I've been hearing for some time about the potential other areas of the country have developed regarding cycling as a high school sport. It looks like those efforts are coming to Utah. Hopefully this endeavor finds success and support. One of the best things about cycling is that participants are usually life-long athletes rather than 4-5years through high school and then the activity stops. Here is the info below:
My name is Lori Harward. I am the director of Utah High School Mountain Biking. I am contacting Utah’s cycling clubs to let them know about us and what we are doing.
We are an organization bringing mountain biking into Utah’s high schools in 2012. We are in the bid process with the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) to become a Project League. NICA is the governing body for high school cycling. We have a strong bid and feel confident this will happen. Upon winning this bid, NICA invests in Utah to get our League up and running. They provide coaching education and certification. Partnered with THE POSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE, they will train coaches, assistants, rider leaders, etc. They will bring to Utah a Coaching Clinic which will teach coaches everything from how to teach mountain biking skills to running the school program, all with a focus on how to treat kids with respect and how to build their self esteem through positive coaching. NICA will aid in skills clinics for kids, aid in getting our races up and running and they will help provide means and sponsorship to get us off the ground.
Race Venues following NICA specifications, follow a 4-6 mile lap format, making them very spectator friendly so parents, families, and friends can watch their athlete race and cheer them on. Our proposed race season will be in the fall.
We already have 40 volunteer coaches in over 25 schools. We have over 80 volunteers total. And, we are still growing.
Our League Development Committee, being highly passionate bikers ourselves, is fully committed in bringing to kids this wonderful sport which has brought so much joy in our own lives! It is fun, and the kids will have fun! We wanted to meet the needs of those kids not in mainstream sports. And, we want to do so in a positive way that builds the self esteem of kids. The great thing about cycling is that is is life-long, you can be 30, 40, or 60 years old and still out riding for fun and/or racing, providing health and fitness for life! Unlike many high school sports that realistically end for most kids when they graduate.
We need your help. As part of our bid process, we need to have 1000 likes on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/UtahHSMTBike. Could you please let your club members know about us. Also, please have them contact me if they have children who would be interested in participating or if they would like to volunteer themselves. I have attached a flyer you can view and/or use.
Lastly, could you please tell me the number of people in your organization? Feel free to contact me.
Thank you for your help!
Lori Harward
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
More potential good news from UDPS.
I am trying to contact bicycle advocates in Cache County to invite them to participate/provide feedback in UDOT's Peace on the Pavement Campaign.
If you or others you know may be interested in this effort, please contact me ASAP. Thank you.
Please see info below:
As you may have heard, the Utah Department of Transportation and the Utah Department of Public Safety are launching a campaign to raise awareness of traffic laws related to bicycles on the road, and to improve the relationship between bicyclists and motor vehicle
drivers. As a part of the campaign (which has been branded "Peace on the Pavement"), a bicycle ride across Utah is being planned. The ride will bring cyclists into cities and towns for events that will inform families about bicycle safety and the need for cooperation in
sharing the road.
We are now in the secondary planning phase of the campaign. The campaign team has determined that the most efficient way to move this phase forward is to assemble a planning group made up of people from the locations where the ride and events will take place to generate ideas and help to coordinate logistics. If you are interested in participating in this effort and/or know of a bicycle advocate(s) in your County that is, please let me know.
We have selected 9 counties to hold awareness rides/media events including: Cache, Davis, Grand, Salt Lake, Utah, Wayne, Weber, Washington and Summit. I am still looking for contacts who would like to be involved in Cache, and Summit Counties. Please let me know if you or someone you know can participate in this effort. We want your county to be represented.
A planning meeting will be held next Tuesday at UDOT's headquarters. If you can't attend the meeting in person, you can call-in. Let me know if you will be calling in and I will email you the call in number.
Again the meeting will be held on:
Tuesday, March 29 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., at the UDOT Complex (4501 South
2700 West, Salt Lake City)
We appreciate your willingness to be a part of this important effort to build awareness and improve safety for bicyclists and motorists on Utah's roads. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns.
RSVP to Keri Gibson at kgibson@utah.gov or by calling the number below.
Keri Gibson
Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety
Utah Department of Public Safety/ Highway Safety Office
801-243-7571
kgibson@utah.gov
If you or others you know may be interested in this effort, please contact me ASAP. Thank you.
Please see info below:
As you may have heard, the Utah Department of Transportation and the Utah Department of Public Safety are launching a campaign to raise awareness of traffic laws related to bicycles on the road, and to improve the relationship between bicyclists and motor vehicle
drivers. As a part of the campaign (which has been branded "Peace on the Pavement"), a bicycle ride across Utah is being planned. The ride will bring cyclists into cities and towns for events that will inform families about bicycle safety and the need for cooperation in
sharing the road.
We are now in the secondary planning phase of the campaign. The campaign team has determined that the most efficient way to move this phase forward is to assemble a planning group made up of people from the locations where the ride and events will take place to generate ideas and help to coordinate logistics. If you are interested in participating in this effort and/or know of a bicycle advocate(s) in your County that is, please let me know.
We have selected 9 counties to hold awareness rides/media events including: Cache, Davis, Grand, Salt Lake, Utah, Wayne, Weber, Washington and Summit. I am still looking for contacts who would like to be involved in Cache, and Summit Counties. Please let me know if you or someone you know can participate in this effort. We want your county to be represented.
A planning meeting will be held next Tuesday at UDOT's headquarters. If you can't attend the meeting in person, you can call-in. Let me know if you will be calling in and I will email you the call in number.
Again the meeting will be held on:
Tuesday, March 29 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., at the UDOT Complex (4501 South
2700 West, Salt Lake City)
We appreciate your willingness to be a part of this important effort to build awareness and improve safety for bicyclists and motorists on Utah's roads. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns.
RSVP to Keri Gibson at kgibson@utah.gov or by calling the number below.
Keri Gibson
Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety
Utah Department of Public Safety/ Highway Safety Office
801-243-7571
kgibson@utah.gov
A bit of information from the Joyride Club President regarding some new access for recreation in the Cache Valley area...
Fellow Bikers (especially those MTB ers....),
I have recently caught wind of a meeting in SLC on March 31 of the Cache-Wasatch Recreational Advisory Committee (RAC). This committee will be discussing and voting on, among other issues, a proposed plan to do some work in Smithfield Canyon. Though I have not seen exact details, I have spoken with a member of the RAC that lives in Smithfield and helped draft the proposal. Of main interest to myself, is the inclusion of a singletrack multi-use trail that runs the length of Smithfield Canyon (from the campground to the wilderness boundary. Other points of the proposal include cleaning up the canyon by designating camping areas and improving the road, as well as restoring the road to the original boundaries drawn up by the congressional committee that first instituted the wilderness area.
Expanded recreational opportunities in these Congressionally appointed corridors through wilderness area are hugely beneficial to the population at large. A shining example of that is in Green Canyon with the recent singletrack improvements/additions as well as designating campsites. Along with these improvements have come conflicts though. As Green Canyon is by far the best piece of singletrack close to town, it is becoming more crowded and there will be increased conflicts between those of different as well as within the same user groups. The trail up Smithfield Canyon would definitely help the growing congestion problem in Green Canyon, by offering another viable recreational option.
There is a public comment period immediately prior to the vote. So far, there are two of us that are willing to carpool/caravan down to SLC to help in this effort. I wanted to throw this out to the cycling community at large to see if we could drum up some more support. We would love to have as many people as possible attend this meeting. I'm a little short on details, but hopefully will be able to provide more in the near future. Please let me know if you are interested in more details or if you would be interested in joining us.
Thanks,
-Neil-
I have recently caught wind of a meeting in SLC on March 31 of the Cache-Wasatch Recreational Advisory Committee (RAC). This committee will be discussing and voting on, among other issues, a proposed plan to do some work in Smithfield Canyon. Though I have not seen exact details, I have spoken with a member of the RAC that lives in Smithfield and helped draft the proposal. Of main interest to myself, is the inclusion of a singletrack multi-use trail that runs the length of Smithfield Canyon (from the campground to the wilderness boundary. Other points of the proposal include cleaning up the canyon by designating camping areas and improving the road, as well as restoring the road to the original boundaries drawn up by the congressional committee that first instituted the wilderness area.
Expanded recreational opportunities in these Congressionally appointed corridors through wilderness area are hugely beneficial to the population at large. A shining example of that is in Green Canyon with the recent singletrack improvements/additions as well as designating campsites. Along with these improvements have come conflicts though. As Green Canyon is by far the best piece of singletrack close to town, it is becoming more crowded and there will be increased conflicts between those of different as well as within the same user groups. The trail up Smithfield Canyon would definitely help the growing congestion problem in Green Canyon, by offering another viable recreational option.
There is a public comment period immediately prior to the vote. So far, there are two of us that are willing to carpool/caravan down to SLC to help in this effort. I wanted to throw this out to the cycling community at large to see if we could drum up some more support. We would love to have as many people as possible attend this meeting. I'm a little short on details, but hopefully will be able to provide more in the near future. Please let me know if you are interested in more details or if you would be interested in joining us.
Thanks,
-Neil-
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