Pumping it up

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Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen Matt Smith, the vice president of the Northwest Georgia chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, works with the mountain biking program at the Boys & Girls Club in Dalton.

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June 30, 2012

Pumping it up

Youth program may expand

By Devin Golden devingolden@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Sat Jun 30, 2012, 07:30 AM EDT

The Boys & Girls Club already has two tracks at its Carl Rollins Unit in Dalton, but the work on its mountain bike program isn’t finished.

The club at 1013 Underwood St. and the Northwest Georgia chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association have worked together for the past six years to interest club members in the sport while they’re young.

The partnership began in 2006 when NWGA-SORBA’s “Trip for Kids” program loaned bikes and helmets to the club for an event it was hosting and continued when a private individual donated 20 bikes and a bike trailer. The building of an on-site bike storage unit, dirt track and gravel track in summer 2010 was the next step, and two months ago NWGA-SORBA donated $4,500 raised through its annual Snake Creek Gap Time Trials Series. The club helps out with that event by loaning buses, and the funds donated go toward bike maintenance for the program at Bear Creek Bicycle Co.

But after coming such a long way — building what’s known as a “pump track,” a looping course stocked with mounds and hills, as well as a 1/3-mile gravel track around the perimeter of the property — the look is to the future and what can be done to improve the program at the Dalton location and spread it around Northwest Georgia and beyond.

The possible “next phase” for the program would expand to other locations of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Gordon, Murray and Whitfield Counties — there are two others in Whitfield County, two in Murray County and one in Gordon County — said Jason Finnell, the club’s development director.

“We can move some things around and do some smaller versions of the programs,” Finnell said.

Matt Smith, vice president of NWGA-SORBA since October, echoed those thoughts and said a Tennessee location might be on the list, too.

“We’ve talked about bringing it into the Murray County clubs,” Smith said. “The Beaverdale kids were out here riding with us (Thursday) and the Cleveland club outside Chattanooga is wanting to put in a pump track as well. So we talked to the private donor who provided us all the bikes to see if they are interested in buying more for the kids.”

NWGA-SORBA has hosted numerous events to continue building the club’s biking program, including track repairs and trips to Raisin Woods Mountain Bike Park.

“We help repair the track because every time it rains it washes away a little bit of the track,” Smith said. “It takes constant maintenance.”

Smith, a Dalton High graduate, used to be a hiker before he injured his knee on the Appalachian Trail. After his physical therapist recommended mountain biking, he tried it and was hooked. Smith now bikes to work each day and has become an avid cyclist.

And because of his work with the club, numerous local kids are just as enthusiastic about the sport.

“Most of the kids never mountain biked before,” he said. “They just kind of rode their bikes around.”

The pump track and “big hill,” a steep mound of dirt for the kids to take a speedy ride down, are the favorites among club members.

Dalton High student Jesus Rodriguez, 14, has learned more about mountain biking at the club.

“There’s different gears and stuff to help you out,” he said. “There’s lighter gears to help you go up a hill. My kind of bike is a stationary, just one speed the whole time. I love the track here.”

Said Chandler Clemons, 11, a Dalton Middle student, “I like the big hill the most. I like to drift.”

After the track was built, the club added more features for the kids — a seesaw and skinny wooden ramps to balance the bike on — and made the program “more structured.”

Finnell, who originally proposed the program and grew up with the sport, believes that was a big step in the right direction.

“Each time the kids go out on the bike, they have helmet checks, tire checks and seat checks, and it gives the kids responsibility. It teaches the technical aspects of riding a bike,” he said. “It’s really changed from more of a free ride to more of a natural program. ... Adding just a little bit of structure, it’s almost like they appreciate and respect it so much more. And then when it’s time for free ride, it’s a treat so much more.”

But with so much unused land, Smith said “the possibilities are endless” for more features.

“We would like to add some more technical features like log rides, like a tree that has fallen down and cut the top of it to make it where the kids can ride their bikes along the top of the tree,” Smith said.

To find out more about the local Boys & Girls Clubs or donate to their programs, visit bgcgmw.com or call (706) 529-5032.

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Pumping it up

Youth program may expand

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