10/15/2025
I never know what to do when it’s raining.
I’d like to share a memory with you. It’s Tuesday, September 9th and I, like usual, I am at Stillwater Area High School early, 2:30 pm ish, to say hello to riders and coaches as they arrive for practice. I check the weather and plan my group ride while I wait.
The rain that was forecast to come at 7 pm is four hours early (we ride in the rain, but not in the lightning). Coach Mike Weis pulls in at 2:45 (ish +/-) and gives me the look, “Stillwater Middle School just canceled after school practices,” he calls over.
Uff. We both know we’re going to have to make a decision and take action. We checked the radar as it was barely starting to sprinkle. “I guess they made the decision for us,” he said. I check in with the Athletic Directors office to see if an announcement could be made at the High School.
New 2025-2026 school policy is “No Phones” during school hours. How are we going to get the word out?
I call both middle schools to make additional announcements. Stillwater Middle School announced middle school activities were canceled but not high school sports (mountain bike). Oak-Land Middle School hadn’t made the announcement yet. So I asked that they announce no MTB practice so riders wouldn’t get on the activities bus. I made the middle school calls just before dismissal. Just in time.
I message the team in TeamSnap, “Practice is cancelled for today.”
Coach Weis and I then stood in the parking lot for 40 minutes to send the 5-7 High School riders and coaches who didn’t get the message back to their buses and cars.
It wasn’t until 3:45 pm that I remembered that there was a cancellation option on TeamSnap that would push out a notification and a team email. I hadn’t used the function yet this season. 2025 is my second year as head coach but that day, standing in the rain, it felt like it was day one.
Then Tom arrived/ rolled up. “Hi guys!”
Tom Gunderson was on his bike and drenched with rain that dripped from his helmet and the tip of his nose. His eyes were alight and he was smiling ear to ear, “I just finished my warmup (10-15 miles). Are we riding today?”
I can’t get that smile and wet nose out of my head. The level of commitment and pure joy all mixed together to show an infectious amount of “stoke” is something that has yet to leave me. Weis and I turned him away and as he started riding he was laughing with us. He was still overjoyed to have more time on his bike. To have a ride home, even now, in the rain.
Watching him ride away, delighted to be on his bike took away my stress. His joy, honestly, made me want to ride my bike home in the rain.
We lost Coach Tom Gunderson last week after a rider and driver (bike/ car) collision two weeks ago, Sep 27th.
My riders and coaches signed a poster that I delivered to Tom last Tuesday. While I was there I updated Coach on the two races he missed and tried to express my (our) gratitude and thanks for the level of stoke (commitment with enthusiasm) he brought, the use of his tool box strategy, and the miles he spent with our riders.
It was hard but important.
Coach Tom was signed up to ride the Filthy 50 in Lanesboro, Minnesota this last Saturday, October 11th. For those that don’t know, the first 50 riders to finish the Filthy 50 receive a 50 cent piece on a lanyard as a finish medal. Tom was a multiple time Filthy 50 finisher and a prolific rider/racer.
On Saturday former Stillwater MTB Head Coach Levon Kalemkiarian raced Toms number with his own. The goal was give Tom one final ride, one final finish time, and hopefully, one final top fifty finisher 50 cent piece medal to give to Tom’s family.
The race organizers, his friends and his peers honored Tom at the start with a moment of silence. At some point during the race a rider went down, hard. Broken bones hard and Lev stopped to help. The injured rider saw Lev and (paraphrasing) told him to, “Keep going. Go get Tom his medal.”
Coach Lev got back on his bike and made up the time. In the end Lev and Tom finished 30th and 31st. Lev gave Tom one final recorded finish and one final 50 cent piece medal.
In my heart, thanks to his friend Lev, I know Tom was overjoyed to have more time on a bike. To me he would have been like that day in the rain - eyes alight and grinning from ear to ear.
Cheers Lev.
The greatest of heartfelt thanks to Coach Tom Gunderson.
It was a true honor.
Coach Todd Lunneborg and all of Stillwater Mountain Bike
