 11 |
| Emalyn Fisher | Elementary 2nd-3rd Grade Female | 11 |
| Lynlee Widmayer | Elementary 2nd-3rd Grade Female | 14 |
| Ryan Baker | Non-Competitive PreK-1st Grade Male | 1 |
| Daniel Baker | Non-Competitive PreK-1st Grade Male | 10 |
| Alexander Clemo | Non-Competitive PreK-1st Grade Male | 16 |
| Benedict Stoddard | Non-Competitive PreK-1st Grade Male | 17 |
| Adalynn Widmayer | Non-Competitive PreK-1st Grade Female | 1 |
| Josephine Gallagher | Non-Competitive PreK-1st Grade Female | NR |
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