It might sound odd, but Taylor Kopecky said one of her favorite memories from her first year with the OSU-Cascades cycling club was the time she quite literally fell on her face in front of the entire club.

“Getting out of the winter season, we had our first team ride out here on the trails, and we got out there, and we went out to the Lair,” Kopecky said, referring to the jump bike park off of Phil’s Trail on the west side of Bend. “I took my first real digger onto my face, right in front of everybody; they all saw it. But they were great; they got me up, and we kept going. But just being supported and inspired by all of them (is one of my favorite memories), because they’ve been doing it, and they know everything.”

Kopecky, a 24-year-old from Welches, said she was just beginning to get serious about mountain biking when she packed up and moved to Bend last fall to pursue a degree in kinesiology. Since she knew no cyclists in Bend, she looked up the OSU-Cascades cycling club and showed up at the first meeting of the year.

“Honestly I didn’t think I was going to do anything more than just tag along on the rides, ’cause I didn’t have any skill for it,” Kopecky, who is the club treasurer, said during an interview at Phil’s Trail last week.

“But these guys are so welcoming and helpful that they’ve helped me progress in my skills so much that I’m actually hoping to race pretty soon. But just meeting these guys and meeting people that were my age and so excited about it just really amped me up and got me ready to go.”

But within two months, club president John Chapman had persuaded Kopecky to try out a few local cyclocross races.

Chapman, a 26-year-old originally from Dana Point, California, said he was focused on running when he took up cycling as a cross-training method four years ago. Within two years, he had transitioned to road biking competitively and followed a friend into the OSU-Cascades cycling club, which meets regularly for casual rides.

Of course, there are plenty of other cycling teams and riding groups to join in Bend — Chapman is a member of the Murder of Crows cycling club, for example — but OSU-Cascades does help cover some of the costs of cycling, such as race entry fees. Chapman said that the monetary support from the college allowed him to enter last year’s Cascade Cycling Classic, in which he competed in the final three stages in Category 4. He finished third in his division in both the downtown criterium and Awbrey Butte circuit race.

“And then the second big benefit is being involved in a community where we all understand the fact that we’re college students,” Chapman explained. “We have an instant relationship in the sense that we all go to school and struggle with finals and all that type of stuff. And at the same time do our best to forget about all that and jump on some bikes and have some fun. And I think that’s something you can’t really find somewhere else.”

That may sound like a good deal — make a few friends, ride your bike, get some of your costs covered — but Kopecky said there are surprisingly few takers. She said the club typically has seven or eight active members at any given time. (According to an OSU-Cascades fact sheet, 1,215 students were enrolled at the school for the fall 2016 term, when the new campus opened on the west side of Bend.)

“I’m honestly surprised — Bend is such a biking town, how do we not have the entire school doing it? Everybody bikes, everybody has a bike, why is nobody wanting to join and do it with us?” Kopecky said. “Because the residence hall has just been built, I think there’s a sense that everybody’s life is away from campus. So nobody’s really used to being on campus, staying on campus, because that’s not how it’s been. That is going to take a little progression, and hopefully, it gets better.”

Chapman, who is on track to graduate this winter, said he is trying to decide if he wants to continue cycling competitively after college.

“I think it’s a tossup between letting go or putting all my eggs in one basket and seeing how far I can take it,” Chapman said. “And I think really just the opportunities that may present themselves are what is going to decide that, because cycling is expensive and you need a lot of support in it, and if I don’t have that support, I can’t really do what I want to do. And if that’s the case, I’m perfectly fine with riding for fun.”

But Kopecky, who has two years of school left, said she is hoping the club grows to include a racing team like the one at the Oregon State campus in Corvallis.

“Over the next two years, I would really hope we can get a race team going, really recruit a bunch and try to get people as excited about it as we are,” said Kopecky, who plans to compete in her first two mountain bike races this summer. “I’m hoping for jerseys and kits and matching and training, and maybe a coach eventually, that would be great.”

Still, Kopecky said the club will remain a welcoming place for students who just want to ride and jam around with a few friends — just as long as they are prepared for a little tumble at the Lair.

—Reporter: 541-383-0305, vjacobsen@bendbulletin.com

“I’m honestly 
surprised — Bend is such a biking town, how do we not have the entire school 
doing it? Everybody bikes, everybody has a bike, why is nobody wanting to join and do it with us?”— OSU-Cascades cycling club’s Taylor Kopecky

More info

The OSU-Cascades cycling club is open to any OSU-Cascades student in good academic standing (that is, with a GPA above 2.5). If you are interested in learning more, joining the club or getting in touch with a club member, visit osucascades.edu/sports/cycling-club or search “OSU Cascades Cycling Club” on Facebook.