Trek Ohio Valley "Junior" MTB Racing Team
Or as I refer to them as the "Rocket Boyz" was formed 4 years ago by Trek Ohio Valley Team Director/Manager Chris Skinner as an extension of his high schools recreational program. Chris is the Outdoor Recreation Instructor for the Maysville School District and began offering mountain biking to some of their students. The purpose of this class is for students to learn and participate in the sport of mountain biking. archery, fishing and other traditional outdoor recreational activities.
Not long after this introduction Chris realized that several of the students had not only the desire and interest in mountain biking, but also the commitment and passion to begin racing. Today, the team consists of 4 young riders and a very large support crew including Chris, his wife Colleen and a proud group of families who travel to all the race series events.
Their primary training ground is a 5 mile trail on Chris & Colleen's 100 acre farm in southeastern Ohio's Perry County in which the team hosts the yearly OMBC Series event named S and S Trails. The property is also home to a "Certified American Tree Farm" which produces and bottles "Skinner's Heaven on Earth" pure maple syrup.
Now, let's meet the Rocket Boyz........
Codi Crippen
Codi competes in the highly competitive Sport Senior ranks these days in the OMBC series and when he's not competing on the mountain bike he's playing soccer for the University of Rio Grande (located in Southeastern, Ohio). A budding photographer, if you don't see Codi on the bike during the race then he's on the trail usually video tapping or taking still photography for his class assignments at Rio Grande. Codi's ride of choice is the Trek Top Fuel (Project One even) where his top finish this past season was 3rd place at the Alum Creek race. He placed 3rd overall in the Novice Junior in 2004 and 2005 in the OMBC Series. His favorite riders are Geoff Kabush and Jeremiah Bishop and favorite moment riding was when he grenaded his fork at Clear Fork during the 2005 race (ouch!). Codi is a founding member of Chris' mountain biking class.
Christopher Spring
Christopher is in his freshman year at Zane State College (he's in their Environmental Science Program), and when not racing his mountain bike he's usually involved in some sort of outdoor activity, such as hunting, fishing and archery among others. In fact, Christopher has participated in NASP archery at the state and national levels. Christopher's mountain bike main ride is a Trek Top Fuel 9.9 and has many notable racing accomplishments in the OMBC the past several years: 1st place Sport Junior 2008-07, 3rd Place Sport Junior 2006 and 2nd Place Sport Junior 2005. He also finish 1st Place in the 2008 Iceman event (junior division). Christopher plans to race this upcoming 2009 season in the Sport Senior Class and then make the jump to Expert Senior. Good luck Chris!
Anthony "Jordan" is another high school student at Maysville High School who intends to race the upcoming 2008 OMBC season as a Sport Junior. Jordan is a true athlete in which he likes to compete in many various sports, such as baseball, basketball, soccer and archery. He likes being part of Team Trek Ohio Valley since it keeps him in shape and out of trouble. He also likes to meet people and we know there's a lot of different characters in and around a mountain bike course, hey? Jordan's accomplishments have been: 5th Place Novice Junior 2005, 4th Place Sport Junior 2006 and 3rd Place Sport Junior 2007.
