Youth Resilience Program
Adventure
Team
Adventure
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT REIMAGINED
We take a challenging outdoor activity that develops self-confidence, resilience, grit, and community and bring it to youth without the pressure of head-to-head competition—no clocks to race against or finish lines to fight for. We meet kids where they are and help them get better. We focus on skills on and off the bike and emphasize working together. When the goal is to become the best person and team player you can be, there is no finish line.
Life
DEVELOPING BIKE SKILLS.
- Resilience
- Adaptability
- Respect
- Effort
- Consistency
- Grit
- Doing hard things
- Growth mindset
- Self-supported ethos
- You vs. You
- #TRAIN4LIFE
- There is no finish line
We don’t worry about who’s fastest or who can go the farthest, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. Everyone needs a challenge, especially our youth. We take a more patient approach but still have high expectations.
Awarded as 2023’s “ChangeMaker of the Year” by The League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB), 906AT has been recognized for making an enormous impact on the bicycling community. Ten years into our operation, we’re making a difference. Awards aren’t a destination; they’re a confirmation we’re on course and need to keep pushing.
WHAT IS POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT?
Positive youth development is:
- An approach or philosophy that guides communities in organizing services and opportunities so that all young people can develop their full potential.
- Focus on strength and positive outcomes.
- Youth voice and engagement.
- Strategies that involve ALL youth.
- Community involvement and collaboration.
- A long-term commitment.
906AT SELF-SUPPORTED ETHOS is part of the Endurance Trilogy and Adventure Team culture.
- Personal accountability
- Preparation
- Ownership of outcomes
- You are responsible for you
Adventure Teams recognize that self-worth comes from within oneself, nourished by those surrounding you. What riders learn on the bike is just as important as what they learn off the bike. Combining the two allows youth to become resilient, confident, and, most importantly, genuine community members."
Adventure Team Delta County
Adventure Team Dickinson County
Adventure Team Eau Claire County
Adventure Team Gogebic County
Adventure Team Grand Rapids Area
Adventure Team Green Bay
Adventure Team Iron County
Adventure Team La Crosse
ADVENTURE TEAM LANSING AREA
ADVENTURE TEAM MARQUETTE COUNTY
ADVENTURE TEAM MIDLAND COUNTY
Adventure Team Delta County
Adventure Team Delta County
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
May 4th, 2024
|
Thursdays ages (5-17)
|
6/13/2024
|
8/15/2024
|
75
|
$100
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Days River Pathway
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9
|
Mary Feuerbach
DELTA COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Mary handles the behind-the-scenes logistics of communications, sponsorships, and keeping base camp running smoothly.
Delta County Adventure Team provides outdoor adventure opportunities for youth ages 5-17 within our community. By utilizing the local trail system, dedicated local leaders provide a non-competitive environment for youth to adventure weekly using mountain bikes while having fun, building confidence, and learning life skills on and off the bike. Our Adventure Team provides an opportunity that hadn’t existed before for every individual (Leader or Youth) in our program, regardless of athletic skill, the ability to build confidence one ride at a time and become the best version of themselves. The importance of this program is measurable in every smile, new skill, and friendship that has been made.
Mickey Trottier
DELTA COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Mickey handles the logistics of the weekly ride plan, keeping bikes trail worthy, and leading you to the best blueberry picking.
Each week, Delta County Adventure Team Basecamp is set up at the trailhead of Days River pathway located in Gladstone, MI. The trail allows traveling through a beautifully dense forest along the Days River. Youth will experience seeing wildlife, putting their toes in the river, and picking blueberries. Riders will experience terrain including dirt, sand, roots, and five loops over 9 miles of trail to explore along with a 3-mile single-track trail. To help build confidence, we have an “Overcoming Obstacles” portable wooden structure course set up at the trailhead. This course helps to develop and refine rider skills and build upon the weekly lessons taught by our Local Leaders.
Every community NEEDS an Adventure Team today! Adventure Teams provide the only opportunity for inclusion in a “sport” that is not based on how good you are or who you know. It is based upon the simple idea of showing up each week, trying your best, and being rewarded by climbing that hill, going over that bridge, or simply having fun each week with peers.
Adventure Team Dickinson County
Adventure Team Dickinson County
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
May 4th, 2024
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Mondays
ages (5-17)
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6/17/2024
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8/19/2024
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50
|
$100
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Marion Park
|
10
|
Jackie Halley
DICKINSON COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Jackie handles the behind-the-scenes logistics of communications, sponsorships, and keeping base camp running smoothly.
I love the 906AT motto of You vs You. Coming into cycling later in life, I’ve learned the immense value of setting goals, challenging myself, and learning that my physical abilities are usually greater than the mental barriers I set. I only wish I’d had an opportunity to experience all of these things when I was a youth growing up in this same community. As a leader I hope to facilitate youth development and gaining life skills through outdoor adventure; while creating a sense of community belonging for all youth, especially those seeking non-traditional sports fulfillment.
Sanj Peterson
DICKINSON COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Doing hard things. Growth mindset. You Vs You. Those are the big things that drew me to the 906AT bike club. Teaching youth that just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it’s impossible is such an important life skill both on the bike and off. Life isn’t always about competing with others, more often than not it’s about competing against yourself, and as soon as that’s realized the path to success, both on and off the bike, becomes much easier. I feel like it’s so important to instill that type of mindset early on, and getting to do it while on your bike is a big plus! As a leader I look forward to helping youth realize their potential isn’t limited by the traditional boxes they’re put in, but by the effort they want to put into themselves.
Adventure Team Eau Claire County
Adventure Team Eau Claire County
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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May 4th, 2024
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Tuesdays
ages (5-17) |
6/11/2024
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8/20/2024
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75
|
$100
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Lowes Creek County Park
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11
|
Sharyn Moss
EAU CLAIRE COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Adventure Team came to Eau Claire in 2021 and has been growing. We have a dedicated group of volunteers invested in helping the youth of Eau Claire County become the best version of themselves through outdoor adventure. It came at a time when our community needed to address the mental and physical health of kids growing up. Get kids on bikes and outdoors! It’s good for them as well as our adult volunteers. We are a non-competitive mountain biking group for kids ages 5-17. Not all kids thrive in a competitive atmosphere, so offering a program that challenges them individually and promotes self-growth is nice. As kids join us year after year, it’s fun to watch them “grow up” and see how they graduate from the easy trails to more challenging trails.
Our Basecamp is at Lowes Creek County Park just south of Eau Claire off Hwy 93. Lowes has 13 miles of single track and 5 miles of double track and offers a variety of trails for beginners and advanced riders.
Nathan McCorkle
EAU CLAIRE COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
There’s a little bit of everything: twisty narrow single track, rocky creek crossings, mini rolling hills, some steep hills, and flat and fast sections. A true playground for mountain bikers to challenge themselves and have fun. Overall a beautiful park to explore and be out in nature. For some of our riders, riding with Adventure Team offers them their first experience riding in the woods amongst the big trees on dirt trails and over rocks and roots. Moving through an outdoor space that’s rich with life can be magical. There’s a lot to see out at Lowes, and taking time to see the bugs, berries, birds, wild animals, mushrooms, plants, and trees is all part of the adventure. We take a field trip a few times a season, meet at Carson Park, and do some urban trail riding. The Chippewa Valley has a great trail system to explore walking, running, or riding. We encourage our families of riders and volunteers to learn about and explore all the trails in the area.
When kids are getting outdoors less and spending more time on screens, programs must be available to help kids unplug and get outside. Kids learn and grow from taking calculated risks. With the help of trained volunteers teaching the kids to ride technical trails and encouraging them to get their legs pumping up a big hill takes some effort and skill, and in the long run, it helps kids build confidence and resiliency. I remember the freedom my bike brought me as a kid. I spent the summers in a small town riding all over, visiting friends, and going to parks and playgrounds. Kids riding with Adventure Team can connect with new friends in a safe and empowering environment.
Adventure Team Gogebic County
Adventure Team Gogebic County
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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May 4th, 2024
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Wednesdays (ages 5-17)
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6/12/2024
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8/21/2024
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40
|
$100
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Miners Memorial Herigate Park
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10
|
Vanea Gauthier
GOGEBIC COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Adventure Team in Gogebic County started five years ago as a small group of adults looking for a way to get kids on bikes and has grown into a community of families riding together! We discovered that when the kids started riding it, they got their parents on bikes too. Some parents who used to ride and just got busy with life saw their kids learning and having fun – and suddenly – they’re getting to experience the excitement all over again!
Today, we see a community being redeveloped as a destination for outdoor adventure, including mountain biking. The construction of the s/b Iron Belle Trail in our community created a hub connecting some of our local trails directly to our growing downtown. Local dining, coffee shops, ice cream shops, and our brewery are all easily accessible by bike, and business owners have made our downtown bike friendly.
Tom Bergman
GOGEBIC COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
The Gogebic Adventure Team rides on the newly constructed and still-growing Historic Miner’s Memorial Heritage Park Trails, with over 10 miles of the newly built single track in the City of Ironwood. Rich in history, iron ore, and mine tailings – we have trails for all ages and abilities. Smooth flowy adaptive trails to steep, rocky, technical trails- our kids get to challenge themselves and build confidence while they ride through historic mine remnants.
Every community that wants to see the current generation of youth grow up to be resilient, determined, and confident humans should have an Adventure Team. Biking teaches so much more than just pedaling and braking- it prepares kids for everyday challenges every time they get on the trail. The kids make their own choices- we are just there to guide and keep them safe while they’re with us.
Adventure Team Grand Rapids Area
Adventure Team Grand Rapids Area
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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May 4th, 2024
|
Tuesdays
(ages 5-17) |
6/11/2024
|
8/13/2024
|
50
|
$100
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Wahlfield Park
|
10
|
Gabe Berghuis
GRAND RAPIDS AREA ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD – Communications
I’m excited for our Grand Rapids area to have an Adventure Team because we all (adults and youth) need connection and community. I don’t believe there is a better way to build deep community than by supporting each other through hard things. The 906 events have been transformational in my own life as I’ve learned to build resilience, consistency and grit. I’m excited to be a part of our increible group of volunteers that will be teaching these skills to our community’s youth and empowering them to become the best version of themselves. Throughout the summer we won’t just be teaching bike skills and spending time in the woods, we’ll be coaching skills for life as we help them prioritize effort, embrace failure, develop positive habits and focus on the journey.
Charlee & Dan Weatherwax
GRAND RAPIDS AREA ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD – Logistics
Life is not about winning and losing. It is about facing the challenges and obstacles along the way, then adapting to overcome. The ability to adapt and be resilient is not inherent, it needs to be learned and fostered. Adventure Team Grand Rapids will do just that. We are creating a community that will embrace challenges, failures and the persistence to keep moving. With a positive and supportive community standing beside, anything can be possible. Along the way, we have had the support systems to do such a thing. Now it is our turn to pass it on to the youth in our community. There is no better way to build this community then by using bikes, the outdoors, and in the woods!
Adventure Team Green Bay
Adventure Team Green Bay
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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May 4th, 2024
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Thursdays ages (5-17)
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6/13/2024
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8/15/2024
|
130
|
$100
|
Reforestation Camp Pine Shelter
|
10
|
Kelsy Kellermann
GREEN BAY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Adventure Team Green Bay is a non-competitive youth sport option for kids ages 5-17 within our community. By using a mountain bike to ride through the woods with committed volunteers (that have been background-checked and professionally trained), kids are learning how to become the best version of themselves. The environment of supporting kids, not pushing them, allows them to listen to and trust their intuition and others who share the same space. Volunteers are dedicated to each rider, meeting kids where they are each night. Self-exploration on the bike and in the woods transfers to home and the classroom and contributes to preparation for life.
We use growth mindset terms to help instill the “power of yet.” You might not be able to ride over a tree root yet; however, it can happen if you keep trying.
The self-confidence that develops from riding with, not against, kids and adults sets a foundation of personal empowerment that can be accessed at any time in any situation.
In addition, volunteers teach trail etiquette and to be respectful to nature. Riders learn the importance of being in the moment, caring for trails and other trail users, and the incredible opportunities one may be fortunate to
experience while in the woods. Interacting with frogs, slugs, and turtles allows riders to think outside themselves, which may transfer to a deep connection to the natural environment.
Matt Berg
GREEN BAY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Adventure Team Green Bay is located behind the Pines Shelter at the Reforestation Camp, which shares the parking lot with the NEW Zoo. The trails at the Reforestation Camp are dirt and sand with roots and small rocks. There are double tracks (wide trails) and single tracks (trails are ~ 1.5 feet wide) that include hills. There are approximately 10 miles of trails to explore at the Reforestation Camp, plenty of room for groups to have a new adventure each week. A rider favorite is the Overcoming Obstacles Course. We set up wooden and rock features for riders to ride on/over to connect with their bike/body position, which translates to balance. Volunteers also supervise and teach riders how to perform a bike and helmet check before each ride, empowering riders to prepare for adventure and know what to do if their bike chain falls off. The combination of preparation and support during Adventure Team creates a model of a self-supported ethos, which transfers on and off the bike.
The Adventure Team is unlike any other youth sports program. The commitment of volunteers/riders/parents/guardians, the passion for individual youth development, and the fun while riding mountain bikes in the woods are unique.
The energy vibe at Basecamp and on the trail is organized, supportive, and light. Do we guide and provide opportunities for learning? Of course. Does it come without the pressure of a finish line or podium? Absolutely.
Adventure Team recognizes that self-worth comes from within oneself, nourished by those surrounding you. What riders learn on the bike is just as important as what they learn off the bike. Combining the two allows youth to become resilient, confident, and, most importantly, genuine community members.
Adventure Team Iron County
Adventure Team Iron County
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
May 4th, 2024
|
Thursdays ages (5-17)
|
6/20
|
8/22
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40
|
$100
|
West Iron County Schools
|
9
|
Benjamin Garcia
IRON COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Iron County Adventure Team is a non-competitive youth sport option for kids ages 5-17 within our community. By using a mountain bike to ride through the woods with committed volunteers (that have been background-checked and professionally trained), kids are learning how to become the best version of themselves. The environment of supporting kids, not pushing them, allows them to listen to and trust their intuition and others who share the same space. Volunteers are dedicated to each rider, meeting kids where they are at each night. Self-exploration on the bike and in the woods transfers to home and the classroom and contributes to preparation for life.
We use growth mindset terms to help instill the “power of yet.” You might not be able to ride over a tree root yet; however, it can happen if you keep trying.
The self-confidence that develops from riding with, not against, kids and adults sets a foundation of personal empowerment that can be accessed at any time in any situation.
In addition, volunteers teach trail etiquette and to be respectful to nature. Riders learn the importance of being in the moment, caring for trails and other trail users, and the incredible opportunities one may be fortunate to
experience while in the woods. Interacting with frogs, slugs, and turtles allows riders to think outside themselves, which may transfer to a deep connection to the natural environment.
James Koch
IRON COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Jim handles the behind-the-scenes logistics of communications, sponsorships and keeping basecamp running smoothly.
As a kid, my bike meant freedom. Freedom to get outside and explore. As a police officer, I couldn’t wait for summer to come, so I could get out of my patrol car and go patrol on a bike.
Although I can’t ride anymore due to a spinal cord injury, I’m happy to team up with a great group of volunteers to help the youth of Iron County get outside, experience some freedom and enjoy the beautiful place we call home.
Adventure Team La Crosse
Adventure Team La Crosse
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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May 4th, 2024
|
Wednesdays
ages (5-17) |
6/12/2024
|
8/14/2024
|
75
|
$100
|
Upper Hixon
|
10
|
Randi Serres Pueschner
LA CROSSE COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM CO-LEAD
The La Crosse County Adventure Team provides kids (and their coaches) with a fun, non-competitive atmosphere to learn to be the best version of themselves through outdoor adventure. As a team, kids will discover the outdoors around them, overcoming age-appropriate challenges, supporting each other, and celebrating everyone’s successes on and off the bike. Our dedicated volunteer coaches will lead weekly group rides that allow kids to explore their abilities, safely push their boundaries, and have fun while acquiring life-long skills and building resiliency that can be carried through other aspects of their lives. Not all kids will be at the same level, but they can work together as a team, building strong relationships with each other and encouraging each other along the way. We want to foster a growth mindset and teach the “power of yet” by showing kids that obstacles become easier to overcome if they keep practicing. Join us for our inaugural year and show our kids they can do anything they put their minds to.
Isaac Pischke
LA CROSSE COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM CO-LEAD
We will meet at Myrick Park, with basecamp across the parking lot from the Eco Center. At the beginning of each ride, with assistance from coaches, riders will learn how to check their equipment to ensure a safe and fun adventure ahead. Riders and their coaches will begin riding and practicing skills on the double track through the Marsh Trails, a combination of paved and limestone trails. These trails are shared-use trails, allowing us to teach kids how to be respectful of and share trails with other user groups. As each group progresses, rides may get a little longer, allowing us to ride to Lueth Park to take advantage of the bicycle playground and skills areas.
The life-long skills that our kids will learn during Adventure Team will provide a framework for the rest of their lives. The YouTube videos and social media posts our kids are exposed to don’t show them real-life timelines and expectations. Instant gratification is unrealistic, and learning to overcome obstacles won’t always happen the first, second, or third time they try, but knowing that it’s ok to fail, learn, and grow is empowering. Building honest, supportive relationships will translate to healthier communities. In this fast-paced, technological world, let’s teach our kids how to slow down, find out what truly matters to them, and do the hard things with them.
ADVENTURE TEAM LANSING AREA
Adventure Team Lansing Area
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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May 4th, 2024
|
Tues Eastgate
Thurs Burchfield (ages 5-17) |
Tues: 6/4/2024
Thurs: 6/6/2024
|
Tues: 8/13/2024
Thurs: 8/15/2024
|
Tues: 85
Thurs: 100 |
$100
|
Eastgate & Burchfield
|
Tues: 10
Thurs: 10 |
Teresa DeLisle – Area Lead at Eastgate Park and overall logistical lead. The point person on Tuesday night ensures both locations have everything they need to operate smoothly.
Adventure Team Lansing Area provides a non-competitive space for kids ages 5-17 to use adventure on mountain bikes to develop confidence, self-reliance, and community. A team of dedicated volunteers who are committed to comprehensive training and a background check makes our program possible. 2-3 Leaders support their Team of 8-10 kids for ten weeks throughout the summer.
Mountain biking is inherently challenging. The wins are personal, and we celebrate them together. The failures are for learning about what we cannot do quite YET. Each Team learns and grows together over the ten weeks of Adventure Bike Club. Not every experience is the same, but every experience matters. Teammates learn to support each other, respect the trail and other users of the trail, and focus on the journey.
Lansing isn’t known for its expansive trail systems. Still, Adventure Team allows youth to be part of the vibrant Lansing Area cycling community and grow through mountain biking.
Adventure Team Lansing Area has TWO basecamps:
Eastgate Park in Meridian Township is our Tuesday night Basecamp. Eastgate Park is home to a dirt pump track, a “grom” loop – a singletrack loop on the perimeter of the park geared specifically to give youth an actual singletrack experience, an “Overcoming Obstacles” course and 6 miles of beginner-friendly multi-use trails along the Red Cedar River and Harris Nature Center. ABCD Bike check and skill instruction happens in the open green space at the start, but the adventure changes every week.
What you’ll hear about from your rider: Woodchip Hill! Railroad Climb! Pump Track! Obstacle Course! Hawks! Most kids don’t make the climbs the first week, but they might by the end!
Laurie DeYoung – Area Lead at Burchfield Park, overall communications lead. The point person on Thursday nights handles communications for the Lansing Area Adventure Team.
Burchfield Park – Overlook Shelter in Holt is our Thursday night Basecamp. Burchfield Park is home to the Dirt School Bicycle Playground and Skills Park and 16 miles of trails, including around ten miles of technical singletrack along the Grand River. ABCD Bike check and skill instruction happens in the open green space by the shelter, but the adventure that follows will depend on where the Team decides to go.
What you’ll hear about from your rider: Dirt School! Roots! Rocks! Swamp Thing! So many challenging options that may seem scary in week one but are just part of the typical fun by the last week of ABC.
Every community should have an Adventure Team. What makes Adventure Bike Club special is that its objective isn’t to produce faster mountain bikers. It centers on building up the individual and the community. The goal is to teach essential life skills through prioritizing effort, embracing failure as a learning opportunity, developing healthy habits, and encouraging kids to focus on the journey- not the finish line. So many youth athletic opportunities center on competition and outcomes, which limits who can participate and for how long. There are more opportunities for kids to experience the personal growth sport provides, in a group, when it isn’t a competition. We all need community connection, and what an awesome way to connect- outdoors through the life-long sport of mountain biking.
ADVENTURE TEAM MARQUETTE COUNTY
Adventure Team Marquette County
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
May 4th, 2024
|
Mon: (age 5-8)
Thursdays ages (9-17)
|
6/10/2024
6/13/2024 |
8/19/2024
8/22/2024 |
Mon: 160
Thurs: 160 |
$150
|
Tourist Park
|
Mon: 11
Thurs: 9
|
Todd Poquette
MARQUETTE COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Marquette is home to the original Adventure Bike Club, established in 2017 after three years of learning what most kids want from a bike ride. It’s interesting to note we started as many do (racing), but it was clear early on that focus was limiting.
We share this story from the fall of 2016 to highlight what we learned and what we saw firsthand on the trail. That fall, we formed a youth race team to race in Wisconsin. The roster was about thirty-four kids, a mix of local young men and women from 6th – 12th grade. About 8-10 kids were there to race, while the other twenty-four wanted to ride their bikes with other kids. The majority were there for the experience, and while they did like to ride hard from time to time, they didn’t desire to do it for performance. We started to realize you can’t be everything to everyone, and if you try, no one ends up happy. That’s not to say we didn’t have a good season, we did, but it was apparent something had to change.
The following spring, we launched Adventure Bike Club or ABC. We still had the race team, but we made it clear there would be two tracks. If you want to race, join the race team. If you’re going to adventure and develop life skills, join ABC. In theory, the race kids can train and ride fast without having to wait for the other kids, and the kids who aren’t there chasing a podium won’t feel like every ride is a “death march” (save that for Marji Gesick). Registration that spring proved we were on the right track. Thirty kids signed up to race, while sixty signed up for ABC. We had so many kids we had to close registration. Under the new adventure model, volunteer numbers soared, and we saw a significant shift in female volunteers (more). It was clear we were onto something.
A few of the things we believe sets Adventure Bike Club, and our organization for that matter, apart:
- We are clear about what we do – Adventure!
- We are clear about our intention – develop the whole human.
- We run a disciplined, organized, fun program that is repeatable.
- We are proud to say 45% of our leadership is female.
- We are also pleased to share that 45% of youth are female.
- Men and women lead together, and boys and girls ride together.
Marc Salm
MARQUETTE COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Adventure Bike Club still runs from Tourist Park today. The program has grown so much we’re unsure we could run it elsewhere! We program on Monday (5-8-year-olds) and Thursday (9-17-year-olds) nights, mid-June until the end of August. Bike Club draws 130 youth, 50 volunteers, a more than a hundred parents each night.
With the generous support of the 906AT community, we raised the capital needed to build a Bicycle Playground at Tourist Park. It addressed what we believed was an infrastructure gap for beginners and youth, and it’s been an excellent addition to Adventure Bike Club. The playground is full of kids and adults playing on bikes on any given summer night.
We are grateful for the incredible support from the local community and the 906AT network afar. With the help of many people, we have taken what we’ve learned here and shared it with people across the Midwest. We look forward to the day we can say it’s gone national.
Candice Blackstone-Larson
MARQUETTE COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
ADVENTURE TEAM MIDLAND COUNTY
Adventure Team Midland County
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Registration Date
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Ride Days
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First Ride
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Last Ride
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Youth Count
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Cost
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Primary Basecamp
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Total Number of Rides
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
May 4th, 2024
|
Mondays ages (5-17)
|
6/10/2024
|
8/12/2024
|
50
|
$100
|
Midland City Forest
|
10
|
Darren Bartle
MIDLAND COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Bikes are tools that offer life-long adventure, mobility, and even escape. All kids deserve to find themselves, push themselves, and grow as individuals, and there is no better way than the 906 Adventure Team. Through the Adventure Team, kids learn to do things they do not initially think possible using their bike as a tool with the support of adult volunteers.
Midland County’s Adventure Team is helping kids grow their confidence on bikes. At the end of last summer, every rider rode farther and over terrain that was initially too difficult. From a volunteer perspective, we saw kids try things that included riding up and down the sledding hill and conquering the skills park – something that initially seemed scary. They also unequivocally supported one another and were just as excited for the rider whose challenge was met as the rider themselves. A few examples of how volunteers (who are trained and have background checks) empower youth on bikes are by helping them set and evaluate personal riding goals, expecting communication with themselves and other riders, teaching trail etiquette, demonstrating care and respect for equipment, modeling wonder and adventure in the outdoors and practicing new skills on the bike.
Julie Cunningham
MIDLAND COUNTY ADVENTURE TEAM LEAD
Midland County’s Adventure Team rides at Midland City Forest. City Forest has several opportunities for the youngest riders to start on two-track and level up to single-track. At the same time, there are more significant challenges for riders who need them – from moving bridges to jumps and banked tracks, all riders have an opportunity for growth. The sledding hill also provides the culminating hill ride to aspire to for the end of the season.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
“The three most important ways to lead people are:… by example… by example… by example.”
-Albert Schweitzer
Effective leadership requires intention and a commitment to something greater than oneself. We’re dedicated to youth development and meeting kids where they are. Still, if we plan to do it differently, we must create a different kind of leader – the kind more interested in equipping the child to take the challenges of life head-on and overcome them.
Volunteers must pass a nationwide background check, complete 3-4 hours of online training, or attend the day-and-a-half-long leadership summit and receive ongoing leadership development through weekly newsletters and pre-ride leader meetings.
How We Impact Communities
Children who ride a bike 2 times a week are less likely to be overweight
*Dudas & Crocetti, Association of Bicycling and Childhood Overweight Status, Ambulatory Pediatrics November 2008
*Dudas & Crocetti, Association of Bicycling and Childhood Overweight Status, Ambulatory Pediatrics November 2008
2024
Catalyst Award, Community Foundation of Marquette County
6,200
Youth reached since 2014
15
Communities working towards becoming the best version of themselves
100
Number of foundations, corporate partners, and local businesses supporting our efforts
45%
of the 906AT community is female
3
Number of states in which we have youth programs
22,000
Endurance Trilogy Participants since 2015
750+
Volunteers helping advance the mission
44,000
Support crew members
50
Adventure Teams by 2028
Adventure Teams develop new friendships, build resilience, establish healthy habits, and introduce an activity equal parts sport, equal parts lifestyle, that will grow and change as we do.”