Ride Program

We take kids on mountain bike rides to have fun and to promote personal achievement and self-empowerment. “If I stick with it, I could make it to the top.”

Our ride program occurs on Saturday mornings from 9AM until noon at Colonel Francis Beatty Park in Matthews and Fisher Farm in Davidson. Rides are also scheduled during the summer with various summer programs and camps etc. Bikes, helmets, water bottles and a lunch are provided. Typically ten kids participate on a ride, with at least one adult volunteer for every two kids.

Our kids come to us from existing community- based organizations who work with 10-15 year olds kids from Charlotte’s fragile neighborhoods. Our program is often used as a reward for kids from these organizations for good behavior and/or good grades. Each ride begins with a safety session to ensure everyone understands the “rules of the trails” and all aspects of operating their bike safely.

The skill level of the group, determines the level of trail ridden. As the kids’ proficiency increases, they are challenged with more difficult trails. Many of our rides have members from local cycling clubs such as the Dirt Divas or Cannonballs serving as volunteers and working with the kids. CMPD officers also volunteer on our rides.

Contact us if your organization would like to ride with us.

GETTING IN/STAYING IN

Kids must come from “fragile” communities or environments, which include but are not limited to: inner city neighborhoods; housing projects; impoverished rural communities; single-parent homes; foster homes; environments where positive role models are scarce.

Kids must be enrolled in a school or a home schooling program complying with the educational laws of the state they reside in, either North or South Carolina.

Kid’s may be asked to commit to an improvement track for addressing a specific issue in their development, such as an educational track to improve grades or a mentoring track to help them in their personal development.

A completed and parent signed waiver form must be on file before kids are allowed to participate.

Bad Behavior Rule: Disqualification from next ride and/or increased community service before joining another ride.

Extreme Behavior Rule: Two Strikes and you're out of the program.

The conditions for “staying in” the Kids Program are subject to change.

SAFETY

All kids must wear a helmet (provided by TFKC) to participate in the program.

Kids participate in Trips for Kids Charlotte Skills Clinic before they participate in any Mountain or Road bike rides. The Skills Clinic will cover both Road and Off-road Trail safety, including IMBA’s “Rules of the Trail”.www.imba.com.

It will be Trips for Kids Charlotte “standard operating procedure” to cover Road and Off-road Trail safety before the start of any ride. On rides, kids will be broken out into groups based on their skills level determined from Skills Clinics and previous rides.

Throughout the rides, the importance of taking care of your bike and your body is encouraged.