Helping children learn about and to mountain bike

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to help some younger riders experience mountain biking out at Ft. Benjamin Harrison State Park.  The park is beautiful and www.HMBA.org is working hard to make beautiful singletrack for all ability levels.  Over this weekend we had children of all ages borrow HMBA’s mountain bikes with support from BGI Fitness.   Many of the kids could not stop smiling from ear to ear and yes a few were less than amused once they got onto the trail.  Heck, it is intimidating for anyone on their first time of riding a bench cut trail on the side of a ridge and going up and down and over rocks. J   Truthfully I didn’t realize though how many kids have never mountain biked and I feel this need to encourage and promote parents to take them out to our numerous beautiful places to ride.  If anyone is reading this and wants recommendations of where to ride, please reach out and I am sure I can help you locate a park that is near you and for your ability level.  Oh yea, a few kids mentioned their interest in cyclocross which I was complete floored in a good way!