Our goal is to have fun riding bikes while building skills, fitness, and confidence. We strive to help each athlete achieve their personal goals. Some kids want to compete. Some kids just want to ride with the team and have fun. Either is fine. We will help them get as proficient as they want.  It’s up to the individual as to how competitive they want to be. Either way, they are team members.

Our season runs July through October with some pre-season “check us out” events occurring in May and June.  Our home practice venue is Veterans Park from Shelter 3.  General practices are Tuesday night, Thursday night for two hours.  Select Saturday mornings special practices are held for endurance training and advanced skill progression on different and/or more advanced trails.  These are held at different venues within a 30 minutes to 1.5 hour drive of Fayette County. 

What you need depends on how experienced you are and how competitive you want to be. The two most important things are that the bike be in proper working order and it fits. Any bike will do if you are just checking it out and seeing if you want to be a team member. If you decide to become a regular team member and attend the practices you will quickly see that “box store” bikes simply will not take the abuse and the miles.  Coaches are more than happy to advise you so please ask us.  If you are a team member several bike manufactures offer through our NICA affiliation at significant discounts through local bike shops.  Used are often available through team mates who have outgrown their previous bikes.   

You must have a properly fitting helmet… No exceptions. Beginner riders usually start on flats regular pedals. As kids become more advanced that may desire to move to a “clipped in” pedal which are a special kind of pedal that works with a special shoe to allow the rider to not only push down on the pedals but also pull up.  Riders who race must do so in a Team Jersey. Most kids will also ride with gloves and some ride with eye protection.  Riders are required to have a spare tube, tire tools, and a bike pump or CO2 cartridge on their person or bike at all practices.

Costs vary.   There is a season fee paid to our national league.  This fee covers programming, insurance, funds our state league and its programs and provides basic funds to our team.   If your athlete chooses to race there are either ale-carte per race or a race season pass fee.   Please inquire with our coaching members for more information.   

No. You do not have to race. If you choose not to race you will still be considered a full team member and you will be treated as such. You will ride and practice with the team just like someone who will be racing. We will still push you to be the best you can be and achieve a race ready level of skills and fitness.

Our head coach is Mark Smith and we have seven other volunteer coaches. Coaches must have background checks and several hours of training to be a level 1 coach. Level 3 coaches have all of the level 1 training plus wilderness first aid, CPR, at least 80 hours of coaching experience, concussion training, completed mountain biking 101 and 201 training courses as well as other training and seminars.

NICA is the national sanctioning body. (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) Kind of like KHSAA meets NCAA. They create the race rules, provide our training and certification programs as well as provide insurance for practices and races.

KICL (Kentucky Interscholastic Cycling Assoication) is our state league.  They facilitate all race events and other programs geared to get more kids on bikes in Kentucky and provide guidance and leadership to all of the local youth mountain bike teams.