Good News: Youth mountain biking league coming to Oklahoma

TULSA, Okla. — A youth mountain biking league is coming to Oklahoma. The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) announced its launch in the state on Tuesday.

The association says 46 kids have already been competing by participating in Arkansas’s league. Starting next fall, those races will happen in Tulsa and other trails across our great state.

For these kids, cycling is life.

“I love a lot of downhills with jumps that can be really fast. You can take them mildly if you you’re doing it for the first time, or you can get a lot of air on them,” said Lucia Carter.

Carter is part of NICA. Its Oklahoma league officially launched, bringing riders from here and out of state together for competition.

“I love meeting all the new people. Even if they’re not on your team, you can meet people and become friends at your race and everyone’s just so nice and wonderful,” said Carter.

NICA is more than just racing. It’s a youth biking program that empowers kids and gives them a healthy outlet.

“We use a bike as our mentoring tool for kids,” said Dave Weaver, co-league director.

Mitch Franklin, the other co-league director, says it’s way more than just getting on a bike.

“It’s just exciting to have an organized group that supports getting kids on bikes, outdoors, exercising, and creating strong, confident youth,” said Franklin.

Weaver says kids take pride in the trails. NICA has programs that get the kids involved in helping maintain the trails and keep them clean.

“They build those partnerships with agencies like Bike Club here in Tulsa. They can partner with river parks trails to help with the Turkey Mountain system to give back to the organization and help impact the trails they use,” said Weaver.

With NICA growing and adding Oklahoma to its list, kids are excited to see it grow, make more friends, and have more participants from the state who want to get out and ride.

"It’s exciting to see how the league has grown to so many kids now. It’s exciting to see how many kids are getting into cycling. It’s really fun. It’s a nice challenge and I love these courses out there the river parks has built us. It’s great to come out here and hide,” said Oliver Combs.

With the addition of the Oklahoma Interscholastic Cycling League, NICA now operates 32 leagues nationwide, bringing its programming within reach of 70% of the U.S. population.

Team practices for the new Oklahoma league will commence in the summer of 2025, with racing and other program activities set to begin in the fall of 2025. Registration for coaches will open on March 1, 2025 and student-athletes can register starting on April 1, 2025 to start their pre-season activities. The regular season is scheduled to kick off on July 1, 2025.

You can learn more about the National Interscholastic Cycling Association by clicking here .