Nederland School Mountain Bike Team

The Nederland School mountain bike team wants your support! Our athletes, coaches, and parent volunteers are growing an organization that promotes camaraderie, lifelong athleticism, and a love of nature through mountain biking. By building the team we also hope to keep our kids in Nederland through high school, instead of commuting to the metro schools below.

We are excited to announce that we between 4 and 6 kids moving into High School racing this season! The team is growing and training for the fall season begins now. We are looking to raise funds to help with the costs of running a team that our families and our school district can’t quite cover. Your donations will help pay for:
 
·      School and NICA league fees for riders to join the team.
·      Coaches’ registration fees and race fees for the athletes.
·      Bikes, equipment, tools, and repairs 
·      Transportation to races
·      Team kits: jersey, shorts,  and helmets
·      Feeding riders and coaches   

Our riders have advantages. They grow up in a culture of mountain biking, in a town 8300 ft above sea level, and with a network of trails at their doorstep. Our kids have huge cardio capacity and great coordination from life in the high country. 

Our challenge is in finding the resources to support the team. While Boulder County is known as a wealthy place, our community is made up of working families striving to make ends meet. Our school and its budget are small. 

Nederland Middle and Senior High School (NMSHS) is a 6 through 12 grade public high school in the Boulder Valley School District that serves the mountain kids in Boulder and north Gilpin counties. We have a school enrollment of a little over 300 students. Athletes from the surrounding region are invited to join our team if they are not enrolled in a school that has a NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) mountain bike team. Nederland is a town of 1534 plus a sizable surrounding rural population. The team itself is only in its’ fifth year. Imagine our surprise when over 30 kids express interest in riding this year, and six coaches have volunteered their time and effort!



In Nederland we live among a surprising number of pro cyclists and other pro athletes, some of whom coach our kids. Our high school cyclists, runners, and skiers place high in state rankings, and have won championships. In other words we have a ridiculous amount of athletic achievement going on here.

Because we are a newer team, most of our riders are middle schoolers. These are our development, or DEVO, riders. The Colorado NICA league allows riders to begin racing in 9th grade. Team practices prepare riders for safe, skillful racing and conscientious teamwork. The NICA organization recommends one coach for every six riders at practices. Coaches are required to pass training courses in first aid and trauma, risk-management,  ride planning, as well as background checks. We practice on local trails rides and our athletic fields for skills drills. With all the safety and planning in place, our focus is fun and friendship.


Our team is co-ed and the girls are a force to be reckoned with. As in the Colorado NICA league, girls’ races are as popular as the boys races. All of our riders enjoy first class status in a team culture that lifts one another up.