Written by Ruandy Albisurez, Community Director ([email protected])
August 4, 2022, was the first official NWTA BIPOC jump clinic (BIPOC stands for Black and Indigenous Peoples and People of Color). It was held at Gateway Green in Portland. The clinic was organized and led by Ruandy Albisurez, Myles Ridge, and Jason Van Horn. We had 15 students sign up for the clinic, and they were all super stoked to be out there and learning some basic jump skills. Students learned and practiced body positioning and how to pump their bikes up and down the faces of jumps. On top of all that, we learned some basic safety checks to keep everyone safe when out practicing pumping or practicing jumps. We used the dirt rollers that run along the side of the main gravel road for a lot of the practicing. Afterwards graduated to applying the new techniques on the pump track. By the end of the evening, everyone was taking turns on the pump track and using the skills area as well.
All in all, the instructors and the students were great, and everyone left the clinic feeling energized and thirsty for more instruction and group rides. We are going to try and schedule more fun clinics soon and organize some more group rides for the BIPOC community to come and be a part of. Holding these BIPOC-only events helps a lot of us attending feel great. The energy amongst all of us is truly amazing, and no one is out there feeling out of place. Hopefully, these clinics will help by ushering in the next generation of members to the mountain bike community in a more confident way by laying some good skills and habits down along with a great community to practice them with. The quick turnouts at these clinics are a huge indicator that there are many BIPOC people already out there and interested in this sport; they’re just looking for a healthy place to use as their jumping-off point.
Myles, Jason, and I plan on holding more of these in the future. They are way too much fun not to continue organizing. We appreciate the support from the NWTA members that back these clinics and other BIPOC events up. I’m all too excited to see all of these students confidently shredding out alongside everyone on the hardest Rocky Point and Sandy Ridge trails!
