Starting sophomore year, I challenged myself to begin commuting to school. There were a handful of students who also commuted by bike and, feeling a lack of community amongst us, I decided to form a club. After reaching out to Mr. Loverich, the Marauders Bike Club was born. 

Through the club, I formed a friendship with fellow cyclist Ben Hewitt. I worked with him to recruit members, organize rides, and design our jerseys. (I’d be lying if I said we aren’t exceptionally proud of our jerseys!) Last year, we spent countless hours contacting local businesses that would be interested in supporting our club to acquire custom jerseys. We chose Voler, a custom cycling kit manufacturer based in San Luis Obispo. In partnership with them, we designed a full custom cycling kit that represented our club. 

Now fully equipped, we organize rides along local trails. One of my favorite rides was our Fall Maintenance Clinic and ride. We got to meet Jason Grefrath, Northern California Time Trial Champion. Along with seeing his collection of racing bikes, he taught us useful skills such as changing a flat and cleaning our drive chains. 

Although this year is different because of COVID, we won’t let that get in the way of our plans. We continue to organize rides, meet on Zoom, and post on Strava. Now that we have more experience with student fundraising and buying jerseys, we hope to design a brand new jersey for this year’s members to don at races and outings. We are also planning to raise funds to install a bike maintenance rack at the school, as we hope to encourage more bike commuting among students. If you have an interest in joining or supporting our club, please to reach out to us. 

Carlos Contreras IV ’21
Marauders Bike Club, president

Cycling, both with and without the club, has been a great way to stay active during these secluded past few months. I do it with pride, wearing one of the only nine Jesuit High School cycling jerseys in existence. Of course, exclusivity means nothing to us, and we’d be thrilled if you were to wear the tenth! 

A great way to connect with the club is to join our Strava group, aptly named the “Marauders Bike Club.” There, you can see all the rides we do, and also post your own. If you don’t have Strava, you can follow us on Instagram at @jesuitcycling.

In Sacramento, we’ve been blessed with the bike trail, which I’ve been happy to see has been getting more use recently. In no more than an hour, it can take you from school to downtown, or to Folsom Lake if you fancy a climb. These are some of the rides we enjoy in the club, although we do lots of short rides, too. We’re also very open to suggestions!

While cycling is fun, it’s important to maintain your distance from others, especially while in a group. I wouldn’t advise wearing a mask because cycling is far from anaerobic. Just say “on your left,” pass others quickly so as to not ride behind them, bring something to eat, and always wear a helmet!

Ben Hewitt ’21
Marauders Bike Club, vice president