Take a kid mountain biking

Ben, Daniel, Dave, Jay, Linus, and I joined forces on Saturday with Andrea and Tristan from Trips For Kids for National Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day. A few Duke people also volunteered--much thanks to Jamie and Max, as well as the ever-present Dr. Mark, M.D. The TORC-sponsored event was a lot of fun and allowed us to share what we love to do, namely ride bikes, with kids who also love to ride bikes. TFK brought the kids and a fleet of bikes (since most of these kids don't have proper mountain bikes) and the kids brought the radness. I often tout my own supposed radness on this blog, however, even with a 20 year head start, some of these kids were holding our pace and even leading the group. (Thanks to the original Bull City Cyclist, Gaynor, for the free Clif Bloks.) They rode with the skill of veterans but the fearlessness of youth. I was particularly impressed with one kid, Eddy from Durham, who joined us for an extra loop. He rode everything we rode (I saw Jay breathing heavily when Eddy was setting the pace) and actually preferred the fully-rigid Redline singlespeed to a geared Soma with a suspension fork. Eddy explained at one point that before he started riding, he was about 50 pounds heavier, which amazed me. He was still a pretty stocky kid, but carried it well. I couldn't imagine him with an extra 50 pounds. Well, actually, I could because I see lots of kids about that age carrying that much weight. It's scary that without exercise and eating properly, kids can get that heavy. This experience made me realize yet another reason why TFK is such an important organization. So please remember to forego a training day now and again to give something back to the sport's next generation.