Lower Cape Kids Compete On Crushers Mountain Bike Team

Io Torrellas had already won five of five mountain biking races a couple years ago when, during the sixth and final race, she got a flat tire. Rather than fix it and lose time, she rode on the rim and still won the sixth race.

An eighth grader at Monomoy Regional High School, Torrellas and several other kids from the Lower Cape compete on the Cape Crushers, a mountain biking team for riders across the peninsula. They ride off-road, cross-country style. 

And with miles upon miles of trails in the area to traverse, the Cape is a particularly auspicious place to mountain bike. The team rides on dirt paths within parks — that can go downhill and uphill. Trails can have roots or wooden bridges, making it no secret how a flat tire like the one Torrellas got could happen. 

“There’s a lot of adrenaline right before the start” of the races the Cape Crushers compete in, she said.

Around 40 boys and girls ride on the team, according to Justin Torrellas, Io’s father and Cape Crushers head coach. They participate in New England Youth Cycling, a league of a few dozen teams across the region with kids ranging from about fourth to 12th grade, split up by age during races.

Torrellas said Io, after her first day with the Cape Crushers, “instantly loved it.”

“She comes back with the biggest grin on her face and is super stoked,” he said. “Just loved it.”

Some of the kids are beginners while others are more advanced, and competing in the league races isn’t a requisite for being a member of the team. Some just like to ride their bikes. 

To Tom Rockwell, the team’s manager, the “camaraderie” of the Cape Crushers is “really the highlight,” he said.

“I think one of my favorite things is just how supportive all of the kids are of each other,” said Rockwell, a Sandwich resident. “They cheer each other on at races. They work together in practice. For a competitive sport, it’s not a competitive atmosphere. In the practices, everyone works together. We mix it up. They do relays. They support each other. They help each other fix their bikes.”

The mountain bikers in New England Youth Cycling compete in six races a season during the spring at different locations — from Massachusetts to Rhode Island to New Hampshire and beyond.

The riding is challenging. Depending on the age group, a race can be as long as 20 miles, according to Rockwell, who has three kids — Shea, Henry and Emmett — who are or have been on the team. Cuts, scrapes and bruises are going to happen, Torrellas said.

While Torrellas and Rockwell are the Cape Crushers’ head coach and manager, two designated positions required by the league, the entire team takes a “community grassroots kind of effort” with several other volunteers, Torrellas said.

When the team holds its usual practices at the West Barnstable Conservation Area, for example, about 40 kids split up and go out into three groups. That means around 10 total adults on bikes are needed to accompany the groups as they practice, Rockwell said. 

The practices get the kids connecting and enjoying the time with each other and the coaches as they ride in the woods — a “really wholesome” and “hard but fun thing to do,” Torrellas said.

“We’ve had a lot of success just by having fun and riding,” Torrellas said.