RIDE!
NWTA’s mission is to create, enhance, and protect mountain bike riding opportunities; to advocate for trail access; to promote responsible mountain biking; and to build, maintain, and ride sustainable trails. The secret ingredient in each of these goals is people!
Our belief is that by building up the mountain biking community through youth-specific and all-age recreational programming, we advance our mission while simultaneously breaking down barriers and welcoming new participants into the sport. With more of us feeling at home in the mountain biking community, our collective power to advance riding opportunities grows.
After School Youth Programs
Now in its third year, NWTA’s youth program has expanded to include after-school opportunities at schools across Portland. These programs play a critical role in opening up mountain biking to Portlanders who have faced barriers to recreation and outdoor park spaces.
NWTA works in close partnership with the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) program, which focuses on directing resources and providing wrap-around community services to students and their families in select neighborhoods in Portland. SUN in turn partners with key stakeholders like Portland Public Schools, Portland Parks & Recreation, and the Immigrant and Community Resource Organization.
Working with SUN’s after-school program, NWTA meet students directly at their neighborhood public school with our fleet of trail-ready youth loaner bikes in tow (big shout out to Trek!). In addition to bikes and helmets, NWTA works with professional coaches in the area to offer high quality skills progression lessons to students in 3rd-8th grade. For the majority of participants, it is their first time on a mountain bike, and instruction focuses on off-road specific skills such as cornering, shifting, climbing, ratcheting, and more. Roughly 10% of our participants learn to ride a bike for the very first time in our programs.
Program sessions meet weekly for roughly 1.5 hours over 6-8 weeks. After warming up, classes explore adjacent parks and greenspaces on two wheels, building confidence on bikes and in their neighborhoods.
Participants leave our program with improved mountain bike skills and enhanced confidence pedaling through their neighborhoods and parks. New riders become cycling ambassadors, encouraging their families and friends in riding, getting outdoors, and deepening their sense of agency. Simply put: our program helps to steward the next generation of the mountain biking community. In the 2024-2025 school year alone, NWTA’s after-school program reached 70 youth participants.
Summer Programs
As of Spring 2025, NWTA is entering our third year of offering summer day-camp programming in partnership with the Montavilla Community Center and Portland Parks & Recreation. Offering classes through PP&R helps ensure that programs are both advertised and accessible to a broad range of families in our service area.
Similar to our afterschool programs, summer classes with NWTA include loaner bikes, helmets, and professional coaching for ages 4-12. Note that age ranges and bike requirements differ for each program.
Social Rides and Adult Classes
NWTA knows that mountain biking is a lifetime sport, and welcomes the opportunity to bring together riders of all ages and abilities at our social rides and classes scheduled throughout each year.
Our social rides take place at all skill levels, from beginner to expert, across our service area. Rides feature trained ride leaders and showcase NWTA’s work as trail stewards in the region. We are proud to partner with many local businesses that prioritize the mountain biking community, and often co-sponsor events. Keep a close eye on our events calendar and social media channels for the most up to date information.
NWTA also offers a range of adult mountain biking classes throughout each year, including beginner courses and ride leader trainings.
NWTA’s adult programming is focused on building community and welcoming new people into our sport. We know that mountain biking faces serious barriers to entry, and take our work to welcome newcomers seriously. By creating welcoming spaces for learning and socializing, we aim to help people improve their skills, build friendships, and become part of our broader community. Check out our Events page to join us at our next ride or class!
How to Support
None of our programs can operate without the support of our members. Your donation to NWTA keeps our programs running and helps us to connect with more youth and adult participants alike. NWTA also counts on robust support from volunteers, who donate their time as coaches for youth or adult classes, or as ride leaders for our social rides. For more information on volunteering, please email [email protected].