A cyclist quickly wipes his brow as he stares at the impending hill waiting to be crested. Behind him, he hears rapid, heavy breathing combined with the grinding of switching gears. The cyclist drives whatever energy is left into his legs, pushing himself seemingly beyond his limit as he sprints to finish the rocky, unforgiving trail. These cyclists are students who  dedicate themselves to a demanding sport known as mountain biking.
PHS does not host an official mountain biking team so the sport is not well known among students.
“Before a friend got me into mountain biking, I had no idea there was a team,” senior Joseph Chan said.
The 17 students that participate in mountain biking are members of Oakland Composite mountain biking, a team consisting of athletes from a range of schools across Oakland.
“Our team is incredibly diverse,” Chan said, “We have students from O’Dowd, Monte Vista and schools I haven’t even heard of.”
Mountain biking is an uncommon student sport, so athletes must express interest to find teams outside of school.
“I had to ask around at bike shops to hear about the team,” junior Blair Whitted said.
Although Oakland Composite is a club, they often compete against high school teams.
“All our races so far, including my first one in the spring, felt like any other sports meet,” Chan said.
The Oakland Composite team allows their athletes to have a flexible schedule by only requiring them to attend two practices per week to be eligible to attend competitions.
“We understand students these days have unimaginable amounts of work and commitments to uphold,” biking Coach Morgan Fletcher said. “We›re just glad they are willing to come out and race,”
During practices, cyclists work on a variety of skills, strength, and endurance.
“On the weekdays we typically work on bike handling, for example, learning how to corner, or do intervals,” Whitted said.
The team is grateful for being able to pursue a passion without needing to invest cumbersome amounts of time.
“If you don’t want to race, you don’t have to. You can just grow as a rider,” Whitted said.