Written by Eric Oliver
On Saturday, October 4, NWTA was thrilled to celebrate one of our favorite holidays: national Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day. Recognized by Congress in 2004, Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day takes place annually on the first Saturday in October with the goal of introducing young people to the joys and benefits of mountain biking. For an organization built around encouraging more mountain biking in more places, there’s hardly a more exciting day on the calendar.
In addition to celebrating youth riders, NWTA also takes this annual opportunity to showcase some of the best family-friendly trails in our region. This year, we brought our celebration to Cascade Lock’s EasyCLIMB trail system, located on the banks of the Columbia River near Blackberry Beach, just east of town. The system is managed by the Port of Cascade Locks, which has invested significant time and resources in partnering with NWTA to develop a world class trail system, complete with mountain-bike specific trails and features. The finishing touches on the skills area were completed just a week prior to our celebration, and plenty of kiddos tried their skills on a series of increasingly ambitious jumps and rollers.
While the riding at Cascade Locks is top notch, regardless of your ability level, the true heart warmer of the day was watching our community come together. Over 150 people attended the event, which was built as a self-guided scavenger hunt through the area. The rain held off, a persistent wind kept us on our toes, and bouts of sunshine occasionally warmed us right up. Our loaner fleet of youth mountain bikes, donated by Trek Bicycles in Westmoreland and Beaverton, was on hand for kids without a trail-ready bike or who were ready to try out the next size up. After checking in and getting a lay of the land, many kids dove right into the activities as the adults tried to keep up.
Families followed their kids from a skills station provided by Elaine B. Bikes into the woods to explore the singletrack as they worked through their scavenger hunt checklist of achievements like “I got covered in dirt from the trail!” or “I fell over on my bike, but I’m okay!” Once back from the trails, kids topped off the fun with face painting provided by Mona Swan and hearty fare from Something Else Frybread NDN Taco. Portland Design Works was on-site with a slow-race challenge, and kids who’d given the scavenger hunt an attempt were rewarded with medals and swag from Shimano, socks from The Athletic Community, and other goodies.
NWTA is grateful to all of the families that made it out to EasyCLIMB to join us, and to the kids who will surely beg them to come back. We’re thankful for over a dozen volunteers that helped make the day possible, and to the Port of Cascade Locks for welcoming us into the space for Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day this year. We can’t offer events like this without our generous sponsors that keep us going: shout out to Trek Bikes, The Athletic Community, Portland Design Works, and many others.