NWTA hosted the Portland Metro Composite youth mountain bike team for a group ride at Tualatin Mountain Forest (Rocky Point) on Sunday, July 19.
Twenty-seven middle and high school riders and 22 volunteer coaches divided into four ride groups and tackled trails all over the north side of the Forest for roughly 2.5 hours.
Trails like Andyland, The Strasser, and Nettle Alley are ideal for newer riders to challenge their skills and endurance in a coach-supervised setting; more advanced riders used Windup and Fanny’s Your Aunt to add some climbing and technical challenge. Twisty biker-built trails, great views, and the camaraderie of 48 other riders made the morning special; the available loops accommodated our ride groups with ease.
Portland Metro Composite is a middle and high school mountain bike team within the Oregon Interscholastic Cycling League and NICA, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association. Riders from 5th grade to HS seniors ride together 2-3 times a week throughout the summer and participate in 5 sanctioned races around Oregon in early fall.
PMC has 84 riders on the roster in 2026, and finding close spots to practice is a real challenge; trail networks like those at Tualatin Mountain bridge the travel distance gap between city parks (not much available singletrack trail) and the great riding at more distant spots like Sandy Ridge, Cascade Locks, or L.L. Stub Stewart State Park.
Our team does roughly 250 person-hours of trail construction and maintenance each year with NWTA, mostly in the off-season, and we emphasize the importance of giving back to the trail systems that are such great places to ride.
Duncan Parks
Team Director, Portland Metro Composite