April 5, 2018 update: A well-deserved KSBW Golden Whistle Award for Jim Warwick of Salinas High School Cowboys Racing Mountain Bike Team. Learn more about Jim—and other awesome coaches— below the video.

For a related post, see “Monterey County Teens Bike: California State High School Mountain Bike Championships and elsewhere.”

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Coach Jeff Lindenthal, head coach for the Salinas High School Cowboys Racing Mountain Bike Team, was named Coach of the Year for the South Conference, as reported by John Devine in the Monterey Herald on 5/7/17. Also, the Cowboys have again qualified for the state championships after winning  the Northern California League South Conference team title on May 7.

The team also won a Transportation Agency for Monterey County Golden Helmet Award for 2017, as reported in Bicycling Monterey’s May newsletter on April 27, 2017. As TAMC Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee member Eric Petersen commented—and as noted in the committee’s minutes (see page 9 of the committee’s April packet)—”The Salinas High School Cowboys are very courteous on trails, and practice safe cycling.”

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Named below are just some of Monterey County’s awesome coaches of high school bike teams.

Highlighted in this post is Coach Jim Warwick.

[Update: Learn more about Coach Warwick in Roberto Robledo’s 10/7/16 story in the Salinas Californian, ” Salinas Teacher Honor Roll: James Warwick.”]

Maybe you read about Jim in the 12/5/13 Californian story “Fixie fixation: Fixed-gear bicycle riders take to Salinas streets.” Jim is very much in touch with the interests and energy of local youth, and he does his best to support them in a multitude of ways.  Supporting youth in biking isn’t something Jim Warwick limits to his own daughters. Read on to learn more, and you’ll see why Coach Warwick  was honored with a 2013 Transportation Excellence Award from the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.

Jim is a Salinas High instructor and also an advisor and assistant coach for Salinas High Cowboys Racing mountain bike team.  As that California story alluded to, one way he encourages youth to bike safely is giving them a way to adjust brakes, pump tires, and more at school. He and the team set up a bike maintenance station–the first on-campus bicycle maintenance station in Monterey County! Other ways Jim boosts biking have included by volunteering as a guide to help get Salinas Bike Party off to a positive start, as a riding role model for observing California bike laws and other Salinas Bike Party rules; likewise being a supporter and positive role/roll model at other bike community events, such as Critical Christmas Monterey;  sorting parts at the Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center for a bike repair class for incarcerated local teens (yup–that’s what he was doing when Bicycling Monterey took the above photo); reaching out to get needed bikes for kids who couldn’t otherwise be on a team; and more. Oh, yeah. And he’s also part of helping sustain Monterey County’s environment and economy by welcoming visitors while encouraging them to bike (click here, then scroll down, for example).

But Warwick is a humble guy. Bicycling Monterey has to research to learn all these things, because one area where Jim doesn’t volunteer is that he doesn’t volunteer info about his personal efforts. And he’d the first to tell you that he’s…

one of many local coaches who do all they can to support youth and others in biking!

Maybe you know Jim–or another awesome coach in Monterey County, or a coach from elsewhere in the Monterey Bay region and beyond, who’s serving much like him…

such as Salinas High MTB head coach Jeff Lindenthal; and including (check with each team for updates) Monterey Composite coaches, including coaches James Lawrence, Mark Kintz, and assistant coach Patty Kintz; Palma School coaches Tim Keller, Alan Clark, and Peter Odello, and head coaches George Garibay and John Pattullo–or any coach from a NorCal or other NICA league team. 

Here’s a chance to give them special recognition! [Update: Indeed, the winning entry came from Monterey County! Check it out below.]

See details on the poster below. Entries must be received by 12/19/13, and include the hashtag #NICAhypehead.

Click image below to enlarge.

Or download PDF, which has clickable links that lead to the NICA site and their  Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: http://www.nationalmtb.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/HypeBeastPosterBlue12.3.13_INT2.pdf

Who knows better than a fellow coach what work goes into making a team tick? Thanks to Jeff Lindenthal–himself an awesome coach–for sharing with NICA and the world the following shout-out of appreciation for Jim Warwick:

Salinas High Cowboy Racing coach and faculty advisor Jim Warwick is awesome because he is the glue that holds the team together! From hauling bikes and the team trailer, to repairing and tuning 7 donated bikes that have been assigned to students that can’t afford a new bike, to the bike maintenance station he keeps outside his classroom for any student to use, Jim helps get kids on bikes every day! Thanks Coach Jim and “Go Cowboys”!!!

NICA responded: “Congratulations, Jeff Lindenthal. You are officially a NICA hypebeast! Such a great writeup! Please contact us to claim your prize.”

And wouldn’t you know it? Jeff claimed his prize and then immediately gifted it to his fellow coach who inspired that entry, Jim Warwick. With such mutual support and teamwork, no wonder the SHS team is doing so well! Kudos to Coach Jeff Lindenthal for himself being an inspiring leader for local youth.