Neal Kindree has biked his way up hills and down hills and through woods all over British Columbia and he's arrived at an unexpected place.
Cycling BC has named him Mountain Bike Athlete of the Year for 2004.
"I'm pretty excited," Kindree said. "I'm very pleased."
Kindree, 17, won the six races of the SISU BC Cup Mountain Bike Series.
"I won all of the junior expert races," Kindree said.
He not only won all of his races, he caught up to the pro riders who were on the course ahead of him. The pro riders - usually the faster riders - start the race two minutes ahead of the junior experts so there is less passing on the course. At the Bear Mountain Challenge in Mission in June, Kindree did better than catch up.
"I caught up to the first-place pro and passed him," Kindree said.
"He schooled the other juniors and finished second among the pros in more than a few events," said Gary Jackson, the Cycling BC mountain bike technical director in a press release.
At the first BC Cup in Summerland, Kindree was 20 minutes ahead of the second person in his category. At the Bear Mountain Challenge his closest competitor finished almost 10 minutes behind him. Kindree finished the race in 1:49:50.
He was also the top finisher in the rest of the series races, leading the field by a few minutes.
Kindree finished first at the Island Triple Throw Down BC Cup finals as well. He finished the race at 1:17:44.
His success at the SISU BC Cup series means he will have more time to dedicate to training. All the media attention at the events meant more sponsorship.
"I got more sponsorships, which lowers the cost of racing," Kindree said. "I can focus more on training instead of finding ways to pay for it."
Kindree, a Grade 12 student at Howe Sound Secondary, has a lot going on. He's taking his difficult classes this semester so he can graduate in January and dedicate more time to training. But he said the workload isn't as bad as one would expect.
If you go to class and pay attention and do the work you're fine, he said.
Kindree was also at the national competition in Quebec this year, where he said he didn't do as well as he had hoped.
"I had a pretty bad race, a lot of stuff went wrong," he said.
But Kindree acknowledged things do sometimes go wrong, and you just keep going.
He's also raced closer to home in the Test of Metal.
"I got three flat tires throughout the race, but it was still fun."
Kindree would not have done as well as he has without his family, which he said has been "unbelievably supportive."
His father coaches and helps out with his training, and his mother makes sure he gets the right meals before races. "I wish I could return the favour, but I don't think it will ever be possible," he said.
And Kindree said he wouldn't have made it without his foster brother Brennan Covey.
"He drives to races, he's my main training partner," Kindree said. "He's the one who got me excited about biking to begin with."
When he's racing, he is extremely focused.
"You don't really think about anything beside the bike," he said.
"I've tried a lot of sports, and for some reason, mountain biking is what I love doing."
Kindree has some intense goals and training ahead of him.
"I would like to take part in the Olympics, and the World Championships," he said.
