Trips for Kids gets Important Recognition- Congrads to Marilyn Price

Marilyn Price honored with President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition Community Leadership Award SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - December 21, 2010 -The President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition (PCFSN) has chosen Marilyn Price to receive a 2010 PCFSN Community Leadership Award.  The award is given annually to individuals who improve the lives of individuals within their community by providing or enhancing opportunities to engage in sports, physical activities, fitness or nutrition-related programs. Longtime environmentalist and bicycle enthusiast Marilyn Price uses her passions to improve the lives of at-risk children. In 1986, Price founded Trips for Kids (TFK), a nonprofit organization that opens the world of cycling to at-risk youth through mountain bike rides and Earn-a-Bike programs. Today the organization has more than 70 chapters located throughout the United States, Canada and Israel. "It is our pleasure to present this award to Marilyn Price," says Shellie Pfohl, Executive Director of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition. "Physical activity and good nutrition are important components of living a healthy lifestyle, and we are pleased to recognize individuals like Marilyn Price who are committed to making a difference and positively influencing the health of their communities." "Trips for Kids is overjoyed to be the recipient of this prestigious award," said Marilyn Price, founding director of TFK. "Recognition from the President's Council will significantly boost our visibility and encourage more people to sign up as Trips for Kids chapters." This year, the President's Council presented the Community Leadership Award to 28 individuals across the country for making sports, physical activity, fitness, and nutrition-related programs available in their communities. About PCFSN The President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN) is a committee of up to 25 volunteer citizens appointed by the President to serve in an advisory capacity through the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Through its programs and partnerships with the public, private and non-profit sectors, PCFSN acts as a catalyst to promote healthy lifestyles through fitness, sports and nutrition programs and initiatives that educate, empower and engage Americans of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.  For more information about PCFSN, visit www.fitness.gov.  About Trips for Kids Trips for Kids (www.tripsforkids.org) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization based in Marin County, California. With 69 chapters operating in the United States, Canada and Israel, Trips for Kids opens the world of cycling to at-risk youth through mountain bike rides and Earn-a-Bike programs. TFK rides are the "vehicle" through which the kids gain confidence, skills, and an appreciation for nature. TFK's after-school Earn-a-Bike and job training programs teach kids how to build and repair bikes, while they learn the values of responsibility, patience, and hard work.                                                          ### Media Contacts Chip Smith, SOAR Communications, 801.656.0472 x 1, csmith@soarcomm.com, or Eric Goldman, Trips for Kids, 415.578.3708, efgoldman@tripsforkids.org

Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day was a Success!

October 2nd brought amazing weather -  after a week of hard and heavy rains,  the skies cleared, the temperature was 70 and there was low humidity;  a perfect day for biking.  And with this perfect day,   we had many families coming out to try this sport called mountain biking.

 Pedro Ybarnegaray, a pro BMXer,  from Bolivia came as a volunteer and gave us a litlle demo  of expert cycle handling.  We had an amazing volunteer turnout so we were able to lead multiple level rides.  We did beginner rides, intermediate rides and advanced rides   It made for an amazing day.  Fun was had by all!  What a way to end our season!  

Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day - Saturday October 2nd

Trips  for  Kids  Metro  New  York  

would like to invite you and your kids to 

Take a Kid

Mountain Biking Day 

When:          Saturday, October 2nd, 2010

Where:          Stillwell Woods County Park , Syossett, NY 

 

Itinerary:   Ride starts at 12:00  Rides will group up by skill and experience.  We will ride every 15 minutes or as groups fill up.  

Meet:   Stillwell Woods Trail Head  

Time :   12:00-2:00 

RSVP :    andree@tfkmetrony.org 

This is a great opportunity to pass your passion for pedaling on to kids. 

We are currently seeking interested participants (Kids and Adults) as well as volunteers for all aspects of the events including  Bike Mechanics, On-site Coordinator.  

Don't forget to RSVP!!!! 

Trips for Kids is  an organization that has been helping disadvantaged kids discover mountain biking since 1988. Trips for Kids chapters nationwide make a difference in kids' lives by opening their world to mountain biking.

Concerned Long Island Mountain Bicyclists (C.L.I.M.B.) was established in 1990 as a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to the growth and safe enjoyment of mountain bicycling. We promote a strong relationship between recreation and conservation by educating the mountain bicycling community on environmentally sound and socially responsible trail use.

IMBA's International Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day celebrates the life of Jack Doub, an avid teenage mountain biker from North Carolina who had a true passion for the sport from an early age to the time when he passed away in 2002. Event funding is provided by the Jack Doub Memorial Endowment. Additional support comes from CLIF Kids, the National Park Service and Smartwool.

Read the Article on TFK Metro New York in Newsday!

Biking helps them straight into their future

Originally published: August 14, 2010 3:23 PM
By JAN TYLER  Special to Newsday

Photo credit: Ed Betz | TFKMetroNY vice president Eugene Sorenson leads a group from Little Flower Children's Home on a bike ride.
(July 24, 2010)

Mountain bike trails typically involve a series of ups and downs.
And a group of volunteers believes that riding those trails can show children that life’s ups and downs can be confronted with courage and self-confidence.
“I firmly believe that a day on a bike can change a child’s life forever,” said Andree Sanders, president of Trips For Kids Metro NY, which hosts one-day mountain bike outings for the underprivileged. “I hope to show these kids that facing and overcoming new challenges can build self-esteem and confidence.”
On a recent Saturday morning at Cathedral Pines County Park in Middle Island, volunteers from the group met up with a van carrying four boys from Little Flower Children and Family Services residential campus in Wading River.
The volunteers outfitted the boys — mainly it is boys who participate — with bikes and helmets and offered instruction. Then the group hit the trails.
Little Flower houses and cares for up to 100 boys and girls, 9 to 19, referred from social services agencies on Long Island and New York City.
“Many children are here due to some disruption in their families,” said Sharon Condon, Little Flower’s Recreation/Volunteer Coordinator.
Some go home on weekends, she said, but others look forward to special activities such as the Trips For Kids outings. Girls rarely participate in the rides, said Eric Rickenbacker, 40, of Coram, a 12-year employee of Little Flower.

Physical challenges
Sanders, 46, of Manhattan, a longtime mountain biker, said the chapter conducts rides for as many as 200 kids yearly at Bethpage State Park and Cathedral Pines, a Suffolk County Park. The New York chapter is one of 65 in the United States, Canada and Israel of Trips for Kids, an international nonprofit founded in 1986 to offer free bike trips to inner-city kids who had never had the opportunity to test themselves physically. Most had never seen the countryside. The group’s premise was that the kids would learn valuable life skills and self-confidence.

Working well together
Sanders brings her husband and son to help on the rides. “It’s important to show the kids how families can work and play together,” she said, “something most of them have never seen.”
“Sharing the day with these children is as much fun for me and my family as it is for them,” says TFKMetroNY vice president Ron Ganz, 48, of Syosset, as he unloads bikes and equipment from the van. “We love to see the joy and smiles on the faces of these underprivileged children who might never have an experience like this as they grow up.”
The park trails are built and maintained by CLIMB (Concerned Long Island Mountain Bikers), a volunteer organization. About eight miles of trails follow the contours of the terrain and some are rugged.
“Mountain biking is not like street biking,” Sanders said. “There are techniques to learn, how to handle the rough surfaces.” She and other group leaders demonstrate how to master the jumps over fallen logs and negotiate hills and gullies. After watching the demonstrations, the boys follow, often with cries of “I did it! That was super.”
The group also aims to use the rides to create an awareness of the natural world. “We point out the distinctive features of the trees and shrubs and even how the rocks were deposited by glaciers millennia ago,” Ganz says.
At the end of the day, the volunteers and participants sit on the grass under the shade of the towering pines that give the park its name. As they sip bottled lemonade and nibble cookies, each child is urged to talk about the day. They appear tired but excited.
“When we get back, those kids are ‘wired’ and they can talk about nothing else,” Rickenbacker said.
One Little Flower resident, 16-year-old Mike, could hardly contain his enthusiasm: “Being outdoors in the woods, riding the trails over the hills and bumps — it was the greatest day I ever had.”
Trips For Kids Metro NY welcomes volunteers. Information is available at
www.TFKMetroNY.org

Check out the article in today's NY Times

Check it out - Mountain biking in New York City- Yes New York City! 


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/nyregion/23mtnbike.html?_r=1&ref=todays paper

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An interesting Article on Girls, Boys, and Biking.....

Life as a Bike Jockey: Eve-olution and the Bike

by Judy Freeman

• March 16, 2010
• Comments

Imagine you’re on your bike, staring up a long, uber-steep climb — like the kind you’d find on Slickrock Trail in Moab, Utah for example — high dumptruck-abilty rating with a low forgiveness factor.

Looking up the rock face, you run the checklist of what you gotta do to make it to the top: proper gear selection, body positioning and so on. You’re also scheming your Plan B move in case Plan A doesn’t pan out. (By the way, your Plan B should account for the serious drop-off penalty to your right.)

Your buddy has just made it up and now it’s your turn. You’ve never made this climb before, but you’re feeling today is your day. You’re a bit nervous, but still game.

At this point, if you’re a healthy male, you’ve gotten a large rush of adrenaline to the bloodstream. This is going to amp you up for the challenge, goad the competitive inkling and increase your focus and clarity; all helping you feel ready to attack.

If you’re a healthy woman, well, maybe not so much. You’ve released the adrenaline, but it’s likely you just got an even larger dose of acetocholine. This happy little hormone makes you feel uncomfortable and nauseated with clouded thought.

And because of an added rush of oxcytocin, the “Tend-and-Befriend” hormone, you have an urge to connect with others and tend to the needs of the group. You’re not necessarily looking to discuss your feelings, just the same you could throw out a “How you doin?”

What looks on the surface to be nervous chatter, is actually a physical response to help calm the nerves.

XX Riding

RACE READY
Time to get the rally shorts on for the Pro XCT series opener in Fontana, California at the end of this month. Looking forward to getting back to racing, visiting with old friends and snacking on hurt sandwiches. Will keep you posted.

Beth Davis, MS, and the executive director of The Women’s Wilderness Institute (TWWI)  in Boulder, Colorado, filled me in on these physiological differences in stress responses between the sexes. TWWI teaches outdoor skills using methods based on these considerations and the learning styles more common to females. In addition to the above, there are many more gender differences in approach to challenge based on psychology and socialization.

To explain it all would take a college degree or two. Still, I think even just a few points from our conversation can go a fair ways in understanding how Eve rides different from Adam.

What’s Biking Got to Do with It?

To give an idea of how these differing responses may have developed, Beth offered the image of a group of early humans under attack. While the men grabbed weapons to ward off invaders, the women became group-focused and rounded up the children to move to safety. This division of labor was likely supported by instinct. As it aided with group survival, the patterns would be reinforced; camping these responses in our physiology.

Cool, but what does this mean when it comes to tearing up trail thousands of years later?

Beth explained that when faced with a daunting physical challenge, it helps many ladies to understand that wanting to throw up isn’t always a sign to give up. This can make for a better assessment of a situation. And knowing that connecting with the group can lend to success, a woman can find support for herself through a challenge.

Just Do It

However, if you’re the person helping with the support, remember that saying “Just do it” isn’t always as rallying as hoped. When adrenaline is pumping and the competitive impulse is super-charged, choice may not be a key ingredient to initiating action. But for most females, having options and an incremental approach when highly stressed is a step towards the desired goal.

“Just do it” doesn’t really give room for options or differences in learning styles.  A woman might prefer, “Try this portion of the ride and see how you feel.”

This is a point I’ve heard from a lot of gals when explaining a frustrating biking experience with a coaching boyfriend. Though well intentioned, the beau wasn’t the best cheerleader employing the Nike-esque encouragement. When it comes to the ‘ol just do it, perhaps it’s best just to not say it.

Gingerly Approaching Gender

This is not to say that gals will invariably shy from a double-dog dare or be arrested by nausea at every turn. Enter the movie Women of Dirt with its stout cast of lady huckers. But even at a high level of competency in a sport, a woman may get that squeamish alarm from a high-stress maneuver.

Beth, a long-time mountain climber, was recently on a climb with a vertical roped rock-climbing section. On one particularly hairy pitch, she said she started feeling queasy and concerned about carrying on. Yet, instead of being paralyzed with fear, or thinking it was a sign she was out of her skill range, she recognized what was going on for her. She assessed her needs, supported herself through the task, and made it to the top.

Generally, I Don’t Make Generalizations

Of course, everyone is different, and life experience and ability will also affect the situation. And this is in no way to paint a picture that guys have none of these responses or are insensitive and not to be trusted giving biking help to the opposite sex.

Ultimately, this is to say, that at the bottom of that sketchy rock climb — physiologically speaking — females and fellas may not be experiencing the same trail. Hopefully, understanding this could help some gals progress further on the bike. And if it saves a relationship or two, well, that’d also be sweet.

After all, once you’ve made the climb, guy or gal, the smiles and hells yeah! are pretty much the same.

The Women’s Wilderness Institute teaches outdoor skills from biking to ice climbing to women and girls. To learn more, visit www.womenswilderness.org.

Judy Freeman is a pro mountain biker out of Boulder, Colorado. In 2009 she represented the U.S. at the World Championships in Canberra, Australia. For 2010, she’ll be racing for Kenda/Felt Mountain Bike Team. Other sponsors for 2010 include TrailMaster Coaching, Hayes, Manitou, Voler Apparel, Pearl Izumi, WickWerks, KMC, SDG, Crank Brothers, Uvex, Pika Packworks, Smith Optics and Mighty Good Coffee.

Read more: http://singletrack.competitor.com/2010/03/features/life-as-a-bike-jockey-eve-olution-and-the-bike_6764#ixzz0jl5rreDS

Trips for Kids Metro New York co-sponsors Pedal for the Planet on April 25th

Trips for Kids Metro New York Hosts 2nd Annual Bike and Bites Festival

Trips for Kids  Metro New York

Hosts Second Annual Bikes & Bites Benefit

With Your Help We Can Get Hundreds of Kids on Bikes

This Season

(New York, New York) March 11, 2010 - Trips for Kids Metro New York (TFK), will be hosting its second annual Bikes and Bites Benefit on Tuesday April 27, 2010 7:00-9:00 at 107 West Restaurant and Bar  on the Upper West Side at 107^th and Broadway. TFK is a non-profit organization, that provides inner city kids with a transformational day of mountain biking fun!

TFK ‘s  mountain biking trips teaches the kids mountain biking skills, environmental education and give them a self esteem building experience all by the simple act of having fun.

“Our rides activate and excite a child’s personal awareness through interaction with the environment and physical activity.” says Andree Sanders, Executive Director of TFK.

TFK provides an important service to Metro New York kids who have limited access to the outdoors and physical activity.  TFK gives urban children a rare opportunity to experience mountain biking under the guidance of trained professionals in non urban settings.  TFK’s outreach is committed to reaching the diverse group of urban youth, ages 10-18.

TFK’s specialized mountain biking intervention program nurtures positive attitudes and brighter perspectives helping kids lead healthier and more productive lives. Kids’ lives can be changed by getting them onto bikes and out in nature, where they can learn about themselves through discovering the environment around them.  Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2008) has concluded that children who are regularly exposed to nature “thrive in intellectual, spiritual and physical ways that their ‘shut-in’ peers do not”.  He says studies show that enjoying nature reduces kids' loneliness, depression and attention problems.

In support of National Bike Month approaching in May, TFK is hosting its second annual Bikes and Bites Benefit to help get hundreds of kids on bikes this season.  The event will be held at 107 West Restaurant and Bar on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 7:00-9:00pm.  Tickets are $30 per person, which includes drinks and appetizers.  The event is open to the public and tickets will be sold at the door and online.  There will be a silent auction with items such as a weekend getaway near Tanglewood, a hand blown vase by internationally know artist, Michael Davis, and many different gift certificates to local restaurants and stores.   Raffle items include a kindle, many bike items and the grand prize is a Mountain Bike. 

For further information or to arrange coverage of this event, please contact: Andree Sanders, Executive Director at 917-658-9289, asanders@tfkmetrony.org