Founding Committee

	Quintin Easton, Founding President Since he was old enough to propel his body forward, Quintin has been playing and competing in sports; including cycling, triathlon, swimming, water polo, volleyball and tennis. A native of Newport Beach, he spent his first 18 years living in Southern California, then the next 20 in Utah, Idaho, Hawaii and Europe. While in Europe, he pedaled his bicycle over 3,000 miles around the continent. Professionally, he has spent more time as an entrepreneur than anything else, but he also taught high school, and received his Master’s in Education from Boise State University. Since moving back to Southern California with the woman of his dreams in 2001, he has become a teacher of sales professionals in the financial services industry. If you learn anything about Quintin, you’ll quickly discover that he is a dedicated husband and father. You’ll most often see him riding his mountain bike on the dirt trails of the Laguna coast.
	Celia "Cici" Arenas Cici found cycling in 2002 through the encouragement of her then boyfriend – now husband Andres. She was immediately hooked, and her passion led her to increase her involvement in the cycling community. As a member of the Pasadena Athletic Association Cycling Club she became a Board Member and founded the monthly Ladies Ride, which has had great success and continues to draw more women into cycling. Watching her 13 year old son's eyes light up participating in his first cyclocross race in 2007, Cici knew Devin had found the same passion she had, but soon learned it wasn't easy to find mountain bike organizations for youths. "Where will the next generation of cyclists come from?" she wondered. When she heard about the SoCal League she knew she had found her answer. Whether it's late in life (like Cici) or early on (like Devin), her goal is to help parents and their children, find that passion for cycling and make it easily accessible to everyone.
	Tonya Bray My passion is women in cycling . . . to empower women to do things they never thought possible, to help women set and reach goals in life, and in cycling. In the past 15 years of my life, I have been involved in the Outdoor Industry. I began mountain biking around that time, working in bike and mountaineering shops, riding radical mountain trails in Montana. Shortly after starting my racing career, I began to teach women. I didn't want to see women struggle and give up on mountain biking. I wanted to see women having fun and getting dirty- and loving it! I am here today to continue this mission- to get more women on bikes. To let every woman know, it's ok to be tough, and a woman.
	Scott Craft Scott comes into the league with fifteen years of teaching experience at his Alma Mater – Rim of the World High School. His true passion is coaching, which he has done successfully for twenty years at Rim. Mostly coaching wrestling, he has lead four CIF teams as well as individual placers to become champions at CIF Masters and State. He fell in love with mountain biking because of the similarities to wrestling such as sportsmanship, physical endurance, mental toughness and the individual and team aspects. Scott has a B.S. in Kinesiology and a Masters in Administration. He is very proud to start the first mountain bike team at Rim High along with Jon Tanklage, who brings his own experience and knowledge of the sport.
	Stephanie Gaudreau Of all the athletic pursuits Stephanie has ever tried, cycling will always keep its place at the top of the list. In 2003, she went mountain biking on a whim, fell in love with it, and soon started racing. Since moving to San Diego in 2005, she has taken advantage of the SoCal racing scene and when not competing in cross country, endurance, or downhill events, she spends her time traveling up and down the west coast with her right-hand-man Dan, seeking places to ride for the enjoyment of it all. A native of Massachusetts, Stephanie graduated from UMass-Amherst with a degree in Biology and a teaching credential. A high school teacher since 2001, she earned her Master’s in 2007, and currently helps Castle Park High students navigate the sometimes-choppy-but-always-exciting waters of chemistry and biotechnology. She and Castle Park’s dedicated staff are eager to get students racing and help them build a pump track on campus. When she’s not on her bike, you can find Stephanie running, hitting the waves, working out, and reading.
	Matt Gunnell Matt has a varied background that makes him uniquely qualified to serve on the Founding Committee. He is a new high school teacher who will be running the “Police and Fire Academy” magnet program at Hoover High School in Glendale (where he hopes to found one of the first SoCal League teams). He comes to that position after an injury forced a premature end to his 11+ year career as a Police Officer where some of his assignments included Motors, SWAT, and Traffic Detective. Matt has a BA in Art and an MPA in Public Administration. He has been a Board Member and President of the Pasadena Athletic Association Cycling Club – one of the oldest and largest competitive cycling clubs in Southern California. He has promoted both on and off road bike races for 5 years. He created and ran an Explorer Post for the California Army National Guard and served as a high school Water Polo coach. When he isn’t working on cycling related activities he can be found watching his wife Lisa and daughter, Jazzy, playing tennis, lounging around one of the Hawaiian islands, hacking at the acoustic guitar, or with his nose buried in a comic book!
	Robert Herber A Southern California native, Robert was drawn into competitive sports in high school as a track and cross-country runner. As team captain and multiple MVP, he set many school records that still stand. When his knees got bad, his history teacher, a semi-pro bike racer, offered him a place on a newly forming race team. He was quickly hooked and has been racing mountain bikes since 2002. In 2006 he began to travel and race full time and competed as a professional in 2008. He has promoted races since 2006 in order to give back to the community.
	Anna Lang Anna's love affair with cycling didn't begin until her third year in college. She had always played competitive sports, namely soccer and volleyball, but cycling was different. As soon as she started she knew she'd be doing it for the rest of her life. Anna has been very successful competitively: racing professionally on the road, making the US national track team, and currently striving to be a 2012 Olympian. But her passion for cycling isn't just about competition; it's the joy and simplicity of being on a bike, and this is what she most wants others to experience. A foundational love for the sport gets you through winning, losing, injuries, and teaches life lessons. Anna is particularly interested in attracting and keeping women in the sport and helping them achieve their own goals. Besides cycling, she is also passionate about her engineering career. Anna will soon have a PhD in structural engineering and would like to use it to investigate and prevent disasters.
	Patrick O'Kane Patrick O'Kane has been sharing his passion for the trail for over 20 years. Starting in high school, Patrick recruited anyone who would listen into the sport. From SoCal to Colorado he worked his way through college wrenching at local bike shops and his love of the dirt has never left. Patrick is a business software consultant who lives in San Juan Capistrano with his wife Monika, two daughters and is still active in local races, advocacy and mountain bike travel. Now his journey has come full circle and Patrick is excited to share the sport of mountain biking with the next generation.
	Jon Tanklage Jon is a Southern Cal native who grew up water ski racing and off-road racing, learning to speed across all sorts of terrain. A long-time recreational rider, Jon began mountain bike racing in 2001. He was the Masters National Cross Country Champion in 2004 as well as a two time California State Champion. He was ranked #1 over-all Expert racer in the United States by NORBA in 2004 and competed in the UCI Masters World Championships. Jon refined his teaching and leadership skills as a water ski instructor in Lake Arrowhead during summers while he was competing a bachelor's degree in Business at USC. Jon became a USA Cycling Coach in 2005 and will be coaching Rim of the World High School in the SoCal Interscholastic Cycling League. He also coaches the Coates Cyclery/Kaiser Federal Bank Mountain Bike Team and a limited number of private clients. Jon is married and has three children ages 10, 8, and 7.
	Dorothy Wong Dorothy started cycling in 1995 in an attempt to get into shape while holding down a high-pressure career in television. Nine weeks after buying a bike, she entered her first mountain bike race and discovered her passion and had success as a Pro cross country racer, elite cyclocross racer and an a category 2 road racer. In the fall each year, Dorothy continues to battle it out in cyclo-cross at the elite level while also promoting the sport as the Series Director of SoCal’Cross Prestige Series in SoCal. When not duking it out with the gals, she tackles the Hollywood scene as an Associate Director. She will be starting her 14th season on the FOX comedy show, MadTV in September.

 

© 2008 SoCal Interscholastic Cycling League