He probably didn’t realize it at the time, but Ron Takeda put the wheels in motion early in his son Reny’s life, sending him on the road to becoming a champion cyclist.
It hasn’t taken long for Reny to pedal to the top of the podium. At the age of 9, in his second year of racing mountain bikes, he won the California State Series Championship for boys 10 and under.
This year, at 11, he captured his second State title, winning in the 11-12 age group.
11-year-old mountain biker Reny Takeda, right, already has two state titles (courtesy photo).
Together, Team Takeda helped Santa Barbara’s Team Platinum Performance claim its sixth straight state mountain bike championship.
Reny Takeda was able to ride a two-wheeled bike before he turned 3. He got his first taste of mountain bike racing at the tender age of 8.
“My dad didn’t have to encourage me, because I already wanted to race,” said Reny, who will be entering the seventh grade at La Cumbre Junior High this fall.
“Reny has been a cyclist from the start. I think it’s natural for kids to want to participate in the same sports as their parents,” Ron said. “We’ve provided Reny with the opportunities but it’s been all his desire from the beginning to get out there.”
While most kids his age are riding tricycles around the house, Reny was going on bike rides with his dad.
“I remember going on six-mile bike rides around town with Reny when he was 3,” he said. “Sometimes he’d get too tired to make it home, so we’d have to take the bus home.”
That was then.
Today, Reny travels with his dad and the Platinum Performance team to mountain bike races all over the state.
And Ron has a younger son, Darin, who is right on their heels.
“Darin raced in a few State Series races this year at age 7,” he said.
Ron realized there was something special about Reny at an early age.
Reny was just a tot when he told his dad he wanted the training wheels taken off his bike. And, he wouldn’t take no for an answer, said his dad.
“One night at 10 p.m., he demanded I go outside and take them off, so I did,” Ron recalled.
The kid has been riding on two wheels ever since. He can also ride on one wheel as another favorite activity is riding a unicycle.
Reny was 7 when he asked for his first mountain bike, but Ron felt that type of bike was too big for his son to ride safely and declined to get one.
Reny ended up winning a mountain bike in a raffle at a road race the two were riding in.
“At the time, we thought the bike was a prize for the kid’s race that he’d just won,” said Ron. “The bike was a bit big for him and I suggested trading it in. He refused and kept riding the bike and within two months, he wanted to enter the local mountain bike race at Elings Park.”
Much to his dad’s surprise, Reny took to the trails immediately. Just like that, Ron had a new teammate.
“We bought him a better bike and the next year, when he was 9, he entered most of the California State Series races and became state champion for boys 10-and-under.”
He won the next age group two years later.
“It feels good to be the state champion because I worked hard for it,” Reny said.
He explained that most of the races in his age group are between 8 and 12 miles, “and they all have a lot of climbing.
“Big Bear is the longest course for juniors and has climbs from the city to the top of the mountain. It also has the most technical downhills. It’s my favorite course because of the technical single track and where you’re racing.”
He said the downhill runs and rough terrain don’t scare him.
“No, there’s nothing scary about mountain bike racing. I sometimes get nervous before a race but not because it’s scary, but because I’m excited.”
While his son has done well, Ron said there have been times when it’s been tough watching him struggle through a bad race. But just like he was with training wheels, Reny is stubborn.
“I’ve seen Reny completely suffer, thinking that he’ll never race again,” Ron said. “I’ve seen him severely hot, dirty, sweaty, throwing up and still racing. I’ve seen him doubled up, lying on the ground after a race and then on the way home describing only the exciting parts of the race. He talks about his races as though he has no memory of the suffering.
“There are other junior racers in the series that are more disciplined in training and can beat Reny, but Reny is consistent, never gives up, enters most of the state series races, and has been rewarded with the champion title two years now.”
Ron started mountain biking for recreation before dabbling in racing in the early 1990s. He gave it up for a few years, bought a road bike and quickly got addicted.
“I became a regular on the Santa Barbara group rides and started road racing in 2003,” he said.
One of his greatest accomplishments in road cycling was earning a Category 2 classification at the age of 49.
“For this upgrade, one must earn the points from racing against category 3 racers of all ages, and you typically don’t see 40-year-olds in these races,” he noted.
Ron rolled the mountain bike out of the garage and decided to get back on the trails.
“Since I had the fitness from road racing, I entered some local mountain bike races and was asked to join the inaugural Platinum Performance mountain bike team,” he said.
He has been a key member in the team’s dominance in the state series. He’s also done well individually. Two years ago, he earned a podium finish at the U.S. National Championships in Vermont.
When he travels to races with the boys, he receives a lot of positive feedback.
“I get a lot of comments about how fortunate I am and how cool it is for me to have Reny to hang out and go racing with. I’m getting the same with Darin now, too,” Ron said.
“Being a competitive cyclist comes with a lot of compromise,” he added. “The biggest one for sure is the compromise of family time; every hour out riding or away at a race is time away from the family. I think with Reny, and now Darin, interested in racing, it’s prolonging my racing. The boys are now at an age where I don’t want to compromise much time away from them, so if they weren’t cyclists I’d probably be done racing.
“I’m totally stoked with my family’s support in my racing and the boys’ desire to ride and race. Having Reny on the team is awesome. It’s awesome for me to have him as part of my sport and it’s awesome for him to feel a part of the team. Next year Darin will join us for more races. He actually seems to be more driven than Reny, so we’ll see.”
So, when next season rolls around, Platinum Performance will tackle the trails with the Triple Takeda Threat of Ron, Reny and Darin.
