CCY Junior Cycling

I recently read somewhere that junior development makes up something like 3% of the membership in USA Cycling. That is sad to me, we need more younger riders to keep the sport going. I grew up in Eastern Washington and started racing mountain bikes back in the mid-1980's when I was still in middle school. I won the first race I entered because I was the only one in my age category. My parents drove me to the races, and I remember borrowing a helmet from one of my teachers because it was required to race and I didn't own one myself. I would have given anything to have a local junior development team to steer me in the right direction, but nothing like that existed in my hometown. Last year I stumbled across RJ's blog, An Adventure Called Bicycling, and have been checking in almost every day to see what kind of shenanagins she is up to. Besides spreading the Xtracycle love, RJ also coaches the CCY Junior Cycling Team in Walla Walla, Washington, which is less than 60 minutes from where I grew up. Walla Walla is a beautiful little town, tons of great wineries, and plenty of riding to be had. Check out this video of the CCY team, makes me miss the Palouse hills, and the look on the rider's faces says it all. Good stuff.