Of the 750 kids ages 6-18 who go to the East Lake location of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chattanooga, some now see themselves as mountain bikers for the first time, thanks to the recent addition of an urban mountain bike track and launch of a Pedal Up mountain biking program through the club.
“Very few of the kids that live in East Lake have ever really been on a mountain bike, let alone have ridden on a mountain bike course,” says BGCC CEO Jim Morgan.
The course, which was expected to be complete in May, features two loops – inner and outer – with on- and off-ramps, and includes a pump track and a faster track to allow kids to practice different skills, says Brad Cobb, a community volunteer and cycling enthusiast who is heading up the project with Pedal Up Executive Director Jason Finnell.
The track and bikes for the club’s budding cycling program were funded through a $25,000 grant from the Schejola Foundation, which has funded Pedal Up programs at 14 other clubs across the Southeast, according to Finnell, who’s been Pedal Up’s executive director since he started the first program at the Boys & Girls Club in Dalton in 2008.
There are several hundred stakeholders involved with or contributing to the East Lake program – more than with any of the other programs Finnell’s done, he says.