About us
Run by volunteers, since 2020
Palouse Composite started in 2020 with a dozen riders and a couple of coaches who thought the Palouse should have a youth mountain bike team. It’s now one of the biggest teams in the league, and it still runs the same way: parents and riders coaching, sponsors covering the gear, and nobody drawing a paycheck.
What we do
We get kids out on rides, help them become better riders, and back whatever they’re riding toward. Some of them want to win races. Some want to keep up with their friends. Some just want an afternoon on singletrack with nowhere else to be. We’re for all of them. Riders are in grades 5 through 12 and come from Moscow, Pullman, Troy, Genesee, Viola, Lewiston and the towns between.
We ride Moscow Mountain three days a week in season, with early-season rides in town and at Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston. Rides are grouped by ability, so a first-timer and a varsity racer both get a ride that fits. Race weekends are across Washington: five in spring, ending in a state championship, and two in fall, and nobody has to race to be on the team.
Families pay the league’s registration and the team doesn’t add a fee. Jerseys, loaner bikes, tents and the trailer that hauls them are paid for by sponsors, donors, and families who chip in when they can, and we work to make sure nobody is left out because they can’t. Every coach is a volunteer.
By the numbers
Some of these come from the league’s published results. Some come from a panel of people eating burritos at our tent. We’ll let you sort out which.
206
Top-five finishes since spring 2022
From 30 races and 612 starts, so about one podium every three times a rider lines up.
97
Different kids who’ve raced for the team since 2022
Some for one season. Some for all nine.
Most
Girls on the roster of any team in the league, spring and fall 2026
Nineteen last spring, thirteen this fall. That doesn’t happen by accident.
21
Riders who qualified for the 2026 State Championship
And fourteen top-five finishes on State day, the most the team has had at any race.
2,213
Miles a family drove, round trip, to do the full spring 2026 race series
The most of any team in the league. Every race was in Washington. We live in Idaho.
46
First-place finishes since spring 2022
Ten of them in one spring, 2022, when the team was a quarter of its current size.
1
Bear seen on course, Cle Elum, October 2026
A small cub. In our estimation, seeing any bear on a bike ride counts as a lot of bears.
Best
Burrito build in the league
As voted by everyone at our tent on a Saturday night, which is an unbiased sample of people who were eating our burritos.
2
Trailer tires blown in one night on the drive home from Gig Harbor
One at Vantage, one at the Colfax fairgrounds. Fixed by the next afternoon, by parents, which is also a team record.
Race numbers are from the Washington Student Cycling League’s published results, spring 2022 through fall 2026. A podium is a top-five finish in a rider’s category, which is how the league awards them.
Coaches
Every coach is a volunteer, and every coach is licensed through the Washington Student Cycling League. We need two kinds. Fast coaches, who can stay with the kids at the front and show them what the next level looks like. And newer riders, who remember what it feels like to be nervous at a trailhead and can ride with the kids who are there now. A coach who is still learning is often the best one for a rider who is still learning.
- Level 1. Where every coach starts; the league requires it before an adult can ride with the team. Register, pass a background check, and take two online courses: concussion training and the league’s WSCL 100 orientation. Level 1 coaches ride with a group in support of the ride leader.
- Level 2. Level 1 plus current First Aid and CPR certification and the league’s in-person Level 2 course, which is where the skills coaching starts. Level 2 coaches lead ride groups: bike handling, fitness, and keeping a group safe and having fun on the trail.
- Level 3. Level 2 plus the league’s in-person Level 3 course, the next step in skills coaching.
The license fee is about $40 a season, and the team reimburses it. Registration is each season, the background check is yearly, and the courses are good for three years. We plan to host the in-person training here most seasons. Coaches are 18 and up; riders 15 and up can register as junior assistant coaches and ride at any level with an adult coach alongside. The league’s licensing page has the details.
A team this size needs a lot of adults on the trail; the league requires at least one coach for every six riders on bikes. If you ride and you’d like helping kids learn to love it, you’re qualified to start, whatever your speed. Email info@palousebicycleracing.org and tell us a little about how you ride.
Our purpose
The short version is above. The long version is from our articles of incorporation.
Purposes of the Corporation, as written
The Corporation is organized and shall be operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes, and for fostering national and international amateur athletic competition, within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (or corresponding provisions of any subsequent federal tax laws). The specific purposes and objectives of the Corporation shall include, but not be limited to, the promotion and development of amateur bicycle racing in the Palouse region of Idaho and Washington. In furtherance of that purpose, the Corporation shall:
- Conduct or participate in programs to identify and develop new cyclists, particularly junior racers under the age of 18;
- Conduct or participate in programs to assist cyclists in the development of their competitive and riding skills, and to ensure safe riding, training, commuting, and competition;
- Seek to uphold the rights and interests of cyclists and to communicate these interests to governmental authorities and the general public;
- Promote the development of safe routes to school, shared roads and pathways, and other means and mechanisms to ensure that cycling remains a realistic and safe mode of transportation and recreation for all citizens;
- Promote the mission of USA Cycling; and
- Engage in all legal activities consistent with the Corporation’s purpose and these enumerated activities.
The organization
Palouse Bicycle Racing, Inc.
Palouse Bicycle Racing, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation based in Moscow, Idaho. Our EIN is 46-0966026. We are a USA Cycling-sanctioned club that exists to develop amateur racers of all ages, and particularly junior racers under 18. We field the Palouse Composite team in the Washington Student Cycling League.
This website
This site, palousebicycleracing.org, is the official and only website of Palouse Bicycle Racing, Inc. All of our official email runs on this domain, including info@palousebicycleracing.org.
The league
Palouse Composite races in the Washington Student Cycling League, a nonprofit youth mountain bike league for grades 5 through 12 with teams across Washington and Idaho.