Focus on TUSD - November 2007

Pedaling for Pleasure
Teacher Coaches Hohokam Students for El Tour de Tucson
When the wheels in some students' heads start spinning, there's no stopping them.

Take four Hohokom Middle School eighth-graders, for instance. Though they had never ridden in a long race, in fact, they didn't even own racing bikes, it didn't stop them from believing they could ride in the 33-mile El Tour de Tucson on Nov. 17.

This is how they did in the field of 1,260 entries: Jose Herrera, 509th, 2:25:36; Ramon Arvayo, 534th, 2:26: 27; Rene Pedraza, 921st, 3:04:03 and Gabriel Gastelum, 922nd, 3:04:04.

Their coach and home base teacher, Lorena Karla Teran, placed 647th with a time of 2:37:06. Ramon's mother, who trained and rode with them, did the best, finishing 282nd with a time 2:10:23.

Teran planted the idea for training and riding in the race after she heard that Pueblo Magnet High School teacher Yolanda Sotelo had been racing. Pueblo has a cycling program that includes lending out bikes that are stored in a cage on the school campus.

So Teran recruited seven students from her home base of 22 students, and ended up with the four who started training in mid-September.

First, they learned the etiquette of biking, riding in traffic and in a group, signaling, and assembling and repairing a bike at a Pima County class, where each rider received a free helmet.

Then the work began. They started at eight miles, adding a few miles at a time until they could pedal 16 miles. They were especially proud of their progress after they went on a 24-mile Tumacacori Century ride on Oct. 21.

Pedraza admitted his initial doubts. "I said, 'No, thanks,' at first. But now I can ride 26 miles. The only hard part is pedaling when you're tired."

The boys said their families encouraged them to ride when they felt like dropping out. They point to advantages from the training, such as strong leg muscles and learning their way around Tucson.

"The only thing I don't like is it hurts my butt," Arvayo pointed out. "I want to get a sponge to put on the seat. The padded seat would be expensive."

Luckily, they've had only a few mishaps during training. Gastelum said he fell going over an unexpected bump in the road. And Valencia remembers falling as he tried to avoid a big rock on the Santa Cruz River Trail.

Arvayo had even bigger problems. He said he was scared to mess up his carefully spiked hair by wearing a helmet. But lately he hasn't cared.

He had little time for worrying with his training schedule. The foursome rode out at 7 or 7:30 a.m., "when it's cold," Gastelum explained.

Arvayo's mother, Yesinia, came along, also astride a borrowed bike. The group rode with an adult up front and one in the back. They'd all like to have their own bikes, but none of them could even hazard a guess at what that would cost.

Each boy paid $15 toward his El Tour de Tucson entrance fee, with Teran picking up the remaining $10 of the fee for riders 14 years and younger. For the $100 fee for Arvayo's mother and the $80 for Teran, the group accepted donations.

Looking back on his two-month riding adventure, Arvayo said he was tired at first. "Later I said to myself that this is all mental," he remembered. "I told myself I could do it and I did it."

As for Teran, she's in better shape, too, and she's very proud of the boys' progress and race placements. "I always knew they could do it," she said.

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations

TUSD - Proud Supporter of Small Classes

Photos in the November issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations, unless otherwise noted.

The deadline to submit material for the December Focus is Friday, Nov. 7. The Focus will be published Monday, Nov. 17. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the online Tip Sheet.