IMBA's Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day

IMBA will celebrate its tenth-annual Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day (TKMBD) on Saturday, October 5, 2013. This is a great opportunity for you to share your passion for pedaling with kids!

What is Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day?

TKMBD is an annual celebration held on the first Saturday of October. The event, developed and coordinated by IMBA, strives to encourage communities around the world to join together and ride mountain bikes with youth. Last year, we had more than 13,000 participants at hundreds of events across the globe, including: Italy, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Malaysia, and Mexico. Informal or formal, one child or one hundred children, TKMBD celebrates the joy of riding in the dirt.

Besides being good, healthy fun, the goal is to develop a connection between kids and the natural world around them. Today's children are tomorrow's land managers and politicians — future decision-makers for important matters like recreation and access to public lands. How different might our current access landscape look today if previous generations of policy makers had grown up riding bikes on natural-surface trails?

Emphasis on Military Families in U.S.

In the U.S. this year, IMBA is reaching out to our nation's military families stationed at home and abroad. We're proud to help promote the shared mission of the National Military Family Association, the White House's Joining Forces and the Sierra Club's Military Families and Veterans Initiative. Let's do our part to put some smiles on these young, brave faces.

military family outdoors

How to Organize a TKMBD Event

It is really quite simple: plan a mountain bike ride with some kids! While TKMBD events are most often hosted by local IMBA chapters and affiliates, anyone can register an event. Here are some examples:

Soccer-mom carpool? Load up the bikes and the kids in the minivan and hit your local open space trails.
Military family? Take advantage of the free Annual Pass, which gives you free admission to BLM, NPS, and USFS sites.
Community bike shop? Hang our press-ready "save the date" poster and put out a sign-up sheet, then introduce some youngsters to your local trails (and maybe sell some bikes to eager kids needing to upgrade).
Boy/Girl Scout Troop? Grab the kids and explore — The North Face's Planet Explore has a great online resource, Explore Your Parks; check the 'bike' button first and type in your location.
MTB race team? TKMBD is a great opportunity for youth development and can serve as a teachable moment that there are established rules of the trail.

Registration will open this summer

Not Looking to Organize Your Own Event?

No problem — find one near you on our interactive map (check back often as new events are added).

Win A Bike!

Thanks to our friends at Specialized, we will again be giving away two kids' bikes this year via our Facebook page, so stay tuned for more details! Be sure to upload your photos and videos, and share your stories.

Get IMBA's New Publication for Youth

With help from Shimano, IMBA now offers a 12-page full-color magazine titled IMBA Trail News Youth Edition. It's designed for young riders (ages 10-18) and organizers of youth events. Check it out online for free, or order 15 copies for just $5 from our online store. Registered TKMBD rides will receive complimentary copies while supplies last.

It's Not Just Us

IMBA is proud to support the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative, as a partner in the Outdoor Alliance for Kids (OAK) coalition. We're especially pleased to see this new video from the White House featuring kids on bikes.
(Note: IMBA strongly encourages the use of helmets at all times while cycling.)

TKMBD events are conducted by IMBA clubs and chapters, retailers, volunteer groups and numerous Trips for Kids chapters. Corporate sponsors are welcome to join in support of this global effort.

As you can see, there are many ways to participate. Events range from a few kids in a neighborhood to larger festival-style events in a community park, open space, singletrack system or at a bike park. Develop a grassroots event in your community, support the national outreach, contribute to event care packages, or join an existing event. Email events [at] imba [dot] com (Terry Breheny) for more information on how you can get involved.

IMBA's Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day supports the mission of: