Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and over the last twenty years, thousands of young riders and their families have taken to the trails to celebrate kids on mountain bikes. At its heart, this is a local event, led by mountain bike clubs, trail stewardship non-profits, and youth-serving organizations across the country. IMBA is honored to have the opportunity to uplift the stories of celebrating more kids on mountain bikes for the last two decades, but the impacts wouldn’t be as profound without the partnerships that have developed nationally and in local communities that make Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day the success it is today. 

Industry Support

IMBA’s partnerships with local member organizations across the globe are what drive Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. We cannot overstate the impact of partnerships of land managers, Cities, Outdoor Rec Departments, and civic decision makers. A third group of impactful partnership comes from industry partners. Prevelo and Strider Bikes are outspoken advocates and supporters of Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, and IMBA has been lucky to work with these teams for years running.

Strider is a long-time supporter of Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. Founded in 2007, Strider Bikes has revolutionized the way children as young as 6 months old will learn-to-ride a bike without training wheels. Strider’s mission is to build lightweight, efficient, all-terrain bikes that develop two-wheeled balance, coordination, and confidence in kids.

Strider has sold over 4 million bikes throughout the globe in over 75 countries and was named the E! News Editors Pick for the 2024 Best Balance Bike. They’ve also been an IMBA and Take a Kid supporter for nearly as long as Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day has been running, and for most of their history as a company. The bikes rock because the process your kid takes to get started is literally: rock, stride, and ride. With a progressive line of models designed with youth physiological and confidence development in mind, kids can start on a rocking bike, progress to a striding bike, and graduate to “look, Mom, no hands!” with ease.

Strider has a global community of riders and a commitment to inclusivity. They organize events, races, and programs that bring families together and encourage a lifelong love for cycling. From before their first steps to adventurous rides, Strider Bikes helps riders of all ages achieve freedom on two wheels.

Walk (or Ride) The Talk

Another great part about industry partnerships is the opportunity it gives to meet the people who show up to work with your kids, your bikes, your trails, and your cycling communities in mind. One such Strider professional is Carissa Chalcraft, Mom and Public Relations and Communications Specialist at Strider Bikes Int’l., Inc. Carissa walks the walk and talks the talk. Carissa shared with IMBA a little about her inspiration, her experience taking her own kid mountain biking, and her stoke for Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.

Grab your snacks, water bottle and kiddo, the 1st Saturday in October is the annual National Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.

 

With school in full force, weekends become harder to designate time for my family’s favorite pastime, mountain biking. Having a national day that reminds us to schedule time to go create an adventure has become a fun and exciting tradition for our whole family. 

 

When my daughter was 5 months old, it was simple taking her out on the trails. I just strapped her into her bike seat and off we went. The following year, at almost 2 years old, she was way too wiggly to ride behind me in her seat. Luckily, we had started her on Strider’s 2-in-1 Rocking Bike the Christmas prior. We had recently removed the Strider 12 Pro from the rocking base and she was striding around with ease. At that point she wasn’t ready for the mountains, but with her Strider in tow, we hit the beautiful Black Hills and created our own adventures.  One of her favorite games was playing eye spy while we rode the trail. We literally stopped to smell the flowers, rode through the mud puddles, and tried to find as many animals as we could.

 

We blinked and she was 4, this meant a bigger bike and pedals! Grandma got her the Strider 14x and a pedal kit. This was such an easy transition since it was still her beloved Strider, just a bit bigger. Her confidence kept growing along with her skills. Soon enough she was pedaling like crazy. That October she was ripping around on the trails with us. 

 

As she grew the tradition continued. The trails became harder, but to this day we still stop to smell the flowers.

Industry Impact: All Kids Bike

Strider does more than just design and manufacture rad toys for little rippers and employ parents who love to ride with their kids. Working through the Strider Education Foundation, with leadership from Executive Director Lisa Weyer, Strider has two programs focused on engaging more people in the life-enhancing skill that is riding a bike. 

The All Kids Bike Kindergarten Physical Education Learn-to-Ride Program launched in 2018 with a simple mission: to give every child in America the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike in school. The program includes teacher training and certification, a fleet of 24 Strider balance-to-pedal bikes, pedal conversion kits, student helmets, an instructor bike with pedal conversion kit and helmet, 2 rolling metal bike storage racks, and access to a resource portal and live support for the life of the program. Everything needed to teach kids how to ride a bike, in 8 easy lessons. Strider removes barriers to access to equipment with this program, and by teaching to ride in elementary school, they provide the knowledge and a positive foundation for a lifelong skill. 

Supported by the Strider Education Foundation, All Kids Bike Kindergarten PE Learn-to-Ride Programs are active in nearly 1,500 schools, with over 100,000 kindergarten students in all 50 states learning how to ride a bike through this program every year. With just the programs in place today, Strider’s All Kids Bike is on-track to teach over one million students how to ride a bike. 

All Kids Bike at Work in IMBA Communities

This summer, IMBA local member organization, the Del Rio Parks Foundation, led by the efforts of long-time IMBA-friend Jake Carsten, began a fundraising campaign to bring All Kids Bike to the Del Rio San Felipe Consolidated Independent School District (SFDR-CISD). Their goal was to fund the implementation of the All Kids Bike program at Dr. Fermin Calderon Elementary School for their kindergarten class.

Jake went business-to-business asking for donations, and teamed up with the Strider Education Foundation to post a public fundraising page to collect individual donations. Jake recorded a 10-second radio promo that local stations put on repeat, and also did an on-air interview. The Del Rio Parks Foundation board produced a short fundraising video to track and promote fundraising efforts.

In less than four months, the Del Rio Parks Foundation exceeded their fundraising goal, and successfully brought All Kids Bike to Dr. Fermin Calderon Elementary School. The local riding club and avid supporter of all things biking, Bike Del Rio,  produced a short video of the volunteer bike build night to showcase community volunteer involvement. The Del Rio Parks Foundation are producing a soon to be released short video of the launch event in thanks for the community support, and plan to continue to fundraise to bring the All Kids Bike program to more schools in their district.

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But Wait! There's More!

In addition to Strider Education Foundation’s All Kids Bike Kindergarten PE Learn-to-Ride Program, they have introduced a program aimed at teaching all ages and abilities the life-enhancing skill of how to ride a bike. All Abilities Bike uses a curriculum designed around the knowledge that the ability to ride a bike enhances independence, improves balance and motor skills, allows for inclusion and social interaction, and boosts self-esteem and confidence. 

Connections That Don't Quit

Partnerships with industry partners offer so much more than prizes for raffles. Connections with other folks working to improve and innovate in mountain bike technology, community engagement, and trails development via their careers are hugely inspiring, inside and outside of the mountain bike industry. Through collaborations like these, our collective work for trails is amplified and advanced in amazing ways. IMBA also values the human-connection with like-minded people who also love bikes, trails, and the radness that is the global mountain bike community, especially when the future of fun-on-two-wheels is the focus of the day. Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day is what it is today, in large part, due to the impactful partnerships, and we’re deeply grateful for the ongoing support for #TKMBD.