Category Archives: El Grupo

How Much Can One Person Do for the Community?

Bike Advisory Committee meeting, Bike Advocacy, Bike Friendly Laws, Bikes and Beverages (beer and booze), BMX, Charity Event, Community Bike Events, El Grupo, Established Group Rides, Mountain Bike, Stolen Bikes, The Loop, Training, Uncategorized

I’m on a mission to make Tucson a better community.  After the crash of the real estate market in 2007 I struggled to find my purpose in the world.  I was very hurt watching friends skirt responsibility and give homes back to the banks with strategic foreclosures.  The Real Estate sales industry often gets a bad name that puts us on the list of such notable “professionals” as used cars salesmen and ambulance chasing lawyers.  Unfortunately, I saw cut throat behavior from agents that really did warrant the name real -a-snake agent.  In the decade leading up to this I had the same passion for promoting the benefits and ethics of the Realtor that I now have for bikes.  Honestly, being in the industry, most people are ethical and do a great job, but a few bad apples really did taint my opinion.  Real Estate still pays my bills(now accepting referrals;-), but Bicycles fuel me.

As many of you know, last year I set out to ride my bike every day for a year.   From May 5 2012 through May 12, 2013 there was not a day that the foot was not in the pedal.  Having a daily goal like that was challenging yet very fulfilling.  I’m not sure I’m up for that task as the price on the family was too high, but is it possible to do something every day for the bike community? Not much, perhaps it is just sharing a question about a cyclist who was recently diagnosed with diabetes and is looking for a coach who understands the intricacies of training with type 2 Diabetes, volunteering with El Grupo Youth Cycling, helping a friend in the hospital after an accident, telling others about new trails and roads, stopping to help someone with a mechanical, getting others involved, telling the stories of others who are doing the same things for the community or taking photos of a ride so the community has recorded shared memories.

To some extent this is what BikePilgrim was created for.  To share the good word and highlight all the good there are in the Bike Community.  I think 365 blog posts in the next year might be a stretch, but I am going to set out to do 365 bike related activities.

17- Photos of the Silverbell Century.  GABA does lots of rides leading up to EL Tour and has options from a 30 mile to a century.  I needed to go to the office, but made a detour to take a few hundred images.  There are so many rides going on every day I do not know where to point the camera.

16- A friend of my wife purchased a trike in the hopes of becoming more physically fit.  Unfortunately, like so many people it was never used.  Now, three years later, it is collecting dust and she hoping to get her money back, or at least as much as possible.  I posted it on facebook and would like to say that it sold it.  However, it really is a specialty item and apart from a comment from one of the two people I know who ride trikes, Nada.  If you know someone who is has some physical limitations, but is interested in still being on the road, let me know.

15- El Tour de Tucson opened its door to Brendan Lyons and Look! Save a life/ Arizona.  I met with most of the Staff and Lorena and Brendan to see what we can do to promote Look! At El tour.  Brendan is going to have the opportunity to talk at the dedication dinner and we will have a booth at the expo.  We will not have much time to organize it, would love some help, and look forward to seeing you there.

14- A ride with my son, Sam.  Is it really doing something for the community to go for a bike ride with your own kid?  I’m going with a yes.  If you are not spending time with your children on the bike, you are missing an opportunity.

13- El Grupo recovery ride in the park.  We played games and worked on skills.  I shared with the world what Zombie Tag looks like.  What a great lead into Halloween.  This is tag on the bikes.  As soon as you tag someone, they are also it and so on until only one person remains.

12- The Business Builder Bike Ride.   This is such a fun event to take pictures of.  All riders dressed for Halloween and it ends with a keg from Borderlands brewery.

11- Pot Luck Dinner and Costume Party at The NICA race.  Many teams showed up, we shared food, the kids got to know each other.  Lots of images on The Damion Alexander Team.  This is the start of something really magnificent.

10- Repeats today.  Both on “A” Mountain and what was going on for the community.  El Grupo, pushing the incorporation of Look! Save a life(seems to have stalled), and details for the NICA high school social.  I would like to find creative new things each day to fuel the community and keep this interesting, but like so much of life, it is going to be the consistent grind that has the real impact.

9- This weekend in the 3rd race in the NICA season.  Mike Perry ,John Shumaker and NICA Arizona  have accomplished so much this  first year, but the races are missing that “community” feeling.  I expressed this to Mike and he said he agreed and asked me to make it more social.  Apparently, no good deed goes unpunished.    The plan is a pot luck dinner for a few hundred and a Halloween Costume Contest with prizes.  How hard can that be with 5 days to plan.

8- Two days in a row in Sabino for Bike Patrol.  So here is the skinny of why I do Bike Patrol.  I actually really don’t like telling people what to do.  However, I really Really  REALLY don’t want to see cyclist lose the privilege to ride in the canyon.  I Said Privilege and not Right because it is by the grace of the Ranger we are allowed to be there.  Here is my speech ” ride only on the times and days that are allowed.  Never on Wednesday and Saturday and not betwwen 9AM and 5PM on the other days.  Keep the speed under 15.  Why?  Because the people who are walking and popping on and off trails are not looking for bikes and if a bad collision occurs, we might lose the privilege.

7- Sabino Canyon Bike Patrol.  Now that the Government is working I can do my volunteering.  Interested in being a Bike Ranger.  Ask me, I’ll tell you what we do.

6- A friend, Christina, asked me “Hi damion!!! My little sister and her two littles are coming to visit over Halloween and I am looking for either a bike burley or. Jogging stroller and also a Kelly pack to borrow…do you or anyone you know have either of those items I could borrow for a week! Hope you and your family are well!”   My post on facebook found her what she was looking for.  Making a difference can be as simple as just asking for someone.

5- El Grupo Coaching again.  Road ride on the East side of Tucson.  Nearly 50 miles.  Challenging ride for me, road bike was in the shop and I took the MTB.  These kids are almost to fast for me to keep up.

4- El Grupo coaching. This is likely the first of many that reference EL Grupo Youth Cycling.  Today, we were at Himmel park.  It is interesting to see hom many people are using the park these days.  In August at practices in Himmel we were the only users.  Tonight kids were everywhere.  Multiple soccer practices/games.  We had one father yelling at us to get off the grass with our bikes.  I went to talk with him.    He started the dialogue very aggressive and I let him explain his tell me how he felt.  He had children playing and he felt that bikes were dangerous to their safety.    He felt the bikes were dangerous to kids who were playing and we did not belong in the park.  He pointed towards the Catalinas and said there were hills and roads all over the place and that Himmel park was no place for us.  I don’t personally like confrontation.  However, I really do love trying to calm a situation where everyone can have a better understanding of each other and walk away with a mutual appreciation.  I think he had some very valid concerns.  After a few minutes, I asked if I could talk. First, I asked his name and introduced myself.  His name was Jeff.    I explained that we have the blessing of parks and rec, we have been using the park for 7 years, our kids a very aware that others are using the park and that we are to give the right away.   I appreciated his concerns and that is why I made the effort to come back and talk with him and that I would remind the entire team to be aware of pedestrians.   He was still not a fan of us being there and said that he still had concerns that we were going to hit someone, but he was noticeably calmer then he had been.  After I left him I did talk to the entire team about being aware and giving pedestrians the right of way, even if we are racing.

This really made me think about the perception that people have of cyclist.  We had the right to be in the park.  We were being safe.  How many other people were watching and thinking bad things, but did not say anything?  How do we engage the masses to understand we have as much of a right to use the parks, trails, roads as others?  If we are intimidating people and reckless, it does not help our cause.  At the same time, Jeff and his kids were playing 30-40 feet away from our crit course.  There was no danger of them being hit, but even after our dialogue, I feel he walked away mad at bikes.  I would love feedback on this.  I’d love ideas on what we can do to make it better.  4/365

3- When Brendan Lyons was in the hospital after being hit by a car I asked what he would really like to see come out of his situation and if how I could help to make it a reality.  He shared his vision for Look! Save a Life/Arizona and  that seeing it incorporated as a Non-profit 501c3 so it can accept donations and spread the word for cycling safety would be his dream.  Today, I made the first steps to make this a reality.  The past week I have been looking for people with experience in incorporation and today started a dialogue with 6 interested cyclist.  The First two steps, naming the director, Brendan Lyons, and the name, Look, Save a Life/ Arizona are complete.  We have the forms for Incorporation and will start on that soon.  We have asked a few cycling lawyers if they will assist pro-bono, but are still working on that.    If you have experience and are interested, we would love to talk to you for the board of directors or to help get the documents for incorporation in order. 3/365

2-  Ryan Roher with the Pima County Sherriff Dept said “I’m putting together a presentation for local    high schools.  It’s a broad presentation but it does have some relationship to cycling.  We specifically talk about distracted driving/texting etc.  I’d like to include the Look! Save a Life logo and perhaps some information on Brendan.”   Logo sent to Deputy Roher and info on Look! Save A Life/ Arizona.  2/365

1 – A question from one of my elementary school teacher that was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and is looking for a cycling coach(that’s right- I’m so into community I still talk to most of my teachers from elementary school after 35 years).  My facebook post received multiple recommendations and 2 of the coaches  are also T2 Diabetics themselves. A few personal messages and some introductions and 1/365 is in the books.

I’ve heard people say they don’t support diabetes research as they feel people with diabetes made         lifestyle choices that resulted in the condition.  Not True!!!  On the topic of bikes and Diabetes, one of the great fundraising rides each year is the Tour De Cure.  It is community  oriented  multitasking at its best. Bike ride, help others.

I originally posted this on October 15, 2013.  How much can we do for the community in a year.  Can’t wait to look back in October 2014 and see this.

First High Scool Race is in the books

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Arizona, you have made me proud.  Across the nation NICA is spreading from state to state.  So far Utah has the record for the most athletes in the inaugural race with over 200.  Arizona is now number 2 on the list with 170 athletes. Just for a second, imagine how incredible that is.  Imagine how great it will be.  Tell you friends with high school aged kids there’s a new game in town and it is fast and fun.

I must admit that I had concerns coming into this race.  There was some frustration that Tucson did not have the first race as planned.  I understand that the logistics just did not come together, but it created some lingering concerns about how the race was going to run.  A three hour drive to the race with a lot of that in Phoenix traffic did not set a great tone.  Finally, when I arrived and discovered that an athlete on our team forgot his bike(not saying who-he’s already miserable enough about it), I was really questioning what I was doing there.  It did not get any better when it became clear that the layout of the campground was not going to lead to much interaction between teams.

An easy registration of our teams, a great dinner and a comfortable nighttime camping temperature and the anticipation of the first high school mountain bike race in the history of Arizona had me off to a good start on race day.  At the coaches meeting hearing how many details were taken care it was clear that this was just another race, something NICA has been doing for a long time and not just some thrown together ride in the desert.  As team after team started to populate the staging area and I saw hundreds of bike enthusiasts the energy started to flow.

This course was really well designed for the el grupo riders. It was not that technical and the temperature was hot,  not unlike our normal practice conditions.  The trail was wide with plenty of room for passing.  We had only 2 girls racing from El Grupo They finished in 1st and 4th places.   In the freshman race we just missed the podium and 1st-6th place were separated by under a minute.  In the sophomore race we cleaned up with a 1,2,4 finish.  We had a large group of sophomores and juniors who raced in the varsity race and we had a third place podium.   In the all around Tucson High/El Grupo finished in 3rd place.   That excluded the points from a 1st, 3rd and 4th place finish that we’re the regular ElGrupo team( we are two teams in one….or is it the other way)

My favorite finishers are often those who don’t win the race or even come close to the podium, but show a character in finishing the race.  There were two racers in particular who caught my attention.  One of the athletes was on the course when two recreational riders came around a corner and crashed into her.  The riders just left her and continued on their way.  She tweaked her hand, but finished with one hand.  My favorite was racer 600.  He finished the race with a broken chain, using his bike like a scooter.  He had every opportunity to pack it in early, but choose to cross the finish line. This is the type of character that I feel is the truest winner in life.  The persistence to stick with it when it’s hot, miserable, things are breaking.  600,  get a huge ATTABOY!!!

It was great to see so many people who read this blog, follow me on Facebook and have my shared passion for cycling.  Thanks to all who came up and introduced and reintroduced yourself.  It made me feel like this is a real community that we are growing together.   If there was one thing I would have done to improve the event and league would be to introduce everyone and see how we can get the teams to interact more.  Please accept this as my invitation to come to Tucson and ride with our team.  I have this vision where these kids have a chance to show each other the best trails in each other’s backyards all across Arizona.

It’s well after 9 on Sunday night as I’m finishing up this post.  Samuel, my son, is exhausted, but still has homework to do and is plugging away.  These are student athletes and  NICA is just like any other school sport( except better because they get to use a bike).   The dedication both on the bike and off is very commendable and my helmet is off to everyone who raced this weekend.

Finally, thank you to all the staff and volunteers who made this run so smooth this weekend and who made the league a possibility.  Also, to all the financial sponsors. Unfortunately, this is not a cheap sport and can’t happen without the all mighty buck.  Thanks to those who choose to invest your money in something that will make the community, State and all of us better off.

 

True Grit, It is how you get up after the fall

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I keep seeing it play over and over in my mind.  We are practicing hole shots.  I’m in 4th place, my gears are messed up so I had a bad start.  We are flying into the first berm, the 6 foot one with the near vertical wall.  The rider in the second spot, Ben, perhaps the best rider among us, the fastest hits the wall wrong and instead of whipping through the turn is launched off the top.  His bike sails 15 into space as he does a Superman 10 feet above the ground before I lose sight of him as I rail the turn.  As I come out of the turn and look back I see the bike coming to a stop in a cloud of dust.  Before I can make it to him he is up, calmly saying he broke his wrist.   The bone did not come through the skin, but it clearly is broken. Both Knees are torn up and the blood is just starting to seep out.  His kit is covered in dust, but surprisingly has no holes.  He does not shed a tear, nor a curse word or even utter an ouch, and shows true grit .

As I tried to go to sleep last night I kept seeing it over and over.   What made the scene so hard for me is that it was one of the El Grupo kids.  Having spent so much time with them I am starting to see each of these kids as a part of my family.  It’s bad enough when anyone crashes on a bike, but when it’s a kid, and a kid you really care about, it is mentally taxing.

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The bike was in otherwise fine condition sans saddle.

What might have been the most challenging part of this for me was that we were still early into practice.  This weekend in the first race of the high school Mountain Bike League and we still needed to stretch the legs.  Coach gave me some drills and told me to continue with the practice as he kept Ben company. What followed was one of the most somber and lifeless practice I’ve seen with El Grupo.

The ‘A’ Team definitely took it harder.  These kids are tight knit. After years of riding, training, and racing you can see that they are a true TEAM.  Even though there are many races to come, they are all stoked at the start of the High School League and having a friend and team leader go down hurt.

What really struck me was the reaction of the other riders on the team.    The rider who was closest to him during the launch was very melancholy.  I attempted to engage him in conversation, but he was not very talkative.  It was clear, and in conversations afterwards with others, that he felt responsible for the accident.  Having watched it all, he definitely had no responsibility.  It was just one of those things that happen when you ride and race.  You are going to have the occasional crash.  However, it was nice to see a level of concern from one so young that he was willing to take partial responsibility, deserved or not.

One of the kids who Ben has described as “overwhelmingly nice” really impressed me. Even if you did not know him, just watching form a distance you could see the empathy in the look in his eyes, his body position, his tone and voice.   He told me how much they have been practicing and his desire to lead Ben out for a podium in the race this weekend.  His disappointment was only equal to his understanding of what it is to be a team player.

Another kid said that Ben would want then to continue with practice and be as prepared for this the race as possible.  I see this as an admirable trait.  The recognition that something bad just happened but that there was nothing they could do about it at that time, so get on with life.  Ben was with Coach, his Dad was on the way to pick him up, we had a job to do, so “get er done”.  This is the kid I want heading up FEMA someday.

The B and C teams felt very bad, but you could tell that the relationship is not the same.  They were naturally curious how he was doing, but I did not feel the same depth of emotion.  It is possible that I was focusing more on the other riders and just did not pick it up.  I do think that it slowed many down as they came into the tighter parts of the course, but on the mental side I could not say.

Of course no one ever wants to see someone they care about get hurt, bu this, like so many of the challenges will make the team and the individual riders better.  I have been messaging back and forth with Ben today.  He is in for a 6 week recovery and a small surgery to hold the bone in place is not out of the question.  He gave me permission to mention him by name, otherwise, I would not have. Knowing him, he will be on the trainer tonight and will come back even stronger.  Heal well my young friend.

El Grupo field trip to Carmichael Training Systems

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El grupo had one of the most important practices of the year Wednesday night. It included an effort of only 9-10 minutes on a trainer at Carmichael Training Systems (CTS). The entire workout consisted of riding a three mile computer course in order to establish training parameters for the year.

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Based on the results from the test the kids are able to figure out what their heart rate and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) should be for different workouts. CTS breaks the different zones into Foundation Miles, Endurance miles, Tempo, Steady State Intervals, and Recovery miles. If you are so inclined to know what each of these is, I’ve copied the summary of them at the bottom of this post.

CTS offers a state of the art facility that has 8 trainers hooked up to computers that allows for group races. 23 kids showed up to determine their base line fitness . The A team had a little more challenging course that offered more uphill, while the others had one climb and a majority of the TT like race was downhill. For what seems like an easy 10 minute effort I have not seen as much anguish and outright pain in these kids. The computer not only tracks your watts and speed, but a huge monitor shows exactly where you are in the race compared with the other racers and how many feet you are behind the racer in front of you. For this test, they turned off the “drafting” feature, but it’s possible to set up a life like drafting feature.

 

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Kyle Helmke giving it everything and more.

Head Coach, Jason Tullous, broke down all the info that was gathered to show the kids what their zones are. I’d like to give a special Thanks to all of the CTS staff who stayed very late to get this done. Having industry leading coaching available for El Grupo and all of us who live in Tucson is one of the reasons that Tucson is such an incredible cycling community. Most teams would need to travel many a mile to find what is generously given to EL Grupo. Again, THANKS!

Endurance miles: This is one of the primary workouts for building an aerobic energy system that will increase your endurance capabilities. Expected benefits include: Increased size and strength in slow-twitch muscle fibers. Increased stroke volume from your heart. How to do it: Although similar to the Foundation Miles workout, the pace during the EM workout is quicker than during the Foundation Miles (FM) workout. It is performed at a moderate pace, but at a slightly higher heart rate (or power output) than the FM workout. Use your gearing as you hit the hills to remain in the saddle as you climb. Expect to keep your pedal speed up into the 85-95 RPM range. As with the FM workout, you will have a certain heart rate (or power) range for this workout. The goal is to not exceed the prescribed heart rate (or power) range. Even though the intensity is greater the closer you get to the heart rate ceiling, you are still using aerobic energy to power your cycling. At end of your EM ride, you should have spent at least 95% of the ride below your heart rate ceiling. If you are training with power, the longer the EM is, the lower your average power output should be and vice versa. The appropriate intensity will be determined by the results of the CTS field test. If you are training primarily with heart rate, you don’t need to stay near the top of your EM heart rate range all the time. The range is wide to accommodate the changes in effort level resulting from uphills, downhills, headwinds, tailwinds, stop signs and stoplights.

Steady State Intervals “Goal: Increase your lactate threshold by training at the edge of your aerobic/anaerobic threshold.

Tempo: Strategically placing tempo workouts into your training program has many advantages: Greater comfort while cruising on rolling terrain. Better fuel utilization during long races or rides. Increased capacity for more intense workouts. Better power at moderate intensities. Increased muscle glycogen storage capacity. Improved free fatty acid oxidation, which spares muscle glycogen. Increased mitochondrial development, structures within the muscle cells that produce energy. Improved aerobic efficiency. How to Do It: Pedal speed should be low. Try a 70-75 RPM range while staying at the prescribed heart rate intensity. This helps increase pedal resistance and strengthens leg muscles. Also try to stay in the saddle when you hit hills during your tempo workouts. This adds more pedal resistance and readies the connective tissues and supporting muscle groups before training heads into more explosive workouts. It is important that you try to ride the entire length of the tempo workout with as few interruptions as possible – tempo workouts should consist of consecutive riding at the prescribed intensity to achieve maximum benefit. This intensity will be determined by the results of the CTS field test.

Recovery miles goal is to speed the recovery process by riding at an easy pace at low resistance on flat terrain. Benefits include increasing blood flow to the muscles to help remove muscle soreness, reducing free radical build-up that cause muscle stress and damage. Studies have shown that active recovery at an appropriate pace leads to faster recovery than complete rest. How to do it: Recovery rides should be between 30-120 minutes in length on flat to rolling terrain. Keep your pedal speed slower than normal, staying in a light gear to keep resistance low. Heart rate must also remain low even if you hit any hills, just slow down and use your gears to keep the resistance low. The key to recovery rides is to ride just enough to engage the active recovery process but not long or intense enough to induce a training stress upon yourself. This is a workout that you will use during all your training periods. Even though the temptation is there to vegetate on the couch the day following a tough workout, use RR as an active recovery workout to jumpstart the process of repair and regeneration.

Barrio Trails

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Barrio Trails, One of central Tucson’s hidden bicycle gems is located in the San Antonio neighborhood South Of Broadway and a few blocks East of Park.

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Originally the vision of Rocky Serna it existed as an unauthorized BMX park that sat on the Arroyo Chico. At the time it was built it was the only organized place for catching some huge air and to ride BMX in central Tucson.

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A few years back the U.S. Army corps of Engineers were called in to do a flood control project in the area and this bike hang out was threatened to be demolished. However, due to an incredible turnout from the community Barrio Trails was saved. The original track that was constructed by volunteers was removed during construction, but permission was granted to put in a permanent BMX track.

The flood control work is now completed and work has started to carve out the berms, kickers, rollers and a half mile Mountain Bike Crit course around the entire park. As of august, 2013 it is coming along, but still has room for improvement.

 

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El Grupo Youth Cycling uses Barrio Trails for mountain bike practice. The existing BMX track is the start of the half mile loop. There are four berms that help hone in turning skills. Upon exiting the last turn the trail takes a sharp turn through 3 bollards onto a paved path that drops into the Arroyo Chico. The wash has a sandy bottom( and mud after the rain) that needs to be negotiated with speed in order to climb a steep bank on the other side. Just past the top of the bank is a 2 foot high wire rope fence. The idea is to clear the fence cycle cross style and jump back on the paved track. The Pavement carries you for nearly half the distance of the loop and is the place to make up ground and hammer as hard as you can. At the South-east corner of the park the course takes a hard right back onto the dirt, descends a little hill, crosses a flat straight away, another hill climb and another slightly winding flat that ends with a race to the finish.

Yesterday The El Grupo practice was to ride from the clubhouse to Barrio Trails and then to spend 15 minutes warming up, playing on the BMX track, doing a few laps, working on sections of the trail that may have given the riders trouble in the past. Afterwards the races were on. The race started with a mass start and was 3 laps. The A team went off first to give the B and C teams an opportunity to watch the race from sections that gave them trouble. I rode in the A team race. It was a solid performance, I did not win, but was not last and saw the winner cross the finish line. The B team race had the A team riders pacing the kids after the first lap. I was pleasantly surprised that Samuel came in second. His breakthrough week apparently has impacted his Mountain Biking as well as his road riding.

Throughout the fall El Grupo will be out practicing at Barrio Trails almost every Thursday afternoon at about 4:45-5:45 as they prepare for the High School Mountain Bike League inaugural season. At some point in the near future they will have access to tools and will start to groom the trails. Are you interested in seeing it first hand? Come out and ride or watch the fun.

On a side note.  You can thank me for the rain. It was almost guaranteed when I took my camera without any protection from the elements.

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El Grupo at the UA crit course

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You can expect to see many posts on BikePilgrim.com about El Grupo Youth Cycling.

I have had the joy of riding with these kids for a few years and my son Samuel is starting his second year with the team. I’m hoping that as Samuel moves up to the B and A team I’ll be able to keep pace. Currently, I’m assisting as the Coach of the C squad.

On August 13th our practice was a ride to the UA crit course at the UA Biopark located at Kino Parkway and 36th street. The Biopark is the ideal location for practicing as there is a section where cars have NO access and we have the safe access. As with most rides, El Grupo rides start at the clubhouse at 6th and 6th.

This practice was divided into a few different drills. The A team were practicing for the State team TT and focused on hard 180 degree teams in formation. The others did laps on the crit course. The laps were mellow for the first two turns, picking it up to a 7 out of 10 effort into the third turn and 100% for the final turn and straight away. We rode a total of 10 laps in 104 degree heat, 90 minute practice and back to the clubhouse.

As for the heat, on the way out I saw the Tucson High Football team practicing. If kids can be out playing ball there is no reason you can’t ride a bike. The bonus for us is we have the benefit of a cool (OK, warm… hot) breeze.

A little more about El Grupo form their website.

“Through our programs Team El Grupo & Youth Empowering Youth Outreach, we are getting youth on bikes, and they in turn are teaching, inspiring and empowering other youth to ride, enjoy and love bikes.
Through the use of bicycles, El Grupo’s goals are to…
Enable youth to become life-long bike enthusiasts
Instill personal and social responsibility and leadership skills
Empower youth to set and achieve personal and community goals
Educate and inspire youth to overcome obstacles, both personal and societal
Make riding bikes safer, cooler, and more accessible for those under 18 years of age
We embrace all forms of cycling from road and mountain bike racing to bicycle touring and daily commuting.
El Grupo is developing the next generation of active, healthy, and community-minded cycling enthusiasts and leaders in Tucson.
No special skills or gear are required. The lack of cycling gear should not be a deterrent, as we have access to free or low-cost bicycles, helmets, lights, etc. Through donations from the community, El Grupo provides all bikes, equipment, clothing and gear to youth.”