What is EtownMTB?
Elizabethtown Mountain Bike Club
EtownMTB is a mountain bike club that consists of student athletes in grades 6 through 12 who reside within the Elizabethtown Area school district boundaries. In our inaugural year 2016, we were 22 students; currently, we are over 50 student athletes strong for the 2023 season. Our main goal is to get kids on bikes and therefore there are no tryouts - everyone rides. We want strong healthy kids. We want our students to develop strong physical and healthy bodies, strong academic minds and strong characters where we encourage our athletes to work hard, play fair, respect others and community.
The EtownMTB club is part of the PA Interscholastic Cycling League and we participate in a fall race series where we race against students from schools/clubs from all over the state. Our season starts July 1 and we practice multiple times a week to learn the skills and gain the fitness required to race mountain bikes! Our practices are held at the Elizabethtown Fairgrounds, a local trail and skills park that our team built on Bear Creek school property, as well as trail networks at Mount Gretna, Swatera, and Rocky Ridge and the Hershey trail system that many of our student athletes helped build.
Races provide student athletes an arena in which to set and accomplish competitive goals and to achieve their personal best. We have a 5-race season on courses that consist of single track, fire roads, logs, mud, and rocks. Professional race promotion, timing, course preparation and risk management guarantee every participating student athlete is given a fun and fast environment.
While not everyone is required to race, we strongly encourage each student athlete to participate in at least one race during the season. We compete against other teams from the Pennsylvania League. Continuing in the 2022 season are adventure rides for student athletes who does not want to race.
EtownMTB is a non-profit organization that has 501(c)(3) status as a public charity.
Skill Development
Mountain biking is exciting, but there are skills that students need to know in order to become effective and safe riders. Skills will include braking, cornering, body positions, shifting, pedal placement, race starts, and more.
Team Practice
Practices are held at least twice a week. Specific practice schedules are defined prior to the start of the season. All students practice together so that newer riders can learn skills quicker with the older students motivating the younger and newer riders. Riders are assessed often and moved around into different groups based on their abilities.
Pre-Race Prep
Preparing for a race is more than putting a bike on the car and going. Students are taught about proper bike preparations, mental preparation as well as nutrition and hydration. All students signed up to race can pre-ride the course either the day before the race or the day of. Coaches participate in these rides to point out specifics to the course students should be aware of for race day.
Bike Maintenance
Bike maintenance is key to make sure riders are safe during practices and races. Students are taught how to make sure their bikes are set up properly as well we how to pump their tires, change a flat tire, fix a dropped chain and more.
Our Races
For 2023, we will have 6 sanctioned NICA events in the fall as well as adventure rides for those who don't want to race. Races are located in eastern, central and western regions of Pennsylvania. Students earn points based on their final placing in each race. Team points are tallied by the team’s highest placed riders in each grade category.
No One Sits
No one sites the bench!! Everyone rides. Period. We want our students to gain a love of riding so that it will continue throughout their life. And so, any student who wants to compete in a race is eligible.
Number of Riders
Number of Races
2023 Number of Coaches
Trail Stewardship Hours
Our Team
Our team consists of over 50 student riders from the Elizabethtown Area School district from the High School and Middle School (grades 6-12). We also include students who live in our school district but attend a private school, are cyber or home schooled. Besides our head coach, we have many assistant coaches so our students can receive personalized attention as well as assuring rider safety.
Doug Rohde - Doug has been involved with cycling since the late 80's when he began road racing and riding multi-day charity tours. His passion for bikes evolved into the sport of triathlons and eventually mountain biking. He has been employed as a Mechanical engineer in the York/Lancaster/Harrisburg Area since graduating from Penn State. He spends his "off bike" time with his wife pursuing outdoor activities like skiing, boating, backpacking. He and his wife became involved with the Etown team as assistant coaches in 2018 prior to Doug taking on additional head coaching responsibilities. He is excited to help the kids of Etown develop a lifelong passion for cycling.
Our team is a Division 1 team made of students who live within the Elizabethtown Area School District boundaries. We have students both male and female from the High School and Middle School (grades 6-12). We also have students who attend local private schools or are homeschooled but live within our boundaries. Students practice together so that they may learn skills from older and more experienced riders and so that all students may challenge themselves. While most of our riders do choose to race in the PAMTB racing series, not all of our students have chosen to do so. However, all of our students attend races to cheer on their teammates - not because they have to but because they want to! Mountain bike racing is unlike any other sport offered in the district.
