National Interscholastic Cycling Association

Does your league offer camping at NICA races? 🏕️ There's nothing quite like camping out on race weekends with the whole NICA crew! Student-athletes, families, coaches, and race staff all come together to set up camp, share meals, and enjoy evenings under the stars. 🌌 📸: DH Photography #NICARaceWeekend #CampAndRide #MoreKidsOnBikes

👋 Hey! Want to work with NICA?! Are you... 🚵🏽♀️ ...a communications wizard who is STOKED on NICA's goals to get #MoreKidsOnBikes?! 📣 ...someone who knows about the impact of our leagues and program and wants to shout it from the rooftops?! 💻 ...savvy and skilled with communications and marketing tools? ...if you answered "heck YES!" to those questions, were looking for YOU! 🫵 We would be ✨thrilled✨ if you clicked through to https://lnkd.in/gZhzPuV9 to check out our job description. We're accepting applications through November 15 for this full-time, remote role on a dynamic and fun team. Photo: Katie Sox, Oregon Interscholastic Cycling League #NICA #MoreKidsOnBikes #NICAjobs

On our NICA teams, we teach athletes how important it is to show gratitude for those around you, to lift up your teammates, and to let them know why they're awesome. For November, we've got a fun, festive challenge for all of our NICA friends: how many 🌟NICA SUPERSTAR🌟 ballots can we fill out and share before the end of the month?! What's a SUPERSTAR BALLOT? Well, it's an informal way to share some stoke for the NICA rockstars in your life! NICA Superstars show up in big and small ways...and they can be anyone! A coach, a fellow athlete, a parent, a teacher, a sibling, or a volunteer...the sky is the limit. Save a ballot image from this post, or screenshot it. Fill it out, send it to us in a DM, or share it on your profile and tag us! Let's see how many kudos we can share. It's time to spread some kindness and let someone know how much you appreciate them. We need it this November and always. (PS - we've got a printable and editable NICA Superstar Canva template you can use with your teams, too. Coaches can find the template in our NICA Coach Resources!)

What do zombies and bike skills have in common? Bet you're dying to know... 🧟♂️💀🧠🍴 Our on-the-bike game, Zombie Tag, is a great way to get into the Halloween spirit AND fine tune your bike-handling chops. Learn how to play it here: https://lnkd.in/gBDqfdaD Speaking of games...it's no trick: fun is a huge part of learning at NICA! It's one of our core values, and it shows up in all sorts of places. Games are proven to help riders learn. NICA coaches use games to teach skills, create community, and foster whole-athlete development. You can check out more bike games over at our coach blog, The Trailhead: coaching.nationalmtb.org How have you learned new skills using fun and games?

It's the spookiest time of the year! Happy Halloween from NICA! 🎃🎉 Whether you're carving up trails or pumpkins today, we hope you're having a fang-tastic day! 🚵♂️💀 📸: Devra Massey, Briana Clark-Forgie, DH Photography, Flannery Allison, & Anthony James #MoreKidsOnBikes #HappyHalloween #NICA

"My vision is to encourage moms to believe that they belong in mountain biking, and that they can give themselves the time and space in their lives to pursue a fun activity!” - Beth Pride Ford, TN GRiT Coordinator. 🌟 In Tennessee, NICA is helping parents go beyond cheering from the sidelines with MOMS ON BIKES (MOBS) – an initiative inviting moms to learn mountain biking fundamentals and join their kids on the trails! Created by Beth Pride Ford, MOBS brings moms together for clinics covering skills like cornering and braking, followed by a fun, social ride with the GRiT student-athletes and Little Bellas. 🚲 Thanks to inspiring leaders like Beth, NICA moms nationwide are getting involved, many as coaches! 🙌 Want to read more about how NICA is getting more girls (and moms!) on bikes? Click here! 🔗: https://bit.ly/3YrpcCZ 📸: courtesy of Beth Pride Ford #MoreMomsOnBikes #NICA #MoreGirlsOnBikes

Registration is OPEN in many of our spring leagues! 🚨 Get ready to roll into the new season! Don’t miss your chance to join the stoke, make new friends, and experience the best sport ever (we might be biased 😉)! Connect with your local team to get an invite to Pit Zone and sign up! 🚵♂️ Not sure who leads your local team? Contact your league to find out! 📸: Fred Brown, Scott W, Florida Interscholastic Cycling League, Kansas MTB, Mississippi Interscholastic Cycling League, Nevada South Interscholastic Cycling League, & Piers Hendrie Headshots #MoreKidsOnBikes #NICA #SpringSeason

After 15 years of dedicated leadership, Vanessa Hauswald is stepping down as League Director of the NorCal Interscholastic Cycling League. From her start in 2005 as Head Coach of the Casa Grande MTB Team to becoming NorCal's League Director in 2009, Vanessa has been instrumental in shaping the youth-cycling in Northern California and beyond. Under her leadership, the League has introduced tens of thousands of teens to cycling, raised millions for scholarships, and expanded female athlete participation. Though stepping down, Vanessa will continue to support NICA as a board member, volunteer, and coach. ❤️ Timeline of Vanessa's leadership: 🏅 2005-2009: Head Coach, Casa Grande MTB Team 🏅 2008-2009: President of the Board, NorCal League 🏅 2009-2024: League Director, NorCal League 🏅 2022-present: Board Member, NICA During her time as League Director: 🚲 From 462-2402 student-athletes (5x) 🚲 From 73-1494 registered coaches (20x) 🚲 From 39-141 teams (3x) 🚲 Over 16,000 Teen Trail Corps hours Thank you, Vanessa, for your incredible contributions to NICA and getting #MoreKidsOnBikes! 🚲 📸: lots of NorCal Interscholastic Cycling League photographers! #NICA #NorCalLeague #ThankYouVanessa

What's your favorite Pit Zone item or activity? Share it in the comments!👇 We don’t talk about it enough, but the Pit Zone is where so much of the magic happens at NICA races! 🏕️💥 It’s not just where we fuel up with snacks and chill out during race day – it’s where friendships are built, where stories from the race course are shared, and where teams come together to support each other. 🤝 📸/📹: Katie Sox, DH Photography, Florida Interscholastic Cycling League, Brian Kohagen, Zach Perdue, Anthony James, Korey Hopkins, Wisconsin Interscholastic Cycling League, Adam Haynes, & Jack Anderson #MoreKidsOnBikes #NICA #PitZoneVibes

NICA Racing by the Numbers! Which is the most impressive fact? 🏁 Fall race season is coming to a close in many leagues and the stats are in! Here’s a snapshot of the awesome impact of NICA racing from ONE SINGLE WEEKEND: 💥 6,689 student-athletes lined up at the starting line 🔥 💪 25% of racers were female student-athletes, continuing to grow the stoke for girls in the sport! 🧑🤝🧑 40% of the racers were middle schoolers, bringing young energy to the course! ...and that's just ONE weekend! 🤯 Many of our leagues have been racing since August, and many will continue into November. That's a LOT of kids on bikes in just 4 short months! #MoreKidsOnBikes #NICA #NICAStats