Pajarito Mountain will host its first NICA race Sunday, Oct. 15. Courtesy photo

BY MARY GROW
Director
New Mexico Interscholastic Cycling League

Pajarito Mountain is hosting its first NICA race on Sunday Oct. 15. NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) is a youth development program whose core values are fun, inclusivity, equity, respect, and community. Their focus is on creating positive outdoor sports experiences while helping students build strong bodies, minds, character and community through mountain biking. New Mexico started a NICA chapter in 2022 to help get more kids on bikes, and is in their first full season of youth events and races this year. 

Pajarito Mountain saw the need to have a venue space that could host a Cross-Country mountain bike race for all New Mexico NICA students. They also wanted to offer  more beginner friendly trails in town for families and newer riders to enjoy. a more b another practice area for the Los Alamos Mountain Bike Team and offer Tom Long and Jasen Bellomy ​at Pajarito Mountain have been instrumental in building this new trail with the help of local volunteers and ski hill employees. The new course will be listed as the “Lunch Loop” because it’s the perfect length for a lunchtime ride.

New Mexico NICA will host a statewide youth mountain bike event “Pedal Pajarito” on Oct. 14-15. There are currently 19 teams and 218 student athletes participating statewide, and we anticipate roughly 15 teams and 120 students will attend this event.  Our focus is always on community over competition, and we hope that our local friends can come participate and help give these students a great weekend experience. It takes multiple volunteer positions to host an event of this scale, please sign up to volunteer here.