Sir Francis Drake High School Mountain Bike Team

The Coaches

Paul Chourre - Head Coach

Paul Chourre was born and raised in San Anselmo and attended Drake High School where he played Football and ran Cross Country. Graduating in 1967, Paul attended College of Marin and was involved in the very start of Mountain Biking in Marin. Gary Fisher and Charley Kelly custom made a disk brake bracket for his clunker that was sporting the "newest" Cook Brothers rigid fork. "I grew up loving the trails of Marin from my Cross Country days and mountain biking was a perfect way to enhance the combination of physical exercise and love of the outdoors."

Although Paul worked and participated in many local races in Marin, racing was never the dominant inspiration. "My inspiration comes in opening the door to kids and teaching the love of the sport as something they will carry with them through out their lives as I have." Paul currently has a son on the team as well and cherishes being able to provide the kids with something he wishes had been available at that age. Paul is a USA Cycling Club Level Certified Coach.

Mary Lyn Bondlow - Assistant Coach

Mary Lyn Bondlow has over 7 years experience of Mountain and road cycling. She raced for 2 years in the NORBA Series including the Sea Otter and 24 hours of Tahoe. Over the last several years she has had extensive back country experience on bike trips to Idaho, the Grand Canyon, numerous Kokopelli trips and Moab Utah. She has also attended several adult mountain bike skills camps and clinics. Her personal mission is to see that the kids that participate in this program learn to love and appreciate the sport of mountain biking as much as she does. This will be Mary Lyn's second year with the Drake program.

Eric Brandt - Assistant Coach/Team Technician

I was born and raised in Santa Rosa. As a youngster I played soccer for nine years and ran cross country and track for seven years. As a teenager I started riding my bike quite a bit and became interested in bike touring. In high school I did several long bike trips, up to 1000 miles. I began racing at UC Davis, and worked in the campus bike shop. After college I raced for a few more years as a category 3 road racer. As my racing career came to a close I began working as a mechanic for Shimano. For the past ten years I've worked as a teacher by day, and as a neutral support mechanic at over two hundred races, including thirty national championship events, stage races across the country as well as a Pan-Am games and one World Championship.

As an assistant coach for the Drake Mountain Bike Team I hope to bring my love and knowledge of cycling to a group of kids that are just starting to figure out this sport. The biggest strength of this team is that it allows riders of all abilities to help and support one another. On some teams the older more experienced players (varsity level) may not interact at all with newer more inexperienced players (JV or freshman). This team is exactly the opposite- we have a co-ed team with students in on-the-bike leadership roles providing support and encouragement to newer riders. Over the last year I've seen my own son really connect with many riders on the team after given this type of opportunity. I hope that this team will give interested students the chance to try out a new and exciting sport with the support and encouragement of both parents, coaches and fellow teammates. I only wish that I had a team like this when I was in High School.

Dan Freeman - Director/Assistant Coach

Dan Freeman is a Marin native who played football and baseball through high school and college. His entry into endurance sports started with two friends, one who suggested he try triathlons, and another who suggested he wasn't cut out for it. The positive/negative prodding was enough to launch amateur careers in triathlon, mountain biking, and adventure racing. He since has competed in the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in 1992 and the Adventure Racing World Championships in 2001. Dan founded the Drake MTB program in 2002 at the suggestion of a Drake student. His primary objectives are to teach young people the joy of cycling safely through introductory, recreational and competitive events, and to maintain a healthy program so that his newborn son, Aaron, will have the option to ride when he arrives to high school.