Discover the joy of mountain biking in a welcoming, beginner-friendly environment! Our expert coaches will guide you through the basics, build your confidence, and group riders by experience for a fun, no-pressure ride. You’ll leave with new skills, new friends, and all the details to join your local team. Ready to give it a try?
NICA-sanctioned races provide student-athletes an arena in which to set and accomplish competitive goals, to achieve their personal best. Most NICA leagues have a 4- or 5-race schedule, held in the Spring or Fall depending on the regional climate. Professional race promotion, timing, course preparation and risk management guarantee every participating student-athlete is given a fun and fast environment.
NICA Adventure is a program that allows youth to experience the benefits of mountain biking, camaraderie, community, and the outdoors. Reinforce our core values while building health and strength, learning new skills, and being part of a team of like-minded people through outdoor experiential education.
Currently, girls represent 20% of NICA’s overall national student-athlete participation. NICA GRiT (Girls Riding Together) seeks to increase that number significantly over the next five years. The GRiT Program is NICA’s effort to recruit and retain more girls and female coaches in NICA programs.
Teen Trail Corps is a program, supported by REI and the Walton Family Foundation, that provides NICA student-athletes the opportunity to serve and give their time towards bike related advocacy activities. It is designed to provide exposure and be a gateway for NICA student-athletes into the world of advocacy.
The NICA Coach License Program provides NICA Leaders’ Summit training (online/in-person coach training), curriculum development, membership support, and ongoing training to coaches and leagues. As part of NICA, coaches have access to coach discounts based on their license level.
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Life is better on a bike!
I was first introduced to NICA through the Texas league as a student-athlete. It helped me find passionate riders my age and connect with the mountain biking community.
At 15, I got my first job after regularly bringing people into my local bike shop to help them buy bikes—one of the employees finally suggested I should get paid for it! I’ve been committed to the cycling community ever since.
With over 8 years of mechanic experience, 4 years of coaching, and countless hours of trail work, my goal is to share the joy the biking community has given me.
I have 23+ years supporting production activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory as a product, quality, process, and system engineer. I currently serve as the Co-Chair of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Bicycle Safety Committee and I am a League Certified Instructor by the League of American Bicyclists to teach their Smart Cycling curriculum. With strong Spanish speaking skills, I have also taught Ciclismo Seguro to native Spanish speakers. For over 10 years I ran my own IT consulting business for doctors and dentists in Los Alamos and Santa Fe. Currently, my 18-year-old son owns and manages that business with some mentorship.
By day I work in the banking industry where I developed a 20+ year career in information technology. Over the past two decades, non-office life has focused on all things cycling. Having spent my late 20’s learning my way around the skinny tire and road racing scene, I discovered the joy of dirt and tread on a three-day Colorado to Moab, UT mountain bike tour, where I was in quite over my head but had the time of my life. When I returned home, I promptly started looking for more mountain bike opportunities and never looked back.
I love to support the communities I am engaged in as well as continuously learn and through that passion, my cycling resume includes helping revive the local IMBA chapter, the Albuquerque Mountain Bike Association (AMBA), sitting on the board of AMBA as well as the New Mexico Bicycle Race Association (NMBRA) for numerous years, extensive experience as a USAC official as well as obtaining a Level II Coaching Certification through BICP. Most importantly, I found the joy of developing passion, skill, and community in the Albuquerque area kids through the last three years as a NICA coach for the Albuquerque team. The 2021 season included a girls only component, co-founded by Jen Robinson, to roaring success. The kids are a tremendous inspiration and I hope to support the growth and strength of this group for many years to come.
I was lucky enough to grow up in Southern Utah, surrounded by amazing outdoors access. Although I have always loved the outdoors, I didn’t really mountain bike until my kids couldn’t get enough of it and I started riding more. I fell in love with the sport and the inclusive community around it.
Not only were we having fun outdoors as families, I noticed the impact cycling had on youth riders. They were getting the physical and cognitive benefits of exercise and also developing more confidence and a connection with each other and the outdoors. In 2018 I jumped into coaching a NICA team with some good friends and loved seeing every rider, regardless of ability, get so excited about riding, improve over the course of a season, and get the chance to ride and race at youth specific events. I am so excited to help more youth and their families grow through mountain biking.