As bikes pull up into a gravely parking lot, young girls line up to get their name plates, a Little Bellas bike jersey and a water bottle. Many of them have been here before and say hello to friends while others eagerly await the start of the program.
Lucy Strong, 9, is looking forward to playing bike limbo, a game where a leader holds out a pool noodle and kids have to ride under it as they see how low they can go. Her mother, Lisa, has been spreading the word about the club that promotes mountain biking for young girls.
“I always tell other moms that I don’t know what makes it special, but the kids are giggly afterward. They love the camaraderie,” Lisa said.
Lucy is one of 45 girls taking part in this session of the , a bike organization that looks to help young women realize their potential through mountain biking. The program is in its 10th year and has been in Lakewood for three years after coming to the metro area via Boulder.
Girls ages 7-13 come out for a two-hour session once a week for five weeks at Bear Creek Lake Park to play games, build some mountain biking skills and benefit from the experience of 22 mentors who ride along with the young ladies and lead the program.
“At this age, you can be very impactful. These are the formidable years, a time we could have the most impact and set the tone to participate in the sport long-term,” said Sabra Davison, executive director and co-founder of Little Bellas.
Davison set up the program with her sister in Vermont and the program is still based there, but she was in town May 23 for the kickoff of the first of two five-week Lakewood sessions in 2017. Since its inception, Little Bellas has expanded to 12 states with 19 different programs. Davison is typically on hand for the start of each session and oversees the logistical side of things such as registration.
She’s typically most excited to see the girls come back for another session, she says.
“In general, the return rate is really high. We have a lot of girls who come back year after year,” she said.
Lakewood resident Karen Goodman serves as the lead mentor for this chapter and will head up both sessions this year. The program has also really grown in popularity — this session, which runs through June 29, has a waitlist. The session starting Aug. 8 still has slots open. Registration is open at and cost info is also available there. The group also runs a camp during the , an all-girls bike race in Lakewood.
Goodman took over the Lakewood chapter and is running her first session. She is excited to see young girls fall in love with cycling and helping empower them as they grow up.
“This program especially is all about kids having fun on bikes and it makes me happy to be involved in it. Itap empowering,” Goodman said. “Itap so important to get them on (bikes) while they’re little so they’re not scared when they’re older. We want to get them excited about biking and make them empowered little people.”
Davison, who has a background in coaching and competing on mountain bikes, noticed an imbalance as she saw mostly young men competing as mountain bikers. The program is meant to not just grow the sport among women, but to gain confidence and learn from mistakes.
“There’s always a crash that happens. They can perceive that as a failure or we can turn it around and use it as a progression to build confidence, using inherent challenges to get girls to engage when they’re ready. That process can be super empowering. We do mentor training around that,” she said.
That emphasis is what drew in Lisa Strong and led her to recommend the program to several friends and also volunteer as a mentor for the past three years.
“I don’t think girls are taught to push the envelope, I think itap always ‘be safe,’” Strong said. “This is an environment to push the limits. Itap not really about riding, itap about mentoring and fostering that environment.”
One of those friends is Jill Pond, who signed up her two daughters — Zoe, 9, and Sydney, 7 — last year. Both returned for this session, and Pond said they were excited to come out.
Pond will usually drop her kids off and go shopping or go for a hike during the two hours the girls are out riding. She’s noticed that her daughters are much more comfortable on their bikes and itap a great way to get them outside.
“There was definitely some anxiety when they started,” she said. “They had never done it before, but now they really look forward to it and love it.”