At PeopleForBikes, we believe that when communities and the bike industry work together, big things happen. In Payson, Arizona, a powerful partnership between national brands, local champions, and a committed nonprofit created a thriving model for youth cycling and community recreation that can be replicated in towns across the country.

Payson’s story began as a spark from local leaders and Wheel Fun, a local nonprofit with a mission to create community, improve mental and physical health, and cultivate a love for the outdoors for underserved rural Arizona youth through free mountain biking programs. It soon evolved into a district-wide cycling ecosystem, complete with bike clubs, school-based classes, a flagship skills park, and hands-on technical career training. At every step, industry leaders from SRAM, Trek, Shimano, Giant, and Outride worked alongside educators and local visionaries to build something truly special.

The Payson Unified School District is quickly becoming a national leader in school-based cycling programs, with its rapid growth fueled by Wheel Fun, which operates more than 48 after-school bike programs across Arizona. In 2022, Wheel Fun expanded its mission by building bike skills parks directly on school properties. Their fourth project included the Longhorn Bike Skills Park at Rim Country Middle School (RCMS) in Payson, which opened in April 2024, the first of its kind in Gila County.

Sponsored by the Trek Foundation, the Longhorn Bike Skills Park was designed with progression at its core. Its 2,500 linear feet of trails weave through natural terrain, offering climbing lines, beginner and intermediate features, a skills area, and a pump track. Riders can practice berms, kickers, skinnies, and other foundational mountain bike skills in a controlled environment built for safety and growth. Built entirely with donated funds, the park also serves as a community amenity accessible to all when school is not in session — another intentional design choice to support residents, families, and riders of all ages.

Now, the Trek Trails at the bike park are only one part of Payson’s larger cycling movement. Thanks to industry support in the form of bicycles provided by Trek, Giant, and Specialized, alongside Wheel Fun’s ongoing support and curriculum, the Payson School District now offers:

Outdoor Adventure Club, sponsored by Wheel Fun, introduces students to trails, teamwork, and safe riding.

An Outride Riding for Focus program integrated directly into PE programming, giving even more students access to bicycles and structured riding.

A new Adventure Education class, where students build skills on bikes and learn outdoor fundamentals like orienteering.

Project Bike Tech, introduced at the high school level, provides hands-on bicycle repair and career training, supported by numerous industry partners.

A new Elementary School Bike Club at Julia Randall Elementary, launched by Wheel Fun, provides bikes, helmets, and gear and offers 3rd–5th grade students trail rides from campus, structured skills development, and regular rides to the Longhorn Bike Park, ensuring early, barrier-free access to cycling.

A growing NICA program with the Payson School District is expanding competitive youth mountain biking opportunities.

With these new courses and offerings, enrollment continues to grow, with more than 55 students expected to complete the course in its first year. Additionally, Wheel Fun’s student surveys show measurable improvements in fitness, focus, confidence, and overall well-being. Nearly 70% of participating students said they “strongly” want to return next year.

When the district lacked funding for an instructor for the Project Bike Tech program, Wheel Fun stepped in again — hiring local mechanic Mac Vorce and sending him to Colorado Springs for formal training. The program is already paying dividends. As students gain real-world technical experience, the school saves an estimated $1,500 per semester by repairing its bikes in-house, and graduates can earn a certificate qualifying them as official bike technicians — a significant step in a town with no bike shop, making Project Bike Tech an especially instrumental addition.

Payson’s progress shows what’s possible when the bike industry invests in community-led efforts. SRAM, Trek, Shimano, Giant, and Outride didn’t just write checks — they helped build programs, troubleshoot challenges, and stay engaged as true partners. Local leaders and educators provided the vision. Wheel Fun brought expertise and consistency. Together, they created a sustainable recreation ecosystem that benefits the entire community.

Payson’s story is more than a local success — it’s a roadmap. When the industry shows up, collaborates, and invests in the places where people live, ride, and learn, we can create meaningful access to recreation for every child in every community nationwide.

The future of bicycling starts in your own backyard.

Own Your Backyard: How Industry Partnerships Transformed Youth Cycling in Payson, Arizona

What do Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands have in common?

It’s not endless sunshine or mild winters (sorry, Finland).

It’s bikes — and safe and connected places to ride!

These countries consistently top global happiness rankings, and they’re also some of the most bike-friendly places on Earth. Connected bike lanes, safe streets, and trails weave through communities, giving millions of people the choice to ride for fun, for fitness, and to get where they need to go.

At TEDxFargo, PeopleForBikes President and CEO Jenn Dice took the stage to share how the humble bicycle can transform not just how we move, but how we feel. In her talk, “The Secret Behind Happy Communities,” Jenn explored what happens when we design places that make it easy and joyful to ride a bike.

The Secret Behind Happy Communities | Jenn Dice | TEDxFargo

Jenn’s message is simple and hopeful — bikes make people and the places they live happier. From boosting mental health to building social connection, research shows that riding a bike naturally lifts your mood, reduces stress, and gets you moving outdoors.

As Jenn puts it, “When you pedal through your neighborhood, you get the chance to clear your head, breathe fresh air, and connect with the world around you.”

And it’s not just about exercise. Every ride is a chance to see a neighbor, wave to a friend, and feel more rooted in your community.

Across the U.S., more communities are realizing the power of the bike. From Bentonville to Bloomington, Minneapolis to Fargo, cities are investing in protected bike lanes, greenways, and trails that make it easier and safer to ride.

In just the last three years, more than 1,000 bike projects have been completed or are nearly finished. Plus, 112 million Americans got out and rode last year. That momentum is real, and it’s growing.

For Jenn, the joy of cycling started early. You could find her riding around her small South Dakota town until dusk. As an adult, she discovered mountain biking and ultra-endurance races in Colorado. That lifelong love of bikes led her to PeopleForBikes, where she now leads a team dedicated to making the U.S. the best place in the world to ride.

Her TEDx talk is a reminder that the road to happier, healthier communities isn’t complicated. It starts with small choices, like hopping on a bike for a short trip, encouraging a child to ride to school, or supporting local efforts to build safer infrastructure.

As Jenn says, “Let’s take a page from the world’s happiest nations. Let’s reimagine our neighborhoods and embrace biking — not just as transportation, but as a path to the kind of places we all want to live in.”

Let’s build a world where we can all arrive happy.

You can support better biking in your community and hundreds of others nationwide by becoming a PeopleForBikes Foundation member. Join us today.

Each year, thousands of riders descend on the desert city of Tucson, Arizona, for one of America’s most iconic cycling events: El Tour de Tucson. In 2025, more than 11,000 participants took part, a clear sign that events like these aren’t just surviving, they’re thriving. Even more compelling, nearly 60% of riders were new to the event, underscoring how mass-participation rides are driving growth by inviting new people into the joy of bicycling.

“We’re seeing incredible momentum. It’s a sign that people are not only riding more, they’re craving community and challenge," said T.J. Juskiewicz, executive director of El Tour de Tucson. “Events like El Tour are more than races — they’re economic drivers, charitable engines, and invitations to ride for a cause. That’s why we’re seeing families, first-timers, and pros line up together.”

Events That Build the Participation Flywheel

PeopleForBikes’ recent blog series on ridership trends highlights the need to focus on converting casual interest into lasting participation. Events like El Tour de Tucson are doing just that, creating moments that spark a deeper connection with bicycling and the broader bike community.

This year’s event welcomed riders from 49 states and 12 countries. Gender and age breakdowns show the ride is truly intergenerational and inclusive, with a strong turnout among women and riders over 50. As we noted in our blog, these are exactly the kinds of riders that can transform the long-term health of bicycling if we nurture their experiences beyond one-time events.

El Tour is also an on-ramp for people inspired by platforms like Peloton. Former pro cyclist and current Peloton instructor Christian Vande Velde was in Tucson for a pre-ride event, drawing fans who first connected with him virtually but then showed up in person to participate. It’s a clear example of how digital cycling platforms can be a bridge to outdoor riding and real-world connections.

“It was amazing meeting riders who told me they started with Peloton and came to Tucson to experience their first real group ride. That’s what cycling can do. It builds confidence, changes lives, and brings people together,” said Vande Velde. “I’ve raced around the world, but nothing compares to the energy of 11,000 people riding for something bigger than themselves.”

For nearly 40 years, El Tour has been a mainstay in Tucson’s cultural and economic calendar. In addition to offering ride distances for all ages and abilities, from the 102-mile flagship ride to shorter, family-friendly routes, the event serves as an entry point for new cyclists, a reunion for seasoned riders, and a celebration of mobility, fitness, and fun. This year’s ride welcomed participants of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels:

This kind of accessibility is critical for growing the base of casual riders, a key theme in our work at PeopleForBikes.

The story doesn’t end with participation. El Tour is one of Tucson’s largest tourism draws and economic engines, often cited as the city's second-largest economic driver behind the Tucson Gem Show. Riders, families, vendors, and sponsors bring millions in local revenue, and that’s before you count the ripple effect on bike shops, restaurants, and hotels.

This ties directly to our blog, Where People Ride Bikes, People Buy Bikes, which shows how strong participation creates meaningful returns for local economies. When cities invest in events and infrastructure that welcome riders of all abilities, everyone benefits — businesses, communities, riders, and more.

As cities across the U.S. look to grow participation and reap the rewards of active transportation, El Tour de Tucson offers a replicable playbook:

Create a welcoming, inclusive ride experience

Invest in safe and scenic routes for year-round riding

Partner with schools, nonprofits, and businesses to drive local involvement

Build cross-sector support from public health, economic development, and tourism partners

Participation numbers tell one story. The real magic is in what happens afterward. El Tour builds habits, confidence, and a sense of belonging that stays with people long after they cross the finish line. Events like these don’t just drive single-day activity, they fuel the long-term success of the bicycle industry and healthier, more connected communities nationwide.

Riding Together: How El Tour de Tucson Boosts Participation, Community, and the Local Economy

PeopleForBikes is leading the charge to better understand and grow the base of people who ride bikes in America. In support of this work, our new blog series explores what the latest research tells us about who’s riding, how often, and why it matters for the future of bicycling and the bike industry.

Why Bicycling Participation Matters and What’s Next

Engaging Casual Participants to Grow Bicycling

One of the most exciting findings to come out of the most recent PeopleForBikes Bicycling Participation Study is that the proportion of kids riding bikes increased for the first time since we’ve tracked bicycling in the U.S. While the study doesn’t exactly address why more kids are riding, there are likely several contributing factors.

Anecdotally, we are hearing a lot about kids riding bench style e-bikes. Unfortunately, we don’t have any data that can directly address this hypothesis because we can’t connect sales data to end users. Nevertheless, cities across the country are reporting this trend, and it poses an interesting question for the industry — how do we want to engage kids who start bicycling because of these bench-style e-bikes? One idea is that these kids could be especially open to using a bike as their primary mode of transportation. Imagine how our cities and towns could change if more kids kept riding bikes through their teen years and into adulthood — less traffic, safer streets, healthier people, and stronger communities.

Another factor that may be increasing youth participation are programs aimed directly at getting kids riding as part of their educational experience. The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) engages middle school and high school students to participate on mountain bike teams. Though these are competitive leagues, unlike other competitive sports, all kids are welcome on NICA teams and get to actively participate. According to their 2024 annual report, NICA reaches more than 25,000 kids each year and research shows that participating in NICA has impacts well beyond the kids themselves, as their friends and family members often start riding or engage more deeply in bicycling as a result of their relationship with NICA kids.

Outride is another example of a program that is actively engaging kids. Outride partners with middle schools nationwide, offering grants and a curriculum that incorporates riding into the school day. According to the 2024 Outride Impact report, there are programs in nearly 400 schools in the U.S. and Canada that serve more than 50,000 kids annually.

Little Bellas engages girls in mountain biking starting in elementary school and extending through young adulthood through mentorship opportunities. Based on Little Bellas’ most recent numbers, they have reached more than 8,500 girls across the country.

Another great example is All Kids Bike, a national nonprofit that brings bike education to kindergarten PE classes through a ready-to-teach program. Each school receives teacher training, an eight-lesson curriculum, 24 balance-to-pedal bikes, helmets, storage racks, and ongoing support. Active in over 1,700 schools across all 50 states, the program teaches 170,000 kids to ride each year and aims to reach over 1 million students throughout the 10-year lifespan of the programs already in place.

These are just a few examples of national-level programs that are working to get and keep kids on bikes. As a founding member of the Youth Cycling Coalition, PeopleForBikes supports numerous youth-focused organizations working in communities across the country to get more kids on bikes. 

One thing is clear, engaging kids across ages and into adulthood creates not only lifetime riders but, as research from NICA shows, an entire network of riders. Investing in kids is a golden ticket to growing the participant base. 

In the next post of this series, we’ll explore how building great places to ride, especially close to home, fuels rider retention, local bike economies, and bottom-line growth for the industry.

Supporting Youth Participation to Grow Bicycling

In our previous blog, we discussed the growth in bicycling participation across the U.S. and the fact that this increase in ridership is primarily driven by those who ride infrequently (a couple of times a month or less). In this installment of our participation blog series, we will talk more about who these casual riders are and how we can further engage them to support industry growth.

Demographically, casual riders are younger, more likely to be female, and less likely to be white than those who ride more often. In other words, casual riders look a lot more like the rest of the U.S. population (more diverse) than the core ridership does. This is great news for an industry that has historically struggled to diversify our participant base. 

Casual riders also differ from their more active counterparts psychologically. Casual riders are less likely than enthusiasts to be familiar and satisfied with places to ride that are close to home and less likely to say that they feel safer riding now than they did five years ago. Perceptions that are clearly related. 

Yet, casual and core riders report very similar attitudes in other aspects of riding. Nearly all riders, core and casual alike, want to ride more often and more than half of both groups worry about their safety around motor vehicles. 

So what does all of this mean for the bike industry? There is a huge opportunity to engage this growing base of casual riders — they are more diverse and want to ride more often. The best part? It is so much easier to get someone who already rides a little bit to ride more than it is to get someone who never rides to ride at all. So how do we engage these casual riders?

The most important thing we can do is build more great places to ride close to home. Having fun, safe, and accessible riding opportunities will encourage all riders to get out on their bikes more often, not just casual riders. This means not only comfortable bike networks that connect people to the places they want to go but also bike parks, pump tracks, and natural surface trails for recreational riding. Nearly all communities have unused public space and it doesn’t have to take a big investment to build quality bike amenities. Imagine how transformative it would be if everyone in the U.S were within a 10-minute ride of a fun bike park or trail. 

But it isn’t enough just to build great places to ride, we also have to support casual riders in having positive ride experiences. Just after the pandemic, PeopleForBikes conducted a study to better understand those who started riding for the first time (or for the first time in a long time) during COVID. Nearly everyone in the study mentioned having someone who encouraged them to get on the bike and helped them find places to ride — not just once, but throughout the pandemic. Local shops, clubs, and teams are uniquely positioned to incentivize enthusiast riders to “adopt” new riders and show them the ropes.

If every enthusiast rider in the U.S. helped a single new or casual participant to ride just once a week over the next 12 months, we would see 45 million new enthusiast riders by this time next year. 

Finally, we can better engage casual riders by meeting and embracing them where they are. Not everyone wants to ride four days a week or compete in races but that doesn’t mean they won’t love riding or that they won’t spend their money on bike gear. Welcoming all types of riders will create a strong, diverse, and healthy community of people who love to ride. 

In the next post of this series, we’ll focus on another exciting finding from the PeopleForBikes Participation Study — more youth are riding. We’ll unpack what we see in the data and the implications for getting, and keeping, more kids on bikes. 

At PeopleForBikes, we understand that participation drives the bicycle market across every rider type, price point, and geographic location. When people ride more, they buy more. And bicycling benefits more than just the bike business. When people ride more, they are also happier, healthier, and their communities become more connected and prosperous.

PeopleForBikes is leading the charge to better understand and grow the base of people who ride bikes in America. In support of this work, our new blog series explores what the latest research tells us about who’s riding, how often, and why it matters for the future of bicycling and the bike industry. We’ll share insights from our 2024 U.S. Bicycling Participation Study, annual reports from the Physical Activity Council, and stories from local communities nationwide to gain a deeper understanding of how we can help transform casual riders into lifelong enthusiasts.

First, let’s talk about riding trends in the U.S., starting with the good news.

Since 2016, participation in bicycling in the U.S. has grown by 14%, outpacing population growth by more than threefold. That means more people are discovering the joy of riding a bike than ever before.

Participation reflects the number of Americans ages 6 and older who report riding a bicycle at least one day in the past 12 months.

That growth is being driven by casual riders — people who ride twice a month or less. In 2016, these casual riders accounted for 53% of the participant base. In 2024, that grew to 60%. Though the pie is getting bigger, the enthusiasts who ride often and invest in mid- to high-end bikes, apparel, and gear aren’t necessarily growing with it.

This shift toward casual participation is happening across the outdoor economy. According to the Outdoor Industry Association’s 2025 Consumer Behavior Report:

 92% of outdoor participants are casual or active, not “core.”

Specialty retailers are seeing more traffic from casual participants than elite athletes.

Emotional drivers like fun, life balance, and confidence now matter as much as performance.

The Opportunity: Every enthusiast starts somewhere. Our job is to make sure they keep riding.

While this shift toward casual riding might seem like a warning sign, we see it as an opportunity. More than two-thirds of casual riders want to ride more often, suggesting that they are as close as one great experience away from becoming core enthusiasts.

In the next edition of this series, we’ll dive deeper into casual riders — who they are and how we can engage them to not only support the bike industry but also create a happier and healthier world.

Topics

First Time Bikers

PeopleForBikes at Work on First Time Bikers

News

Own Your Backyard: How Industry Partnerships Transformed Youth Cycling in Payson, Arizona

The Secret Behind Happy Communities

Riding Together: How El Tour de Tucson Boosts Participation, Community, and the Local Economy

Supporting Youth Participation to Grow Bicycling

Engaging Casual Participants to Grow Bicycling

Why Bicycling Participation Matters and What’s Next