The Brave Endeavors - Culture Seed Partnership:

Increased MTB access to underserved youth in the Columbia River Gorge!

Started in 2020, Brave Endeavors partnered with CultureSeed and Hood River Mountain Bike Adventures to provide mountain bike outings for youth who do not normally have the opportunity to ride mountain bikes.

CultureSeed provides transformative outdoor programming with a prevention and behavioral health focus, an emergency relief fund for the families of the youth we serve, and meaningful alternatives to incarceration. CultureSeed’s programs require a minimum commitment of one year and most youth return year after year.

Hood River Mountain Bike Adventures is a full-service mountain bike guiding and rental service run by Greg Galliano. They cater to intermediate and expert riders and offer rental bikes and guided tours within driving distance from the town of Hood River.

One of the greatest barriers to entry into the world of mountain biking is access to a bike. Bikes are expensive, and good bikes are very expensive. Hood River Mountain Bike Adventures provides high quality bikes for all Brave Endeavors - CultureSeed MTB outings which makes for a smooth and enjoyable experience for all.

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2020 Inaugural Outing:

Our first outing was on Halloween, during the pandemic. Kids and coaches were nervous and unsure what to expect. Youth were outfitted with bikes and helmets and then instructed about gears, brakes and the seat dropper! The. group nervously rode around the features at Family Man to build comfort on the bikes. By the end of the day the kids didn’t want to stop riding, other than their butts were very sore!

Year recap: 1 outing, 13 students

Additional Community Partners: SRAM and Mt. View Cycles

2021: 5 Outings with 3 Cohorts

After the success of the first MTB outing in 2020, the Brave Endeavors-Culture Seed partnership grew to 5 outings! The kick off event brought 17 youth out to the Klickitat Trail. A special place for First Nations people as the mouth of the Klickitat River has and still is a prolific Indigenous fishing spot. At the end of the year, Culture Seed youth reported mountain biking was their favorite outing and they wanted more!

2021 Summary:

5 Outings!
3 Different Cohorts
- Skamania
- Klickitat
- NORCOR
28 youth provided with the opportunity to ride mountain bikes!
Additional Community Partners: SRAM

2022: Continued Success with 3 Outings.

We added summer outings and kids accessed new and challenging terrain!

One of our outings introduced 8 kids to mountain bikes. Most of the youth we had not previously met. The bikes were foreign, the trails narrow, "sketch" and had "gross rocks." Two girls stared down the entrance of one trail (baby GP in you're familiar with the area) for over 20 minutes before finally both riding it!

One student came for his third mountain bike outing and we learned the mountain bike excursions had been so fun he started attending all the outdoor outings CultureSeed offered, when previously he barely participated. It's truly remarkable to see the transformation many of the youth go through in 3 short hours. They go from being scared and timid, to us needing to pry them off their bikes. Comments such as "wow, the outdoors are amazing" and "that was terrifying but now it's super fun" fill us all with stoke and make the initial scramble at the beginning always feel worth it at the end.

2023: Summer Camp!

We added a summer camp option to provide extended contact time, continuous days of instruction, and journal time! Over the course of 3 days the participants were able to build comfort and confidence on the bike and deepen relationships with each other, with the bike, with the coaches, and most importantly, with ourselves.