From Bicycling Magazine. Photos by Andy Richter.
“It has been explosive,” says NICA’s executive director, Austin McInerny. “We grew 43 percent from 2015 to 2016. Some of the leagues are seeing more in the 7th- and 8th-grade fields than in the older ones. I’m calling that the tip of the iceberg. I think it could grow even quicker if we found more adults who wanted to step up and run those teams.”
John Emery is the manager of Michael’s Cycles in Chaska, Minnesota, where the local high school team has been doubling in size every year (it’s now up to 40-plus members). “NICA is just bonkers,” he says. “The number of new people getting on bikes for the first time in their lives, it’s just huge. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
And not all of those new riders are kids. “Once the kids get involved, the parents get enthusiastic about mountain biking as well,” says Erik Saltvold, owner of Erik’s Bike, Board, and Ski, which has 24 locations in Wisconsin and Minnesota. “It brings whole families into the sport.”
More photos by Andy Richter here.
