CBC to partner with Westlake Elementary School for used bike event

The Community Bike Collective is partnering with Westlake Elementary in bike donation/refurbish/giveaway events that will directly benefit our community by turning under-utilized bikes into cherished gifts! The Community Bike Collective  is a volunteer run nonprofit located in Watsonville that is dedicated to providing access to quality bikes.  Within the last year, the Community Bike Collective…

SC volunteers fix bikes, donate them to deserving youth

Last Sunday, a group of Santa Cruz residents gathered to flex their collective bike maintenance skills and help area youth in the process. A crew of 13 volunteers were able to get 36 bikes ready for the trails, overcoming bent derailleurs and wheels along the way. Of the 36 bikes, 20 are slated to be…

CBC joins Santa Cruz Gives!!

Santa Cruz Gives has vetted and selected 40 valuable local nonprofits and created a platform to make it easy for you to browse, donate and help make our community an even better place to live. This year, the Community Bike Collective has been selected to participate in this wonderful charitable event! Find out how you…

Film festival to raise funds for two local bicycle nonprofits

For 20 years the Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) has been celebrating bicycles through art, film and music. This year BFF will offer a virtual version of the festival hosted by two local organizations: Community Bike Collective (CBC) and Bike Santa Cruz County(BSCC).

Communities participate in Santa Cruz Bike Month

The Community Bike Collective’s summer bike camp has played a huge role in bringing fun, free and educational biking experiences to local youth during Santa Cruz Bike Month. This article in the Pajaronian highlights how the CBC and Bike Santa Cruz County joined forces to teach bike maintenance during our summer bike camp.

CBC Seeks Volunteers for Summer Bike Camps

The Community Bike Collective seeks volunteers: Ride Leaders and Marketing Content Publishers for our 2020 Summer Bike Camps.  If you enjoy mountain biking, mentoring kids, and feel that changing kids lives for the better is payment in itself, then you will fit right in with the Community Bike Collective.

Kids at Watsonville Y Get Bike Helmets, Bikes

The Watsonville Y’s Child Care Center teams up with Bike Santa Cruz County and the Community Bike Collective to bring a fun Bike Day to area youth.

Bike Organization Keeps Moving Forward

A recent article in the Pajaronian discusses the Community Bike Collective’s efforts to continue pursuing their mission despite the setbacks brought on by COVID-19.

Summer Ride Partnerships

Community Bike Collective partners with Youth Now and Watsonville Parks and Recreation to bring rides to local youth. Check our ride calendar for dates and times volunteers are needed!

Middle schoolers tackle trails in Forest of Nisene Marks

Middle school students from across Santa Cruz County were treated to shorts-and-tee-shirt weather on the April 30, 2016, ride through the forest of Nisene Marks. Fifteen kids and four adults enjoyed riding the fire roads and single track, taking on challenges and learning new skills. Check out the gallery.  

Trips for Kids Newsletter 2016-02-22

Bike Station Aptos Sponsors Mountain Bikes for Tykes Trips for Kids Santa Cruz is grateful for the continuing generosity and support from Bike Station Aptos with their recent sponsorship to provide four push bikes at wholesale prices. We will soon have four GT Mach One’s, two 12-inch and two 16-inch, for our bike rodeos at community events. Bike…

Trips for Kids Newsletter 2015-12-14

Support Trips for Kids Santa Cruz while gift shopping on Amazon You go, Girl Scouts! On November 21, we took nine girls and three leaders from Girl Scout Troop 10423 for a “bike and hike” in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. This was the second ride this year for this eager group of girls.…

You go, Girl Scouts!

On November 21, we took nine girls and three leaders from Girl Scout Troop 10423 for a “bike and hike” in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. This was the second ride this year for this eager group of girls. Kathy Frank was our ride leader. They rode up to the Aptos Creek Trail…

San José ICO soaks up the fun on a rainy day

Trips for Kids Santa Cruz led riders and volunteers from San José ICO on the fire roads and single track trails in the Forest of Nisene Marks in Aptos. The day started off cool, and a few showers started to fall after lunch, making for perfect trail conditions. The leaders helped all the riders learn a few skills:…

Family Fitness Challenge Day Obstacle Course

Kids and their families came out in droves to the Family Fitness Challenge Day in Ramsay Park, Watsonville, Sunday, September 27, 2015. Volunteers from Trips for Kids Santa Cruz helped toddlers on striders and kids on mountain bikes to attack our mountain bike obstacle course. See a few of the photos in our gallery.

Raleigh EVA 29 Drawing Winner

Congratulations to John Casper and Jeltje Van Baren of Aptos, CA, who were the winners of the brand new Raleigh EVA 29 mountain bike in our recent drawing! Thanks to all of the entrants who raised over $1000 to support our programs to take kids mountain biking. The generous Bike Station Aptos donated this awesome bike.

Trips for Kids Newsletter 2015-08-28

Enter to win a new mountain bike Read details of how to purchase entries for the drawing. All proceeds benefit our programs to take kids mountain biking. Get Out Get Fit goes into the wild Every year Trips for Kids Santa Cruz has the opportunity to take the youth from the Get Out Get Fit…

Trips for Kids Newsletter 2015-06-23

San José Inspiring Connections Outdoors ride the Forest of Nisene Marks Our friends from San José Inspiring Connections Outdoors rode through the Forest of Nisene Marks last Saturday, June 6. Janette LaBau, Ray, and five other volunteers led eleven kids on an adventure they will always remember. Forest elves and the elusive Duckus bikerus accompanied…

San José Inspiring Connections Outdoors ride the Forest of Nisene Marks

Our friends from San José Inspiring Connections Outdoors rode through the Forest of Nisene Marks last Saturday, June 6. Janette LaBau, Ray, and five other volunteers led eleven kids on an adventure they will always remember. Forest elves and the elusive Duckus bikerus accompanied us on our trip along the trails. We rode some single track and the fire…

Middle School Students ride the Forest of Nisene Marks

A large group of kids from middle schools around the county rode through the Forest of Nisene Marks last Saturday, May 30. Sunshine filtered through the redwood canopy and warmed us on our ride. At our lunch stop alongside Aptos Creek, a few of us learned how to skip stones, and others went “spelunking”. Tawn…

Trips for Kids Newsletter 2015-05-28

Kids Take Over the Roads at Bike Rodeo at Open Streets Watsonville 114 kids and adults who wish they could be kids again rode bikes through the bike skills obstacle course at Open Streets Watsonville last Sunday, May 17. Volunteers from Trips for Kids Santa Cruz partnered with Ecology Action’s Bike Smart! program to help…

Trips for Kids Newsletter 2015-04-30

Volunteer for the Bike Rodeo at Open Streets Watsonville Trips for Kids Santa Cruz will partner with Ecology Action’s Bike Smart! youth bicycle safety program to help kids learn on-street bicycle riding safety and basic bicycling skills at Open Streets Watsonville, on Sunday, May 17, 2015, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, on Brennan and Union…

Trips for Kids Newsletter 2015-04-06

Volunteer for the Bike Rodeo We will be teaching kids bike skills through a bike rodeo at the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival, Saturday and Sunday, April 11 and 12. Volunteers will teach kids how to take on challenges by riding through the skills course, and will help fit and give out free helmets to…

Trips for Kids Santa Cruz Newsletter 2015-02-19

Volunteer CPR and First Aid Training When we take kids on rides, we always have at least one volunteer Ride Leader who has taken First Aid and CPR training to administer when needed. The TFKSC Board will hold a CPR and First Aid Training for all volunteers who want to be Ride Leaders. Volunteer CPR…

Trips for Kids Santa Cruz Newsletter 2015-01-28

Kids from Earn-A-Bike program explore the Forest of Nisene Marks With the rain clouds parting to beautiful sunshine, kids from the Earn-A-Bike program mounted up to ride the fire road into the Forest of Nisene Marks. Along the way we tried out some of the skills development areas and side spurs. Check out the video…

President’s message: highlights from 2014

Happy Holidays everyone, As we complete another trip around the Sun, we look back at another fun and successful year for Trips for Kids Santa Cruz. Here are just a few of our highlights from 2014. Took 169 kids mountain biking in our beautiful state parks for a total of 1,134 “miles of smiles”. Took…

Confessions of a novice trip leader

I’ve been an officer with Trips For Kids Santa Cruz for some time, but the August ride was my first ride with the kids.  It also became my first time as tip co-leader when the trip leader had a family medical emergency, on top of many hours that she’s spent coordinating large and successful midweek…

Our T4KSC ride on Saturday, April 7th, was great.

New beginnings: All of the hard work at the Launch Pad really paid off. Not only did the Pad work great, it made the kids feel great. They absolutely loved it. They were all over, getting their bikes, selecting their helmets and gloves, using the bathroom, checking out the photo board, and generally amazed at…

Favorite Pics from January’s Ride

A real post about what we all learned is coming, but I want to post my favorite pics, too. So, here they are… The Crew

Blood, Sweat, and Mechanicals: It’s a Great Mountain Biking Life

It was the ride after the wind storm. Debris so thick, it took talent to overcome the obstacles that buried the hard packed dirt of the fire road. I was in a foul mood. I was exhausted from a long work week and Steve-O had decided not to show up. When kids don’t show, I…

More Good Days for More Kids

For a girl named Barney, it was the chickens. We stood in a circle, each sharing the highs and lows of our ride in Wilder Ranch State Park, the highs ranged from the horses to the chickens to skidding out on the dirt. More than one participant claimed the upcoming climb out of Wilder as…

Take a Kid Mountain Biking, Would Ya’?

On Saturday October 1, Trips for Kids Santa Cruz participated in Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. Four participants from Tyler House, along with their supervisor, Crystal, joined us for a day of skills practice, a group ride, and a fruitful raffle. Thanks again, Dave, for assisting with transportation to Monterey from Aptos. As usual,…

Lou without Oopty

John and I sat in the front of the truck, marveling at the signatures at the bottom of each of this kid’s text messages. When making arrangements with kids to take them riding, texting is part of the game. As we waited for Steve-O to return home with his Burger King breakfast (a food choice…

Photo Essay: Lessons in Taking Teens Mountain Biking

1. When recruiting kids, count on a 2/5 show-up rate. We invited 8, had five confirm the night before, and two get to us. These two lucky kids got tons of attention. We all had fun riding lower Nisene Marks. 2. Notice the pink heart? That’s covering a hand gesture. I don’t know if it’s…

Sometimes It’s the Bike that Saves You

By Dawn Weathersbee, T4KSC Board Secretary He wouldn’t let me take a picture of him. It’s probably all for the best, because my photography could never have captured the excitement he expressed after his first Trips for Kids Santa Cruz ride. It’s an amazing and sad thing to hear a kid say, “Next Sunday, right?”…

Pics of Our First Volunteer Day

Trips for Kids Santa Cruz had it’s first volunteer day on June 12, 2011. Take a look at a few of the photos of our first volunteer day. We built a bike locker, built bikes, had a leadership training, and had some fun with the Bike Shack Bikes!