Ride Like A Kid 6
By
Jeff Morgan
Saturday October 6th
2012 was the International Mountain Bicycling Association(IMBA) Take a Kid Mountain Biking day, this is a worldwide
event that last year had 13,000 parents and kids participating in countries
such as the United States, Canada, Italy, Australia, Mexico, South Africa and
Malaysia. 2012 marks IMBA's 8th year
promoting this event that is aimed to get kids out on the trails with their
parents. In the words of IMBA,
"Besides being good, healthy fun, the goal is to develop a connection
between kids and the natural world around them. Today's children are tomorrow's
land managers and politicians — future decision-makers for important matters
like recreation and access to public lands." While IMBA is the main promoter of this
event, it is much too large for them to run worldwide so what they have done is
offer resources for local grassroots
organizations to host their own events under the umbrella of the IMBA Take A
Kid Mountain Biking Day. IMBA aimed this
event at groups like the Boy/Girl Scouts of America, local riding clubs, race
teams, local bike shops, or any other group who can get kids out riding. For the people organizing the rides they
supply commemorative number plates, and Clif Zbars for the kids
participating.
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| Adam Davidson running the show! |
The local event in
Orange County California has adopted the name "Ride Like A Kid" and
is in its 6th year and is held at Irvine Regional Park. This is the first year that I have been able
to make it and after having attended "Ride Like A Kid 6" with my
three kids, I am sorry that we have missed out on the previous five
events. The RLAK event is not put on by
any group, but by an amazing guy named Adam Davidson. Adam started this event, like the name says,
six years ago and it has grown exponentially since the first one. They even had online registration this year. In past years Adam has put this event on
mostly by himself, but this year he had a great staff of volunteer to help him
and a huge amount of sponsors that put in money and products to make this the
best Ride Like A Kid to date.
For my family the
event started at 7:00am when I went in to my kid’s room to wake them. My youngest son was up and ready in a matter
of seconds, my daughter, the middle child, was a little slower but still
excited to go, my oldest son was nudged in an attempt to wake him and he told
me,"I don't wanna go.". He was
then reminded that we were going riding and he was out of bed quicker than he
has ever moved in his life. Breakfast
was a combination of Clif bars, bananas, and orange juice that was eaten while
I loaded 4 bikes, filled hydration packs and water bottles, gathered pads and
helmets, loaded fruit for the after ride potluck BBQ, made sure that the
helmets donated by the shop I work at were loaded, and that everyone had shoes
on. We were loaded and we were off!
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| Shoe are important if you want to ride. |
We arrived at the park
at 7:45am and there were already people there.
My oldest son and I made ourselves available to help set up. The set up was very smooth and well
organized. At 8:00am they were checking
families in. Once again the process was
smooth. You signed your waivers, told
them your names, the kids were given color coded wrist bands. Each color corresponded with a different
level of ride. Then you stepped to the
end of the table where each kid was handed a giant swag bag and a T-shirt. By 9:00am they had checked in over 100
kids. At 9:30am they gathered everyone
up, explained how the different rides would work, got everyone for each ride
together and got rolling.
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| Awesome goodie bags |
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| Organization was top notch |
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| Ryan, Jake, Ryan, and Vincent ready to roll |
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| Small group |
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| the rest of the group |
I had volunteered to
help lead or sweep a ride so my two oldest kids and I were placed with the
"Groms" group 1 which was for more advanced riders. My youngest was riding with my mother in law
in the "Cool Kids Crew" for kids who could ride in the dirt but were
not ready for singletrack action. Groms
group 1 was led by a guy named Kevin and swept by me. We had 18 people big and small in our
group. We rode our planned route once,
but it was not enough for the kids in the group so we did it again and then
added a couple more trails to total 9 miles of dirt. At each regroup Kevin did a great job of
educating the kids on trail rules and courtesies, riding techniques, safety,
and environmental impact. I counted and
made sure we were all together.
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| Kevin in the lead |
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| Me bringing up the rear |
On our groups return
the BBQ was well underway and the huge raffle was about to start. We got our food and the kids turned in their
wrist bands for two raffle tickets each and the raffle was under way. Adam had a table full of raffle prizes that
had been donated by local bike shops, bike companies, and individuals that was
unbelievable. In the raffle they gave
away several bikes, helmets, gift certificates, clothing, riding shoes, cycling
accessories, and many other items. There
was a push up contest for a pair of Teva Links shoes, that my oldest son won,
and a tube inflation contest for the adults (the winner walked away with a
brand new set of riding shoes). There
were kids at the raffle, there were kids riding everywhere you looked, and the
best part was that they were all smiling!
Every kid (and adult) at Ride Like A Kid 6 had a great time at an
excellently run event.
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| The big rig |
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| When she races Ryan is never far from the front, it was the same here |
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| Big Kids! |
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| Alyssa and Ryan |
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| A kid named RL Policar follows another kid |
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| Group1 |
I was able to hit Adam
up with some questions about his event and here is how that went:
-Surfcycles-
This is an event you
have been putting together for the last six years. What is it and how did you
get started with it?
-Adam Davidson-
I had been mountain biking for years when my
son was born. As most dads know, ride time comes at a premium when you have
kids. So while my ride time dropped, my
whining about not riding increased at an exponential factor. One day while I was on the IMBA website
fantasizing about riding like I did before my son and I noticed they were
promoting a “Take a Kid MTB Day”. I
thought the idea sounded cool and decided to post up a similar kid’s ride on a
local ride board and to my surprise people actually joined in. My guess is I was not the only sniveling
whining no ride loser...as they saying goes misery loves company, right?. Obviously I am kidding as the sole motivation
was to share our love of dirt with our kids and have them experience riding
with other kids their age
-Surfcycles-
How have you seen this
event grow over the years?
-Adam Davidson-
While the event has
seen dramatic growth over its 6 years the “recipe” hasn’t changed much. We meet, ride, BBQ and kick into the off the
hook kids raffle. The first year we had
15 kids (30 peeps total) rising to over 100 kids this year (200+ total). What’s amazing is in the early years I knew
most all those joining in; clearly not the case these days. That said, it’s pretty cool to routinely meet
new riders and their kids as well as see some of the same faces each year many
of which I only get to see and ride with at this event
-Surfcycles-
What were the stats
this year? (how many attended)
-Adam Davidson-
This was our biggest
ride event to date with over 200 participants but most noteworthy 112 kids!
-Surfcycles-
This year it looked like you had a good amount
of help with the event. Who is this mysterious staff of volunteers? And why are
they so dang good? Don't be afraid to shower them with praise, they did great!
-Adam Davidson-
In prior years I can candidly say I did most
all the planning and organizing while others would step up and volunteer the
day of. This year however was quite
different. I knew there was no way I
could do this on my own and sent out an open invite to anyone who wanted to
help out and plan the event. We had a
chill “meeting” and discussed what we liked about the event and areas of
possible improvement. They all had great
ideas. We divided up the key
responsibilities and I trusted them to get the job done and indeed they
did. While many helped out throughout
the day of the event the key folks included Dan Sands, Colin Ip, Roxanne Soto,
Kevin Gaffney, Steve Larsen, Ken Rands and Lyndie Bradshaw. They took on coordinating the registration,
BBQ and the rides. All of which took a huge
burden off of me. Simply stated there was no way I could have done this year’s
event without all those listed above.
While I have told them all multiple times they did an amazing job! I guess I should also give props to Andy
Lightle, who you can consider one of those cherry pickers loitering around the
goal and slamming it in while everyone else does the hard work. This guy shows up on the day of the ride,
says gimme the megaphone, does his thing and gets all the cheers. What’s up with that? Kidding aside, while Andy and I sort of know
each other from the local ride community (in which he is a legend) I didn’t
know what to expect when I asked him to help out...and more than help out is
what he did. He did an amazing job of
keeping the smiles on the small and big kid’s faces throughout the day. Thanks Rut!!!
-Surfcycles-
How long does it take
you to get RLAK in motion, do you start a month ahead or are you getting ready
for the next one as soon as you are done the current one?
-Adam Davidson-
Well for the most part
the date is “dictated” by IMBA as it is always the first Saturday in October
(hold the date brah!). Prior to this
year the hardest part was soliciting and getting the donations. The rest of the stuff is a lot of work but
mostly in your control. The problem is
if you start too early everyone says call me when it’s closer. Unfortunately, as it gets closer all the
industry trade shows lick in and these very generous companies have real
business to deal with as opposed to a talking to a non-industry poser like
myself. Trust me after this year’s event
was done, my last plan was to reminded peeps to hold next year’s date. As soon as I am done responding to your
questions, I’ll put RLK on hold, ride more and kick back for a bit. By the way did I mention next year’s ride is
October 5th :)
-Surfcycles-
RLAK 6 had a ton of
sponsors this year who it seemed helped out quite a bit. Tell us who they
were?
-Adam Davidson-
The Sponsorship
continues to grow which has been highly fortunate as the grom count seems to
increase at a mind spinning rate. This
year we have record number of supporters. Some have been involved from year one
and many more jumping in for the first time this year. Listing them in no special
order they include Share Mountain Bike Club, REI, The Path Bike Shop, Fullerton
Bike Shop, Orange Cycle, Rock N Road Cyclery, Jax Bicycle Center, Two Wheels
One Planet, Jenson USA, Decline Magazine, Dirt Rag Magazine, Camelbak, RokForm, Road ID, Pearl Izumi,
Osprey Packs, Injinji, HydraPak, NiteRider, CatEye, Speedplay, Sock
Guy, Over The Hump, Enduro Stuff, Wheels 4 Life, Niner Bikes, Black Market Bikes, Intense
Cycles, Ellsworth Handcrafted Bikes, Jamis Bicycles, Tykes Bykes, Giant
Bicycles, Focus Bikes, White Industries, Ibis Cycles, Santa Cruz Bicycles, Clif
Bar, InterBike, & of Course IMBA
-Surfcycles-
Who were your biggest sponsors?
-Adam Davidson-
As I believe you
witnessed at the event and even before I am very vocal in promoting ALL the
vendors irrespective of what they donate and the value. We receive all forms of donations in the form
of stickers, gift cards, clothing, gear, components and even bikes. Trust me
the kids get as much stoke from a hoodie as a bike (well almost?). Anyway, while I truly don’t consider any
sponsor above the others, this year in particular REI and SHARE mountain bike
club who have been sponsors since the first year stepped up in a major way both
in financial support and hand on in planning and organizing the day
-Surfcycles-
What is your favorite part of this event? Why?
-Adam Davidson-
While so much gets
talked about in regard to the raffle/giveaways for the groms, from my
perspective this is on the periphery of the days relevance. Yes, it’s cool to see the anticipation and
excitement on the kids’ faces during the raffle, but for me and I honestly hope
all the kids and parents joining in; the ride is their favorite part. I honestly love seeing all the kids tearing
it up. While I know my son has a blast
riding with tons of other kids his age, challenging himself and others, there
is no way he has as much fun riding as I have riding and watching him. I can only expect this is the same for any
parent who rides. If there is a very
close second place favorite it would have to be anything Colin brings/cooks to
the BBQ whether it is ribs, pulled pork, brisket you name it!
-Surfcycles-
RLAK 6 was a lot of
fun, it ran smoothly and every kid (even the big ones) had a smile on their
face, is there anything you would change for next year?
-Adam Davidson-
Each year I see things that can be
improved. This year was huge for
us. For the first time we reserved a
group site, got a permit and insurance.
It’s an expensive proposition as I carried most all the costs in the
past but it was obvious we needed to do it as the event has grown so fast over
the years. That said, as alluded to
before a few sponsors really stepped up and also made monetary donations that
were extremely helpful in absorbing added costs. as far as improving the event
for next year, similar to prior years I will solicit feedback from others and
address what can be improved. one idea I
already thought of was to bring a close hander or slim Jim to the event in case
anyone gets locked out of their truck :p
-Surfcycles-
Was there a kid out
there who really impressed you this year?
-Adam Davidson-
Ha, I think this is a
loaded question. I guess the PC response
is my son continues to amaze me each time we ride together but all the kids did
great today. Can I stop there? Honestly, the hardest part for me is not
getting to see all the kids ride. I see
the pictures after but since I always ride with my son, I don’t get to witness
the kids in the other ride levels big and small ripping it. That said, this year on our ride there was a
grom named Conner who was rocking a 12.5” bike but keeping up with most all the
kids even through the sandy sections. He
charged each steep and pointed it down fast on the descents. His desire and attitude was absolutely
killer. My guess he will be riding
better than his old man in a few years.
-Surfcycles-
Conner happens to be
my youngest son! What can we expect for
RLAK 7?
-Adam Davidson-
No real secrets here,
as the primary goal is to continue to make it more fun and safe for all the
kids no matter the age or skill level.
This year we had a bit more representation from the “sponsors” and it
seemed to work out very well. In the
past we have had a few professional riders join in. As you might expect the kid stoke factor was
super high. I wouldn’t mind getting that
going again
This year’s Ride Like
A Kid was a great experience! The kids
had a blast, made some new friends, and saw that there are other kids out there
that love the dirt as much as they do.
If you missed it this year I would highly recommend that you keep
October 5th 2013 clear and make it to Ride like A Kid 7. If you are not in the area check out the IMBA
website at www.imba.com
to find an event near you, if there isn't one then take a page from Mr.
Davidson's book and start one, you won't regret it.
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| Raffle!!! |
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| Andy "Rut" and Adam |
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| Push up contest for Teva Links shoes, Jake won! |
