Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We are passionate about making mountain biking accessible to all communities and are working closely with Urban Promise in Wilmington, Urban Bike Project and others to connect communities of color with the sport of mountain biking.

In February 2021, Trek introduced the Pathfinders Scholarship to bring greater diversity, equity, and inclusion to youth mountain biking by providing people of color with the bikes, gear, and resources they need to overcome historical barriers to the sport.

GRiT

The GRiT (Girls Riding Together) Program is NICA’s effort to recruit and retain more girls and female coaches in NICA programs and get More Girls On Bikes! Currently, girls represent 20% of NICA’s overall national student-athlete participation. NICA GRiT seeks to increase that number significantly over the next five years.

GRiT's goal is to empower female student-athlete's to make their mark, on or off the bike. The Delaware league has an individual GRiT Coordinator to implement programming from the NICA GRiT Tool box at events, races, rides and camps. Help us reach our goal of increasing female participation by 33%!

NICA Teen Trail Corps

Teen Trail Corps supports NICA’s mission to build strong minds, bodies, character, and communities through cycling by creating a culture of service within our community.

Mountain biking as a community has often felt a responsibility towards the trail systems we use and Teen Trail Corps is the NICA program to introduce our student-athletes to that culture of service. As leagues across NICA experience growth, NICA teams become highly visible users of the trail systems.

 

NICA Adventure

NICA Adventure is a program that allows youth to experience the benefits of mountain biking, camaraderie, community, and the outdoors. NICA Adventure strives to reinforce our core values, build health and strength, learn new skills, and be part of a team of like-minded people. A NICA Adventure event promotes everything we love with mountain biking—fun rides, hanging out with friends, enjoying nature, appreciating great trails, and meeting new people. 

 

Competition

Team practice is the foundation of NICA programming and interscholastic racing is one of NICA’s core activities. NICA's inclusive racing format offers participants the opportunity to experience and learn discipline, success, failure, and graceful defeat. Racing in the team environment helps student-athletes learn empathy, humility, flexibility, and resiliency. NICA student-athletes learn that it takes a village to build a successful racer, as well as to put on a event.