Trail Blasters
Youth Mountain Biking Group
The 2022 season will be the third year of riding for the Trail Blasters since Coach Craig approached the Northampton Cycling Club about starting a youth mountain biking team (thanks Craig!). We offer weekly rides for kids in grades 3-12 beginning in April and ending in October. Depending on who shows up to a given ride, we will typically break the whole group into elementary (grades 5 and under), middle (6-8), and highschool (9-12) groups. We also offer a girls group. Each group will have 4-6 kids riding with 2-3 adults, minimum. This provides for a lot of opportunity for one-on-one instruction during the rides. Adults (parents, caregivers, family members, family friends) are welcome to ride with the group.
The only requirements are that kids have a trail-ready bike with gears, at least 24″ wheels, and a helmet. We also require that all participants be a current NCC member with either an individual junior ($10 per child under 18/year) or family membership ($55/year) to participate (that’s a pretty sweet deal!). Kids are usually ready to ride trails starting in third grade, give or take a year. If you’re at all unsure whether your child is ready, please feel free to reach out to us. We would be happy to chat with you.
Weekly Ride Schedule
We ride Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-7:45pm and some weekend days from 12-2pm. Our Tuesday ride is always at Sawmill Hills in Florence (our home-trails). On Thursdays, we ride different trails from week to week. Weekend ride locations also vary. We post the schedule a month or two at a time. The schedule below covers May and June. We will post the July and August schedule before the end of June.
Tuesdays from 6-7:45pm:
Sawmill Hills from the Armory entrance at end of Col. Lavellee Ln. off Spring St. in Florence.
Every Tuesday 5/3 through 6/28.
Thursdays from 6-7:45pm:
5/5: Eaglebrook, Deerfield. Meet at the trail head at the top of Pine Nook Rd. (201–215 Pine Nook Rd, Deerfield, MA 01342) – please don’t park on the side of the road (there are no parking signs).
5/12: Montague Plains. Meet in the gravel lot (Bartlett Rd. – dirt) off of Lake Pleasant Rd. (Montague Plains, Bartlett Rd., Montague, MA 01351)
5/19: Earl’s trails. Meet at the end of Chmura Rd. (100 Chmura Rd, Hadley, MA 01035)
5/26: B-street, Granby. Meet in the dirt lot on Batchelor St. (43–47 Batchelor St., Granby, MA 01033)
6/2: Montague Plains. Meet in the gravel lot (Bartlett Rd. – dirt) off of Lake Pleasant Rd. (Montague Plains, Bartlett Rd., Montague, MA 01351)
6/9: Eaglebrook, Deerfield. Meet at the trail head at the top of Pine Nook Rd. (201–215 Pine Nook Rd, Deerfield, MA 01342) – please don’t park on the side of the road (there are no parking signs).
6/16: Earl’s trails. Meet at the end of Chmura Rd. (100 Chmura Rd, Hadley, MA 01035)
6/23: B-street, Granby. Meet in the dirt lot on Batchelor St. (43–47 Batchelor St., Granby, MA 01033)
6/30: Montague Plains. Meet in the gravel lot (Bartlett Rd. – dirt) off of Lake Pleasant Rd. (Montague Plains, Bartlett Rd., Montague, MA 01351)
Coaches
Our coaches are Safesport certified and have years of experience running youth cycling programs. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.
Tom Hoogendyk
NCC Youth Programs Coordinator
Trail Blasters Assistant Coach
thoogendyk@nohobikeclub.org
Craig Neal
Trail Blasters Head Coach
bikeharder36@yahoo.com
