Every Tuesday my buddy Andy and I take out a group of kids on a mountain bike ride.
It’s a casual ride on some fun trails and it takes some planning. We want to make sure they all have fun, they ride within their comfort zone, but also want to help them improve each week.
We try to corral these little rippers each week and keep them in control for 90 minutes of sweet single track.
For the first few weeks this year, I worried about keeping the level up for the group. We have lots of young riders this year, but they come from mountain bike families and already have good trail experience.
Was I going to find fast enough trails? Was the pace going to be enough for the older kids? Would the ride be technical enough?
I have kids, but they’re a bit younger than the group, and when we ride as a family, we spend as much time picking berries as we do riding, so my experience with hard core mini mountain bikers is limited.
I planned the rides and gave myself some options to switch things out mid ride just in case. After a few weeks I relaxed. I quickly figured out that the ride was important, but the most popular question I get (approximately three times from each kid every week) is, ” Can we eat now?” Up hill, down hill, technical, flowy, jumps, skinnies … It doesn’t matter. I ask how they liked a trail and the answer is “Yeah it was good, can we have a snack now?”
So we eat a lot, and ride some cool trails. They smile lots and that makes me smile lots. It’s a win win, as long as we have snacks.
I’m James Durand and I’m Goin’ … for a snack…