An off road cycling club designed to expose youth to competitive and organized biking is growing in popularity.
TheYouth
Off Road Riders club runs through the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson
County, a human services agency that supports child development. As its
third season begins, the small club has doubled in size from seven to
about 14 male and female riders that compete in mountain biking and
cyclocross races around Iowa. Additional youth participate in organized
leisure rides.
“There’s not a lot of youth in the sport,
and there’s not a lot of African Americans in the sport,” said Tony
Branch, a program coordinator at Neighborhood Centers. “We support
both.”
Branch, who is a competitive cyclist, said children
expressed interest upon seeing him arrive at work by bike. His roles is
to provide positive activities for kids, and recognizing the need to
combat childhood obesity, it sparked the idea for the club, he said.