A Crown Gravity Collective Jammer Lane party train was on its way. The soft rumble grew as a dozen mountain bikers approached, and a dust cloud rose in the distance.  

One after another, riders swooped and flew, some kicking the bike sideways in the air before landing smoothly, but momentarily, before flinging up again, several feet into the big blue sky. 

The whoomp, whoomp, whoomp, of the bikers zooming by was as much a feeling as a sound, punctuated by a few yelps of joy. 

Kerrie and Austin Lillie stepped into lead roles with Crown Gravity Collective in 2022, the organization's second season. Kerrie is the team manager and treasurer. Austin is the ride coordinator, head coach and president of the board. 

The Whitefish-based nonprofit is a competitive development team focused on gravity mountain biking.  

"Whether that's downhill racing or slopestyle competitions, free ride competitions -- but we're a development team that focuses on those things," Austin said. "Not everybody on the team competes, but the idea is that we're progressing in a way to build competitors, whether they compete or not, it's just that development and that high progression that we're looking for." 

Crown Gravity Collective is not a learn-to-pedal program.  

"Most of the kids that come onto the team have a pretty high skill level when it comes to biking in general, and then we build on that," he added. 

In its first season, about 10 kids made up the group, three of whom were the managers' children. Today, the program is maxed out at 48 kids. The 7 to 17-year-olds rip it up each Wednesday of the 10-week summer season. The full-day practices are at Legacy Bike Park in Lakeside, and a couple are at Whitefish Mountain Resort. 

Crown aims to have eight coaches at each practice where kids are grouped according to skill level, and they try to keep the ratio of riders to coaches at 6:1. 

"As the season goes on, the groups change," Austin said. "Kids start progressing at a really high rate, and then we bump them into groups so that they're constantly being pushed and constantly pushing themselves to get better and riding bigger jumps and steeper hills and gnarlier tech features. 

"We don't typically pedal," he added. "Most of our kids hate pedaling." 

The Lillies' impetus to join and run the organization was their oldest son, newly turned 12-year-old Owen, who showed an interest in mountain biking. 

When the Lillies saw a flyer for Crown Gravity Collective, they called. The last spot on the team had just been filled, but they were invited to check out a race. 

"We went and saw some of the kids that were in the program race, and Owen was just like, I have to do this. This is so cool," Austin said. "The next summer, we signed him up, and he was hooked." 

"And for us, it was such an amazing community — big kids hanging out with little kids, and coaching them through," Kerrie said. 

Typically, one wouldn't think a teenager would want to hang out with a younger kid, let alone be supportive of their efforts, but that's the norm at Crown. From his first visit to Crown, Austin saw a lot of rider support among the age groups, free from ego. 

"You'd have 15-year-old kids that just absolutely crush on a bike, and they're helping these seven, eight-year-old kids get better," he said. "It was just a great community and full of support and it was kind of the first time that he found a friend group. So, we dived right into it." 

The Lillies' second son, Waylon, will be 9 in October, and is an active member of the team, too. 

"We're pretty stringent on attitude here. We want everybody to succeed here. We want everybody to have a good time," Austin said. 

He said the kids learn quickly that, although they are involved in an individual sport, they need the support of their team to succeed.  

"It's a very dangerous sport, and we have all these kids that have been supported to get to that point that they can do the features or hit the trails or send the big jumps, so then they turn around and show that support to the other kids," he said. "Mountain biking will push these kids to be better and help everybody else because that's where they got the help, and then also, we don't accept bad attitudes." 

Even after kids age out of the program, many return to ride with the group and some become ride leaders or coaches. A handful of former teammates were riding with the group all morning during the team's final practice of the season. 

"We've been so fortunate to have amazing coaches," Kerrie said.  "Most of them have grown up in the program." 

It appeared that everyone at Crown's last practice day slash family and friends campout and barbecue was having a ball, alternating exhilarating rides with chill breaks with friends and hamburgers at the Legacy pavilion. 

CROWN COACH for three years, Megan MacNeil, removed her helmet after a thrilling ride with volunteer ride leader, Arnica Beale. 

"So fun," an out of breath MacNeil said. "Gonna get Arnica to finally get full Sparkle." 

"Dude, I'm so close," an excited Beale said quickly, her words flowing like her bike wheels on a steep trail. "Like, I have the first few so good, and then the last few, it's just like ..." 

"Because you're breaking," MacNeil interjected, causing everyone in the small group, including Beale, to laugh. 

"I know!" Beale squealed. 

 "Because you have such good pop, and you just have to commit," MacNeil coached. 

"I know, but I pretty much just got all of Onyx Two," Beale said, glitter and sweat mixing on her cheeks. "Like I was just a little short on two, but other than that, like, I got the whole thing!" 

MacNeil said the two were "giggling so hard" as they rode in a noisy train, a group riding single file on the same trail. 

"Wyatt and Dylan were behind me on the first section, and they were just yelling at me," Beale relayed. "And then, the next section, Wyatt made me follow them down, which was kind of helpful, because I just tried to keep up with them." 

"Onyx Two is so fun," MacNeil said. "It's really my new favorite." 

The excited riders wheeled off to find something to eat, leaving the rest of us with huge smiles. 

"This is why we do this," Kerrie said, still laughing. 

Austin explained that Sparkle is a jump line with big jumps. To clear a jump, a rider takes off, and then lands perfectly in the transition without casing, which is hitting the back tire on the knuckle. 

Sparkle has 27 jumps in a very short distance. They are steep and there are gaps in the middle, so a rider can't roll over and ride down. Riders are forced to clear the gap. 

"You can't go too fast. You can't go too slow. There's a lot of technical ability in getting all those jumps and then stringing it all together in one lap," Austin said. 

Lucas Marney joined the Crown team last year and can already clear Sparkle.  

"The first time I ever did it, I rolled every single jump with, like, no speed. I would break right before the jumps," he said, explaining that a rider can go around some of the jumps. "Then I would get to hitting them, but really small, so I would land on the flat part for the tables." 

He said it took about three full days of practice to reach his goal. 

Crown Gravity Collective riders Gracyn Pohlman and Shea O'Brien shared a bit of mountain biking lingo. I had already learned that clear meant hitting all the jumps on a trail.  

They said if your bike is a bit broken it's clapped. Pohlman said shred is a biking term, much like it is in skiing. 

"Schralp. So basically, you go halfway into the berm, and then you go like that," O'Brien said, moving her hand to indicate a bike fishtailing around a sharp corner. 

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.

    River Radatti soars on Sparkle at Legacy Park during the teams final practiceof the season. (Julie Engler/ Whitefish Pilot)
  

    Austin Lillie, Jesse Sinclair and Charlie Hanson whiz past during a Jammer Lane party train. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    Crown Gravity Collective Team Manager Kerrie Lillie and Head Coach and President of the board, Austin Lillie, help riders aged 7-17 develop mountain biking skills. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    Lucas Marnie and Waylon Lillie with Crown Gravity Collective, alongside the Sparkle trail at Legacy Bike Park last week. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    Crown Gravity Collective riders Gracyn Pohlman and Shea O' Brien enjoyed the final practice of the season last week at Legacy Bike Park. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)