Junior Mountain Riders
Weekly mountain bike club providing safe and positive opportunities for kids to grow mountain bike skills with peers and coaches. Please read this entire page to see if your kids are a good fit.
Motivated Riders Welcome
- This program is designed for children ages 7-11 who are motivated to mountain bike ride for about 1.5 hours.
- Riders are grouped by ability and experience so that each ride is appropriately challenging and fun.
- Younger and older children may be considered if riding ability is appropriate. Contact us if you have questions about your child’s ability level.
- Registration and a waiver is required for all participants.
- Cost for each session (4 weeks) is $90.
Weekly Rides
- Weekly rides are from 4:00 to 5:45pm on Monday afternoons at Tahoe XC
- Rides average 1.5 hours, ranging from 4-9 miles
- Some exceptions include weather, trail conditions, smoke, holidays, and coach availability
- Email or text notifications will be sent ahead of time if there is a change to any particular ride
2023 Junior Mountain Rider Dates
Due to safety guidelines and available coaches, we are limiting participation numbers per session. Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis, regardless of whether your child has been in the Junior Riders program before. If anything changes, we will adjust accordingly, but our first priority is safety and providing equal opportunity for participants.
June Session 2023
- 4 weekly rides on Mondays
- June Dates: June 5, 12, 19 and 31
July Session 2023
- 4 weekly rides on Mondays
- July Dates: July 10, 17, 24, and 31
August Session 2022
- 4 weekly rides on Mondays
- August Dates: August 7, 14, 24, and 28
Terrain
- Rides are on cross-country style dirt fire roads and single track trails accessed from the Tahoe XC Lodge
- Participants should be able to ride on dirt trails for an hour and a half (4-9 miles)
Smoke Policy
The health and safety of our staff and participants is a high priority. Tahoe XC will be using airnow.gov and the Air Quality Guide for Particle Pollution for determining the following Air Quality Index (AQI) standards.
- lf less than 100 AQI, we will host Junior Mountain Riders.
- If AQI is 101-150, Tahoe XC will host Junior Mountain Riders and participants can choose whether to attend or not based on their sensitivity level. No refund will be given.
- If AQI is 151+, Tahoe XC will cancel and we will attempt to reschedule based on coach availability. We will do our best to reschedule, up to two times. We will not offer a refund based on sessions we are unable to staff nor will there be a refund for participants who are unable to attend the rescheduled ride(s). However, if Tahoe XC cancels an entire session (4 weeks) we will refund the session fee.
We will notify participants by 12:00 noon if we need to cancel Junior Mountain Riders due to poor air quality.
Head Coaches
Alenka Vrecek- Alenka Vrecek is a native of Slovenia and has been an integral part of the Lake Tahoe community for over thirty years. Her three children grew up in the spirit of love and appreciation for the great outdoors. Alenka was a ski coach for thirty years and she co-directed the North Tahoe Bike Force together with Allie Donovan and Emily Turner for seven years. Alenka’s greatest goal in life is to find joy in movement in nature, especially by riding her bike. She loves to coach skills to kids, so they can do the same. Alenka teaches by example. She rode her mountain bike from Tahoe to the tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula following the Sierra Nevada Mountain range and Baja Divide. She intended to show herself and others, that anything is possible, if we set our mind to it. Alenka has a degree in Psychology, Pedagogy and Physical Education.
Kristen Martin del Campo- Kristen has a passion for working outdoors. She grew up in the Midwest and fell in love with the Lake Tahoe area after completing her degree in Exercise Science. Kristen is a BICP Level 2 coach with over 10 years of bike coaching experience in the Lake Tahoe area. In the shoulder seasons, Kristen travels with the Dirt Series, a traveling mountain bike clinic. In the winter, Kristen is a ski and snowboard instructor at Northstar. Her credentials include: PSIA Alpine level 2, Nordic level 1, AASI lSnowboard level 1 instructor, and Wilderness First Responder. Kristen loves racing bikes. She started with XC racing I and now focuses on enduro and downhill mountain bike racing.
Allie Donovan- Almost a Tahoe local, Allie has lived in the North Lake area for 19 years. She loves feeling the wind in her hair, usually with a helmet on her head. Her most memorable bike-related experiences include racing in the Downieville Classic, completing the Death Ride, hosting the Woop-de-doo Enduro, exploring remote singletrack with friends, and most recently, sharing a love of biking with her two young daughters. Allie has experience working with youth as a coach for the Palisades Big Mountain Ski Team, and as a co-founder of the North Tahoe Bike Force. If Allie could travel anywhere in the world with her bike, it would be hut-to-hut in the Chilcotin, BC backcountry.
Required Gear
- Participants must provide their own mountain bike (with gears) and safety helmet. Both are necessary for participation.
- All riders are required to carry water and a trail snack, as none are provided.
- Required gear (per kid):
- Geared mountain bike (recently tuned)
- Helmet
- Eye protection
- Gloves
- Water (in bottle cage or backpack)
- Snack (in pocket or backpack)
- Inner tube spare (under seat or in backpack)
- Closed-toed shoes
- Layered clothing appropriate for varying weather conditions
- Sunscreen
- Smile and a positive attitude