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Mountain Biking
The Mountain Biking Experience
South Kent School’s mountain biking program was established in 2013. Our program brings together riders of all abilities, from the most competitive racers to those new to the sport, to compete and enjoy this lifelong sport and the great trail systems throughout New England. Each member of the program learns how to ride safely and effectively while also learning the basics of bike and trail maintenance. Our program has both a fall and spring season.
The League
South Kent School is a founding member of the Housatonic Mountain Biking League (HMBL). The HMBL is composed of eight Western New England area schools that rotate hosting regular season and championship races. The HMBL races weekly throughout the fall with the league championship race as the culminating event after the regular season has concluded. In the spring season, the team focuses on skill building, fitness and endurance while riding Southern New England's best trails.
The Trails
South Kent School partnered with Sinuosity Flowing Trails of Vermont to construct eight miles of exciting flow trail systems on the School’s 550 acre campus. Trails include single track cross-country routes, dual track, rustic logging roads, and intermediate and expert flow trail sections. Interspersed you will find logs to traverse, streams to cross, tabletops to double, berms to carve, bridges to ride and rock gardens to test all skills and abilities.
pdf trail map
The South Kent School race courses include almost every element seen in Eastern Mountain Biking. Features include, flow trail rides with huge berms and massive table top jumps, aggressive singletrack descents and climbs which feature significant elevation changes, rugged logging roads and dual track sections to encourage head to head racing. All trails have been designed and built to be sustainable, in that they have a low impact on the environment -- sloped to eliminate runoff and channeling rainwater and built to withstand the impact of hundreds of riders. Great care has been taken to help protect the local watershed and hillside hydrology while tackling the challenge of invasive species. All trail sections have been designed and built to be safe with the professional trail building crew signing off on all designs, features, and routes.
Head Coach
Eric Leitz joined South Kent School in fall of 2023 as the Head Coach of Mountain Biking. Eric started riding bikes at a young age. When he got to high school, he shared his love of biking with a passion for lacrosse and was a key member of the Varsity Lacrosse Team at Summit High School in New Jersey. As a high school lacrosse player, Eric won two state championships. After high school, Eric attended CW Post University for three years, followed by two years at the Fashion Institute of Technology to pursue his dream of working in the menswear industry. After graduating from FIT, he went on to have a successful 26-year career in menswear for two world-renowned luxury companies in New York City.
Eric has been riding bikes of all kinds for over fifty years. In 1994, Eric raced in the Baja 1000 off-road Motorcycle Race, one of the most prestigious off-road races in the world, attracting competitors from six different continents annually. Eric’s passion for biking continued when his family moved to Litchfield County, where he and his wife often rode together. They soon had children who they involved in the sport at an early age, and biking became a way of life for the Leitz family.
Eric first started coaching mountain biking in 2018. He continues to be amazed at how quickly the technology for the sport has changed and notes that as the bikes advance, so do the trails. Coach Leitz believes that the South Kent trails are the best in the area, and he uses it to his advantage as he trains South Kent’s riders of all skill levels. Above anything else, Eric prioritizes the development aspect of the sport and uses the newest advancements and techniques to help student-athletes learn and grow both on and off the trails.
Assistant Coach
Anthony Tyburski joined South Kent School in fall of 2023 as STEM faculty and Assistant Coach of Mountain Biking. In high school, Anthony was a 4-year member of the bowling and golf teams and a 3-year member of the Varsity Baseball Team at Ballston Spa High School. As one of the baseball team’s star athletes, Anthony pitched and played middle infield and logged the most innings pitched in a single season in school history. After graduating college, Anthony gained valuable coaching experience as the assistant coach for varsity soccer and basketball at The Ellis School in Pittsburgh, PA.
Although this is his first time coaching mountain biking, Anthony appreciates the fearlessness and athleticism that the sport requires. He hopes to help expand the program to get more students involved while creating a culture that emphasizes hard work, confidence, and effort when taking to the trails. Anthony is originally from Ballston Spa, a town in Upstate New York near Saratoga Springs. He looks forward to being in the woods more often, exploring the great biking trails available in the School’s backyard, and taking on adventures (and big jumps) with the team.
Athletic Teams
