gremlin76

I 'volunteered" to be the adult chaperone for the local middle schools' after school mountain bike program. So today I got paid $75 to ride for 3 hours with kids, and this is day 1 of 4 riding days.

Sure, the money is great, but it's also great to ride with 11 kids who WANT to ride in the woods. They were normal teen boys, trying to race each other and get to the top of the climb first. Nobody crashed, which shocked me. In about 2 hours of actual riding we covered about 8 miles. Kids old enough to be my own are not my first choice in riding partners, but it was very fun, and hopefully I can encourage them to put down the video games and get outdoors more often.

Sprocket Man

Wow, great job! I'd be glad to do something like this for free if someone asked me to, but that's nice that you actually got some payment for it. It must be pretty gratifying to ride with these kids and see them enjoying their ride.

MMACH 5

That's awesome! Keep at it. You never know what future cycling athletes and/or advocates you might be mentoring.

arej00dazed

is there a spot for chaperoning the high school cheerleader squad bike trips? I'd imagine the conversations wouldnt be too intelligent, but at least the view would be nice..........

gremlin76

Today in the mail I finally got my contract, I am officially the "Mountain Biking Coach". How freaking cool is that?! I even get to do it again in the spring. And yeah, I would do it for free. I was nervous about the whole thing, but these middle school kids are no problem when you get them out of the classroom and onto bikes. It was a ton of fun. Especially when they tried to chase me...

The kids did good the other day, and really wore themselves out, I love the challenge of making it harder and harder every week. The last outing is about 4 hours of riding instead of the normal 2, hopefully they will sleep on the way back instead of asking me a thousand questions. Like- "Why is your car such a piece of crap dude?"

And our high school doesn't have cheerleaders. Seems kind of weird and un-American. We should have cheerleaders on bikes, dammit!

Rex G

Wow, a great gig! Passing your knowledge to the next generation is one of the most rewarding things a person can do.

FWIW, I train the next generation of police officers, as what is generically known as an FTO. Some of the recent ones are younger than my grown son, but not, of course, as young as the ones in your MTB class. I also taught American Red Cross-sanctioned swimming lessons back in my younger days, both paid and volunteer, which is closer to what you are doing. Enjoy!

drifter757

Sweet gig, keep up the good work.

Tapeworm21

My employer pays me .10 cents every mile I put on a bike. No matter what type of riding.... recreational or commuting. It's not much but it adds up over time.