When many high school athletes this fall arebrparticipating in school sanctioned sports like cross country, soccer, tennis,brfootball and volleyball in front of their peers, there are others whobrparticipate in competitive athletics that also deserve recognition.
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One of those is Payson high school sophomore,brBrock Bleggi, who takes his talents riding his bike in the mountains, competingbrin the the Utah High School Cycling League.
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Brock began mountain biking about four years ago,brriding on the trails in Payson Canyon.
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It was two years ago when he started racing, andbrhe says that he really likes the challenge of it.
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“Mountain biking is really challenging,” he said.br“I’ve had to learn balance but have speed at the same time. Each race track isbrdifferent, so it’s fun doing all the different courses. One of the hardestbrthings I have had to learn is to be able to pace myself for the whole race.”
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According to his coach, Jordan Nielson, he hasbrquite a talent for it.
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“Brock is an incredible athlete,” Nielson said.br“This is only his second year racing and he’s beating kids that have beenbrtraining and racing for a lot longer than he has. He doesn’t rub it in withbrother riders either. He just rides hard, crushes the competition, and thenbrquietly chills and enjoys the victory. Then he gets to work preparing for thebrnext race.”
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With two more races to go, including the statebrchampionships in Cedar City on Oct.18-19, Brock has his sights set high.
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“I would like to finish this year as the statebrchampion, race in other leagues and continue to improve every year,” he said.
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Even with the exciting competitive parts ofbrracing, Brock says that his favorite part about racing is all the people hebrmeets and friends he has made.
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He said that he’d like to tell others who arebrthinking about racing, that it is a lot of fun and you’ll make a lot ofbrfriends.(Submitted to Serve Daily by Anderson Brown. Brown is a sophomore at Payson HighbrSchool and lifelong soccer player. He enjoys learning about the athleticbrjourneys of other student-athletes through writing this column.)
