What’s a Biting Goat? It might just be the most fearless yet most fun team in East Idaho

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REXBURG – Beware the Biting Goats.

They roam the mountainous trails above Rigby and are as fearless as they are swift.

“It’s just so fun with the wind rushing past you,” seventh grader Sam Bates said. “Just so fun, the adrenaline rush.”

No need to worry.

The Biting Goats is a mountain biking club based in Rexburg. It has about 60 members ranging from sixth to 12th grade.

Yes, Biting Goats is a funny name for a mountain biking club (more on that later), but the riders are definitely fearless and swift. Some are competitive as they gear up for races, while others have found a fun outdoor activity and made a whole new friend group that shares their passion.

“I like riding new trails, and I also like talking to my friends and just having fun,” ninth grader Lola Rowe said after a recent practice ride. “I just try to do my best, but I think I’ve definitely gotten better than last year.”

Rowe also likes to play tennis. She’s in her second year of mountain biking and said she would encourage friends to try the sport.

“To get outside more and meet new people and just try something new that they might like,” she explained.

Some riders, like Samuel Walters, navigated toward the team and have taken the competitive aspect more seriously.

The ninth grader has been on the Biting Goats for four years. This year he has logged more than 6,200 miles on his bike.

“I just love to see the progress,” he said. “I like to see where I was the year before and where I’ve gotten to now. It’s just fun to see growth like that.”

“I want to be the one to beat,” he added. “That’s the goal.”

So, what’s a Biting Goat?

Scott Hurst, also known as the Original Goat, helped start the team in 2013. The first team had 10 riders, including his daughter.

The team was named the Vikings, and the first jersey was a white T-shirt with a strip of red duct tape slapped across the front.

After another team named the Vikings joined the mountain biking circuit, they looked for another name.

“At that time there was this sort of spoof YouTube video of these two guys that were out walking around in nature,” Hurst said. “It was called the nature walk and the guy is talking about that there’s lots of wild animals outdoors, and he says lions and tigers and bears and biting goats. And that’s where the name came from.”

Biting Goats.

Despite the silly name, the team has thrived as youngsters look for a nontraditional sport to try with other like-minded friends.

Some riders might not even consider it a sport, but instead a chance to hang out with friends and have some fun riding and navigating trails.

“We definitely have kids on the team that are competitive and want to race, and they’re going to train more than just what we do at practices, but our primary goal really is to make it so that anybody that wants to come and be part of the team feels included,” Hurst said. “And we’ve definitely seen that aspect of it.”

Eighth grader Ledger Spackman is in his third season racing and said he was nervous at first, but that quickly changed. Now he loves competing against his friends.

“Not until my first race that I realized that I love mountain biking and racing itself, and I enjoyed racing and competing with other teams from everywhere across Idaho,” he said.

“It was little bit nerve wracking, but at the end it was like ‘I love this,’” said Bates.

Hurst said he couldn’t have imagined what the Biting Goats would become over the last 13 years.

There are about 40 teams in Idaho, including clubs at Madison, Rigby, Idaho Falls, Thunder Ridge, Teton, Jackson Hole and Pocatello.

“I would say that most of them that are out here riding all the time are really out here riding for the social aspect,” he said. “That they get to do something with their friends,” Hurst said. “It’s fun. There’s some challenge and there’s that reward that comes with knowing that you did something good or you were able to accomplish something you haven’t done before.”