Mountain Biking Makes Adolescence Easier to Bear

Adolescence can be brutal. Jose Caballero, a veteran teacher at Santa Barbara High School, knows that well. But when he watches kids cheering for one another as they book it down mountain trails, those awkward years seem a little easier to bear.

Caballero is the manager of the Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Club (SBMTB), a youth cycling program run by the nonprofit parent-organization Echelon Santa Barbara.

Founded three years ago, the club was created for kids ages 7-18 to get outside and learn a skill that they can nurture as they get older.

They meet several times a week, pedaling through the mountains or training at the little-known, long-neglected BMX track at Elings Park — one the club is actively working to bring back to life.

Mountain biking can be a little treacherous, admitted Caballero, but what he primarily sees is kids out in the wild, off of their phones, celebrating each other.

He recounted the time one of the riders fell and hurt himself. “All these young men can be boisterous and jocular. They’re all used to talking smack with each other,” he started.

But as soon as that kid got hurt, he said with his voice catching, “Everybody came over and threw their bikes down and were supporting him. And they were being so mature and caring. I was like, ‘I want my kids to be around these other kids all the time.’

“Junior high for me was like a gauntlet of bullying and embarrassment. Working at the high school, I see a lot of kids that are just kind of alone sometimes, and I know how that feels,” Caballero added. “Mountain biking is a competitive activity, but it’s got this really amazing culture of supportiveness. I see it all the time. It’s so wholesome.”

The club was something President Tim Barker stirred up with his family when his son’s cross-country team was in its off-season and they needed something to fill the void — a kind of sentiment he’s promoted through the club, embracing kids as multifaceted beings that can carry skills over across sports. It’s all about inclusivity, camaraderie, and sportsmanship, he said.

Ray McPhee, a 17-year-old rider on the lead team, took the sport a step further in October and completed a “double Everest” challenge: riding up and down Old San Marcos Road enough times to equate to two ascents from sea level to the summit of Mount Everest.

He barely slept over the two days he did the challenge — something fewer than 100 people in the world have completed, let alone a teenager — cycling 58,000 feet of elevation gain and close to 300 miles.

It took 48 laps, but he only did seven of those alone. Other kids from the club and fellow cyclists in town were almost constantly by his side. In a way, it was a team effort, he said. The hardest parts were the night laps, but he always had someone to ride with. One kid from the club rode with him from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. for the last stretch.

“He rode all through the night just to ride with me, which was incredible. All I wanted to do was fall asleep,” he said. “I needed that support to help me finish — it really helped my mental game, to not go completely insane.”

Now, his sights are set on the Tour Divide — a famously challenging ride — that stretches 2,800-miles from Banff, Alberta, to the Mexican border. In the meantime, he’ll be training with SBMTB.

Barker mused, “Our community spends millions of dollars on playground structures for kids up until 10, but what do we have for kids who age out of that?” Santa Barabra is a very ocean-oriented culture, he added, “but we have mountains, too!” He wants to see the younger generations at those higher elevations — “It’s such a beautiful way to experience our area without being ocean-facing,” he said.

It started with just a few families and half a dozen kids but has doubled in size every year since. It’s run by volunteer parents who “really care,” Barker said, and who spend almost every minute of their free time supporting the club. As he put it, it’s not a “drop off sport.” They want parents to engage. “It’s a community,” he said.

The program has grown organically, now involving six teams, around 100 riders, and 20 coaches, and hosting up to 12 events weekly, including rides and workouts and traveling to competitions. Participants range from beginners to advanced riders, with some riding up to four days a week.

No one makes money, either, Caballero added. The club tries to keep prices as low as they can, seeing as it’s an expensive sport already. But once a family buys a bike and safety gear, “it’s probably the cheapest club dues in town” — to be on the recreation team is a flat $300 for five months — and they offer scholarships, Barker said.

“I kind of have a chip on my shoulder about living in this really wealthy town and feeling like I’m poor all the time,” Caballero said. “I really want to attack the assumption that only rich people can mountain bike.”

Watching your kid do something dangerous can be nerve-wracking, he acknowledges. Every time Caballero’s boy books it down a mountain or around the Elings BMX track, he holds his breath. Most parents hold their breath as they watch their kids descend; they don’t want them to get hurt.

But every time, Caballero lets it go. And his son, and the other kids in the club, are better for it. Caballero’s son, Toby, has seen gains in his physical abilities, he said, but it’s helped his mental health, too. Riding gives him a chance to let off steam.

“You can forget about anything else going on — like if you have a test or homework — it’s helpful for stress,” said Toby, a 15-year-old student at SBHS. “Biking builds a whole community.”

Registration for the 2026 season is now open. Learn more about SBMTB at sbmtb.org.