#TKMBD - Bike Skills Rodeo!

Gerhard Gross photo

When I first saw IMBA's posts about the October 5 Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day I knew right away I wanted to do something about it. Kids on bikes are just the best, so I recruited Coach Richard from San Diego Mountain Bike Skills and voila! We had a rodeo.

Our event had about six different skills for the kids to practice, including "Feedzone Simulation," "Granny Gear Racing," "Skinnies Riding," "Paper Boy Toss," and a couple stations to test their handling around cones and hula hoops. With a great sunny afternoon in Balboa park our excitement was only rivalled by the kids'.

We had tremendous support from the San Diego chapter (SDMBA) of the International Mountain Biking Association with number plates and Clif Z-Bars to hand out to our little riders. They also helped us get the word out, not to mention all the amazing trail/rider advocacy they do every day. Big thank you to them! Proud to be a member.

Best of all, we had a super crop of young riders -- 15!! -- and some really enthusiastic parents who helped make the event run smoothly. My favourite part of the afternoon was watching little Abby, who started the event on her strider bike, graduate to her "big girl bike" WITHOUT training wheels. What a big day!

Thanks to all our sponsors, and most importantly thanks to the kids, moms and dads for coming out to the event. We had a TON of fun, and we can't wait for Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, 2014.

Read more about our event here and check out some great photos, shot by my wonderful husband Gerhard, here.