Mountain Biking the Cutler Park Reservation with St. Peters

11/10/18

We had a great trip to Cutler Park! Nicki , Adrienne, new volunteer Matt and I took 10 HS youths, plus agency rep Augusto from the Teen Center on 8 miles of mountain biking. The youths and Augusto were on hard-tail "hybrid" bikes but performed stunningly. We negotiated a discount from Urban Adventours for the trip and paid $32/bike for the full day's rental. The Teen Ctr provided a van with seats removed to transport the bikes.

We started at the Teen Ctr with a great warm-up in the gymnasium led by Adrienne and Nicki. We drove to the trailhead where we fitted the bikes, did an Opening Circle to cover bike safety, checked helmets, and did some test runs around the parking lot. We particularly covered "safe falling" and other bike etiquette (giving space between riders), which proved important... the only "injury" was when a youth with a higher mass fell off the trail into a small but impressive dead tree ... which fell due to his high mass (mass * change in velocity = impulse). Then, all the other youth fell off their bikes laughing. Lots of laughter!

Temperatures were 40F with wind, but it was sunny and the spirits were extremely high, as should be evident in these photos:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wb5oo6ggpp2flgt/AAC82skX4LhNODire0L2q8j3a?dl=0

https://photos.app.goo.gl/fMTRMURC73Rd9KXy9

Because we brought extra warm clothing, we were able to bolster hands and core insulation so that all the youth were warm ... until one biked into the water ... but was able to borrow layers from his friends! Teamwork!!! A great reminder by Adrienne that "the first to laugh should be the first to check-in". Nicely done.

We closed with 1x Gratitude observation by everyone - friends, bikes, and fine weather were the most popular choices.

GREAT VOLUNTEER TEAM! Matt helped me get the bikes, Adrienne led the way with the bike 101 and Nicki crushed lunch preparation & swept the rear when biking. I am very grateful to them!

Thanks,

Matt