Efforts made by the Rolla Lions Club and Route 66 Bicycles two decades ago have led to the formation of a youth mountain bike team and Rolla’s addition to a national bike race series this fall.
Youths entering grades 6-12 in the fall of 2024 – from public, private and home schools – are urged to join coaches and riders from Ozarks United Composite to learn the basics of mountain biking at the GRiT (Girls Riding Together) Come Try It Out event at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 23 at Lions Club Park. The event is associated with the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) and Missouri Interscholastic Cycling League and despite its name is open to any person – boy or girl – interesting in learning the basics of mountain biking and joining a new youth mountain biking team being formed in this region.
Persons can register to the Come Try It Out event by emailing ozarkunitedcomp@gmail.com, or sending a message on the Ozark United Composite Facebook page.
Daniel Fuhrmann, owner of Route 66 Bicycles, and Di Guetersloh, an employee at Route 66 Bicycles, will be two of several coaches for GRiT and the new bike team.
“That Try It Out is not a tryout; it’s really like a signup,” Fuhrmann said. “It’s really pitched towards girls, to get girls to see they can be a part of it. But anybody who shows up is welcome.”
The new regional team – yet to be named – will serve as the host team for the Missouri Interscholastic Cycling League’s Escape From The Lions Den mountain bike race for kids in grades 6-12, to be held at the Rolla Lions Club bike trail Sept. 7-8.
Practice for the new team is to begin July 1. Registration for 2024 closes Aug. 15.
“We started the team so that local kids from this area can do the race,” Fuhrmann said. “You’ve got to be part of a team to compete in a race. We knew the race was coming here a year before. Last year they had a race in their series canceled due to rain, and came to check us out. They were excited to see the Lions Club trail fit all the standards and scheduled us for a make-up race last fall, on Halloween weekend. That race was also rained out. But they gave us a race for this year.”
Route 66 Bicycles, located at 509 W. 5th Street in Rolla, worked with Rolla Lions Club to build the bike trail there in the early 2000s.
“They started the shop in 1996 and we came in during 2002,” Fuhrmann said. “We built that trail in 2003. And this last year we did four new re-routes at the trail. Sometimes water comes out of topography and forces changes to be made. And for the trail’s 21st birthday, we made some changes.”
Fuhrmann says the September race will bring a large number of riders and parents to the Rolla area for the weekend.
“It will be great for the community. They needed a venue that can hold 1,000 cars and has a trail that adheres to (NICA) standards,” Fuhrmann said. “Fortunately, Lions Club meets those standards.”
It is stressed that the new youth mountain bike team is open to any boy or girl in grades 6-12 throughout the region.
“It creates a community closeness,” Guetersloh said. “It’s open to kids from any school, any county and home school kids. Kids make new friends, and the same with the parents. It definitely expands the youth mountain bike community. And it gives parents an opportunity to ride, too.”
The team will be part of Ozark United.
“We’re working on logos and branding,” Fuhrmann said. “We want the kids to have a say in it, too.”
All members of the new team can compete in the upcoming race series, including Escape From The Lions Den this coming fall.
“No one sits out. Everybody gets to race,” Guetersloh said. “It’s divided up in different levels, so everybody can compete. By grades and A, B, C (level) races. There will be a lot going on.”
There will be plenty of instruction for the young bikers.
“There is a ratio of how many coaches to kids,” Fuhrmann said. “We (Fuhrmann and Guetersloh) will be two of several coaches.”
Youths interested in joining the new team can contact Route 66 Bicycles at 573 368-3001 for more information.
