Singletrack Mountain Bike Adventures (SMBA) is a Boulder-based nonprofit that helps get more kids on bikes.
A cornerstone of the cycling community on Colorado’s Front Range, SMBA offers everything from one-day introductory programs to summer camps and team racing for kids ages 6 to 18. Their newest offering? Adventure trips to places adults wish they could sign up for, like Moab and Crested Butte.
We dive into the details, including how we’re partnering with SMBA in a big way this year, in our exclusive interview with SMBA Director Heather Williams, below.
How does SMBA go beyond the bike to foster a culture of giving back?
Our motto is building champions both on and off the bike. A key to building champions is community stewardship and giving back to the community. We foster this through getting the athletes involved in community projects. For years prior to COVID, SMBA has volunteered with Boulder County Parks Open Space on trail building and maintenance projects on Heil Ranch and Betasso. We have also worked on trail projects in Nederland. Some of the more recent days were spent building the climbing trail that connects to the Skills Loop, Overland Loop, and Schoolhouse Loop trailheads at Heil Ranch. Our athletes learn about what goes into building and maintaining the trails that they ride all the time, but they also develop a sense of appreciation and stewardship for the trails.
We also work with the Boulder Community Gardens and Food Share. Each summer, groups of our athletes volunteer to work at the community garden in Boulder instead of riding. The gardens we volunteer at help provide fresh vegetables to families in need.
SMBA will be celebrating their 30th anniversary this year (Sports Garage shares a similar birth date!). What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in mountain biking since your founding?
We’re looking forward to celebrating SMBA’s 30th anniversary in 2023! One way we plan to celebrate is to have our SMBA teams complete 30 Epic Rides (of 30 miles or more) during the season. We’ll be documenting each one throughout the season.
Here are some of the changes I’ve seen since then: I had just been introduced to mountain biking around the time SMBA started. I had always ridden a bike, but I got my first real mountain bike in ’94. It was a nice bike at the time; a lugged carbon hardtail with a suspension fork (65mm of travel) and I had a lot of fun rides and adventures on that bike. I really fell in love with the sport on that bike and it took me to a lot of different trails. Since that bike, I’ve seen the expansion of trail systems in places around Colorado and beyond, as well as a lot of changes in bike design and technology: bigger wheels, bigger cassettes, wider handlebars, and cushy suspension!
Another really cool change that I’ve seen is growth in the sport, particularly among women and juniors. When I first started mountain biking, I rode with a really supportive and fun group of mountain bikers, all still close friends, but I was usually the only girl in the group. At the time, there really weren’t any women’s social ride groups around the Front Range, and I didn’t meet any other ladies to ride with regularly until the early 2000s. In the last few years this has changed and it has been awesome to see more opportunities for girls and women to get into the sport and super cool to see the numbers of women and girls participating in the sport grow. Each season we see an increase in the number of girls participating in SMBA programs and they continue in the program through high school. Most continue to ride and many join their collegiate mountain bike teams. Currently we have an amazing team of girls’ coaches who are awesome role models for our newer athletes. They all started in SMBA when they were in elementary school and now some are juniors and seniors in high school and some are in college, but they all stay involved in the program as coaches.
The increase in youth participation in mountain biking has also grown since I first started mountain biking. In general, when I am out riding, I see more juniors riding with their families on the trails than I ever remember seeing before, and I’ve watched the Colorado High School MTB grow from just a few hundred riders in 2012 to over 2,000 riders last year. Many of those high school athletes also participate in SMBA during the spring and summer.
We’ve also noticed increases in the number of younger riders getting into our program. The number of kids participating in our K-1 Dirt Riders program and second-grade through fifth-grade team groups has continually increased over the past two to three years; and the enthusiasm and excitement to ride among our youngest riders is so much fun. It is always amazing to ride with these younger groups and watch their confidence, skill progression, and love of the bike build over the course of the session. What is even more fun is to see our first cohort of K-1 riders continue in the program. This spring, we have a couple of them who will be riding with our Spring Team program!
Recently you launched adventure programs as part of the SMBA offering. Could you tell us more about how this differs from previous SMBA programs and what makes it special?
I think there has been a shift in interest among many of our riders as well as a number of our coaches. We have team riders who love racing with their high school team and riders who love cyclocross or competitive ski racing in the winter and look forward to some non-competitive rides and adventures they can share with their SMBA teammates and friends. We also have coaches who love being on their bikes, and love exploring new ride routes.
Our two adventure trips—Moab on spring break and Crested Butte at the end of summer—have actually been part of our schedule for many years now. There seemed to be increased interest in exploring some of the great trail systems and classic rides around Colorado, and a little less interest in racing from our SMBA families.
This year, we also decided to head to Fruita in April. We are also planning a summer mini-trip to join in the fun with CB Devo’s Jr. Mountain Bike week in June, and a fall trip to Curt Gowdy in October. In addition to van-supported camping trips, we were also able to purchase a dedicated set of bikepacking bags for any SMBA group that wants to experience a self-supported bikepacking ride. This past summer, our Girls’ Team was the first group to test out the bags on a three-day bike packing ride across section 11 of the Colorado Trail. They are hoping to build on that ride and do a longer trip this summer.
In addition, our newly introduced Epic Team program has also been extremely popular. The goal of the Epic Team is to provide opportunities for SMBA athletes to explore trails they may have never ridden before, experience fun challenges on big epic rides, build endurance throughout the season by increasing the distance and effort of each ride from spring to summer, learn a little more about orienteering and being self-sufficient in the backcountry, learn a little bit more about the local ecology and environment, develop an increased appreciation and stewardship for the the beautiful natural landscapes we have access to on bikes, and have a lot of fun while going on big ride adventures all season. We’re excited to see this program grow and expand under the leadership of one of our coaches, Jim.
For many seasons, SMBA riders were required to participate in a variety of race disciplines. How has that changed over the years?
We have always provided opportunities and coach support for SMBA athletes who were interested in racing, but it has never been a requirement for athletes to race in order to be part of SMBA.
Six or seven years ago, we had a cohort of athletes who had a strong interest in racing. In fact, many of them continued to race successfully in college and professionally after SMBA. We were able to tailor a race program for that group and they trained with our coaches and committed to a minimum of five races during the season. We have not had as strong of interest in racing since that cohort of athletes, but we do have a few athletes who are interested in learning more about racing and trying a few races. This year, we will have some team athletes who will focus a little more on skills and preparation geared towards racing, and we will offer some opportunities for athletes to try a few races.
We’re looking forward to having a SMBA presence at the Floyd Hill Session Series, Crested Butte Jr. Mountain Bike Week enduro race, and at least one Revolution Enduro or similar race this year!
Sports Garage has been a proud supporter of SMBA for many years. Any special memories of our time together in the Boulder cycling community?
Sports Garage has been an amazing supporter of SMBA for years, and some of our most fond memories are having team meetings at the shop and seeing the awesome support, but also seeing our athletes get amped for the season at the shop.
We’re really looking forward to participating in more events with Sports Garage this year, and having you sponsor an athlete for the 2023 season! Our Epic Team is getting excited for the Gravalanche in May, too; I think we’ll have a good size SMBA group out there riding!