Here are a few questions that we frequently receive. If you have a question that is not answered here, please don’t hesitate to shoot Emile an email at emilemulholland@gmail.com.
What should my participant bring on their ride?
In addition to a well-maintained bike, all of our riders need to bring a fair amount of gear. If this presents a hardship, please contact us before your ride.
All middle schoolers, high schoolers and adults are asked to bring their helmet, bike gloves, a spare tube, lots of food and plenty of water for all our rides. Also, I recommend a light wind breaker or rain jacket (when appropriate) that can be carried in a pocket. Light weight knee pads, elbow pads and protective eyewear are also recommended. For riders who are allergic to poison oak, a single use packet (or reusable small container) of Tecnu is another great thing to pack.
Our lower school riders (fifth grade and below) are expected to bring less gear. A well-adjusted appropriate bike, an undamaged well fit helmet and water are all required. We recommend that they also bring gloves, light weight pads, protective eyewear and a warm layer when appropriate.
All riders doing rides that are scheduled to end within a half hour of sunset should bring front and rear bike lights.
If your rider needs or might need medications like epinephrin, they need to be carried as well.
If my child has tubeless tires, do they still need to pack a tube?
Yes. Tubeless tires can still be punctured. When one of our riders running tubeless tires gets a puncture, we often try to plug the tire. If that doesn’t work, we help them remove their wheel and install their tube so that they can finish our ride.
Is my rider’s bike appropriate for your rides?
Our rides for middle schoolers and high schoolers require appropriately sized mountain bikes with knobby mountain bike tires, front and rear brakes and a full range of gears. Riders with bikes that are not equipped with quick releases for their wheels, need to carry tools to remove wheels in case of a flat tire.
Front suspension mountain bikes or full suspension mountain bikes with 100 to 140 mm of travel, hydraulic disc brakes, a wide gear range and dropper seat posts tend to work best but many of our riders have successfully started riding with us on basic bikes built over twenty years ago.
Our lower school rides require well-maintained bikes with front and rear brakes, gears and knobby tires that are built to be taken mountain biking.
What kind of routes do you take on your bike rides?
Our rides vary depending on our location, the time of year and the group that we are leading. However, we try to make our middle school rides longer than our lower school rides focusing more on endurance and fitness in middle school than in lower school. Our middle school rides generally include one and a half to two hours of sustained riding and can include 1,000’ to 1,500’ of climbing. Our lower school rides are shorter and we rarely do climbs over 500’. On our lower school rides, our focus is more on building biking skills and learning biking etiquette rather than building fitness or endurance.
What do you do if it rains?
We try not to cancel rides for rain. We will cancel rides if the forecast is for particularly cold rain. If the forecast is for temperatures below 55 degrees F, your ride will probably need to be cancelled or rescheduled. On rainy days when we can ride, we change our routes to avoid causing erosion. Riders are asked to bring rain jackets, warm hats that fit under their helmets, appropriate full finger cycling gloves and wear clothing made from materials like wool or lycra that will stay warm if they are wet.
My child’s bike does not accept a water bottle cage. Do they still need to bring water?
Everyone should have water. If your participant has a bike that is not built to accept a water bottle cage, a hydration pack is another good option. If a hydration pack is not an option a back pack or fanny pack with a water bottle can work well.
My high school or middle school rider isn’t able to stick to a training program and I’m worried that they will not be able to achieve their goals.
Try your best to keep riding fun. Organizing rides with peers, riding in new places and setting short term goals can help kids stay motivated to ride. It is great to help your child find ways to stay motivated and engaged with meeting their riding goals. Try your best not to allow their goals to become your goals. Sometimes, coming to a competition under trained and failing to achieve their desired result can be an important motivating and formative experience for a young athlete.
I’d like to buy my child a really nice bike but I don’t want them to outgrow it too quickly. What if we go up a size or two?
Riding a bike that is too big can make the bike hard to control. This difficulty can lead to downhill crashes and slow your child’s progress in building their biking skills. It is important that your child is riding a bike that is built for mountain biking and of high enough quality to be safe. After that, fit is probably the biggest determinant of how well your child’s bike will perform for them. Frequently, a used bike that fits your child well will work better for them than a new or nicer bike that is too big.
My rider wants to sit out your coming session but I’m worried that they will fall behind.
The progress and development that your child will make in one of our sessions is relatively small compared to the risk of burning them out. If your child is wanting to take some time off of their bike, the healthiest choice is often to let them take some time off of their bikes. When they come back to biking with fresh energy and motivation, they usually quickly catch up to their peers.