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Local mountain bike team, reaches 50, raising funds for more kids on bikes. A guest post by Heather Poore
When you think of youth sports, you may imagine athletes standing on the sidelines of a football (or futball) field waiting for their number to be called or the along bleachers of a rectangle swimming pool measured 25-yards long. Not all young people fit into these traditional pictures of sports, and that is okay! If you can shift your perspective to visualize what a mountain bike athlete sees each week, you might see riding your bike for 45-90 minutes over a rambling network dirt trails, tree roots, and rocks. The sidelines are filled with trees, prairie grass, and race fencing. Your cheer section is waiting around each turn, clanging their cowbells, or blowing a vuvuzela. Music pumps over the loudspeaker as you pedal toward the finish arch and everyone is out there winning their own race.
Nebraska NICA (Nebraska Interscholastic Cycling League) has grown a to 290+ students since starting in 2020. Our local Lancaster County team, centered in Lincoln, supports 50 of them this year from 5th to 12th grade. The team is also supported by 29 volunteer coaches who want to grow even bigger next season. If you can imagine, we want to support the growth of this kind of youth sport in Lincoln. Nebraska NICA has a fundraiser sponsored by Trek that available until October 13th, 2025 at 11:59 pm. Funds raised by the League is split with teams to get more kids on bikes. You can check it out and share your support for “Lancaster Composite” here: https://nebraskamtb.rallyup.com/ca2a2b/t/8b3454/Team/Details
Inset Photo: Students race mountain bikes at Black Elk Neihardt Park in Blair, Nebraska September 7th. The season will end November 9th in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Here is what NICA says about youth development, team practices, and racing. “Team practice is the foundation of NICA programming and interscholastic racing is one of NICA’s core activities. NICA’s inclusive racing format offers participants the opportunity to experience and learn discipline, success, failure, and graceful defeat. Racing in the team environment helps student-athletes learn empathy, humility, flexibility, and resiliency. NICA student-athletes learn that it takes a village to build a successful racer, as well as to put on a race.” [nationalmtb.org]