Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club, Charlottesville, VA.
Trips for Kids, Fox Valley Chapter, South Elgin, IL.
Redding Mountain Biking, Redding, CA.

Thousands Ride on Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day

For Immediate Release
10-03-04
Contact: Pete Webber, IMBA communications director

303-545-9011

Kids across the country hit the trails this past Saturday for the first annual National Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. Promoted by the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), National Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day challenges adults and biking clubs to introduce kids to the sport of mountain biking.

More than 100 events took place nationwide and in several other countries. The Washington, D.C. chapter of Trips for Kids, an at-risk-youth mountain biking program, won IMBA's drawing for a matching set of three kids mountain bikes donated by Schwinn Bicycles.

Childhood obesity in the United States has reached an all-time high and IMBA believes mountain biking can help reverse this trend. Bicycling builds self-confidence and offers kids and adults an adrenaline-packed adventure while giving them an effective, low-impact workout.

IMBA, with the help of U.S. Congressman Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mark Udall of Colorado, has introduced a resolution to the U.S. Congress declaring the first Saturday in October as National Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. The resolution was established in memory of Jack Doub, an avid teenage mountain biker.

Stay tuned to the IMBA website later this month for stories and photos of the adventures. Save the date for next year's event on Oct. 1.

IMBA's National Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day is supported by the Jack Doub Memorial Endowment, Schwinn Bicycles and the Goldsmith-Greenfield Foundation. For more information about National Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, please visit http://www.imba.com/resources/kids/index.html