Photo by Cutis Keene via Anneke Beerten
By Matt George
Sometimes we take things for granted. Normal is subjective. Some people live in Central Indiana where seeing a mountain bike on the back of a car, of any quality level, is exciting and even a bit unifying, even if no words were exchanged. Been there. Then there are places like the Front Range of Colorado; A place where you could live in a neighborhood like I do now. A neighborhood (or several neighborhoods connected in a small area technically) where 9-10 serious mountain bikers, who are friends and neighbors, all FRMB members and regularly ride together all live within about a 1 mile radius. This can seem normal in a place like Colorado yet, it seems to create the extraordinary right under our mountain bike commune noses.
This isn't the story of our neighborhood, that's a tale to be told though. Maybe by someone with clearer eyes than me, someone to tell the story of how so many friends from around the country came together and met new friends and all ride in one small, somewhat obscure spot on the Front Range. No. This is a story about little kids, mostly little girls. One five year old in particular but, they kind of come in little packs where we live.
As was stated above, there are a lot of mountain bikers in our neighborhood. Most of us within sight of each others garages. After work ride sessions on our wide 3 car driveways and into our fairly mellow streets is a 2-3 time a week occasion. Seeing Wreckonings, Enduros, Niners, Rocky Mountains, etc, laid down next to cute little pink specialized 16" bikes, striders with pneumatic tubeless upgrades, 20" full suspension Norco's and 24" Commencals is just another Tuesday in the "Rox". Parents act like kids (while trying not to spill their beer) as kids try to ride like their parents. It's magic.
Cadence on her fully rigid, must not have felt like riding her full suspension that day!
To say that these kids are immersed in mountain biking is an understatement. When its too cold or dark to ride outside, often the first movie requested is something like Unre@l or a Curtis Keene or Danny MacAskill edit. My 5 year old knows on Friday to ask about the latest Nate Hills video and everyone in the neighborhood has heard my 3 year old ask when she can go "mockabockin". This again, is our normal. I occasionally do have to remind myself though that having a five year old mountain biker who hits Trestle, literally, every weekend, living down the street, isn't exactly normal outside of our little bubble. This abnormality is no accident though, not even close. While the riders in our neighborhood pretty much all indoctrinate their children with the gospel of mountain biking, no one does it better than the Combs family.
I met Krista and Clay Combs 10-11 years ago in Georgia, before a mountain bike trip when I lived in Florida. They were friends of Eric (another FRMB rider and the current neighbor across the street) whom I rode with in Florida at Alafia River State Park and a limited number of trails in the area. This was before any of us had kids but, you could tell right away that Clay and Krista would raise a world class mountain biker. They displayed and continue to display the type of perseverance and patience required to be the parent of a mini-mountain biker, the type of commitment to their little rider that most of us "typical" mtb parents wish we could accomplish. It's pretty hard where we live to be the best rider or the best parent of a little rider. There's a lot of very friendly competition, right in the neighborhood. They easily win the Roxborough "Best MTB Parents" title though. Taking Cadence on trail rides regularly since she was able to stand, spending weekend after weekend trading time riding with friends and riding with Cadence. It's a sacrifice that they are not too likely to highlight so, I'll do it for them.
My daughter Elle, borrowing Clays hat. Probably about to ask if she can go "mockabockin".
Krista and Clays effort is paying off, Cadence is riding green and even some blue downhill trails at Trestle. Don't forget that she's 5 years old. She recently even got to hang with Anneke Beerten and Curtis Keene at Trestle Bike Park. As cool as that is, the best part may be that Cadence was super stoked to see pro riders being so thoughtful and present. Clay said that she rode more confidently than he'd ever seen after the experience. Way to go Anneke and Curtis, thank you for treating our FRMB family so well. It's great to see the community response to these little riders. My own daughter Elle was filmed for almost an hour by 9 news Denver (Thanks Eddie Lee and Mike Grady) and was called the future VP of COMBA by the current VP of COMBA.
This is what we're about here at frontrangemountainbiking.com and our Facebook group. Supporting riders by supporting community. We're trying, collectively, to lead by example. We're not perfect but, we're trying. Go to our FB page, group or comment here on the site if you'd like to join us. We'd like to see more articles about you, your community, kids and mountain biking in general. Let's do this together, all of it. The raising riders part, the new adults, the empowerment of the minorities in our mtb community and most importantly our future. Visit our Links We Love, talk to us and share us. Lets make the sport a little better, in a lot of ways, for the next bunch of riders.
Thanks to the Kramer, Combs, Adams, Meis, Van Summeren, Enriquez, Friedmann, Bartley and George families for the pics and/or inspiration.
Gray and Elle taking a little rest after curb jump practice.
Oliver getting it done in Crested Butte!
Gray riding the single track in the dog park by our house.
Emma KOM'n it at Trestle.
Nah na Nah na Nah na..... Bat Girl!
Ana and Leo on our neighborhood single track.
Eric and Leo
Ana and Leo hanging with the local wildlife.
Andy and Ollie
