My “NICA Why”
Looking back at the Maryland Interscholastic Cycling League’s 6th Season and ahead to the 7th…
By Jon Posner
Jon Posner is one of the co-founders and co-directors of the Maryland Interscholastic Cycling League (MICL). MICL functions like a Maryland “chapter” of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA), which is a nationwide youth cycling program founded in 2009 in Berkeley, CA.
NICA started as a racing league, but over the years has evolved into much more than that. Today, NICA is a robust outdoor experiential education program that places emphasis on introspection and personal growth alongside development as a cyclist. I have been a NICA league director since the MD league formed in late 2017, We held our first season in the Fall 2018.
Along with Fred Powell, we manage a mostly volunteer staff of nearly 35 amazing humans who help make everything run smoothly.
Part of the NICA League culture is the foundational question “NICA Why?” This is someone's reason for being a part of the NICA community. My “NICA Why” is because mountain biking became a central part of my own life at a critical and formative time. The sport provided a welcoming and supportive community, and a new way for me to experience the natural beauty and splendor that surrounds us. For me, there is no greater joy than seeing others discover and experience that same love of cycling I have. For decades I worked in bike shops, spreading my passion for cycling one customer at a time. The feeling of seeing someone else fall in love with the sport never gets old. Through the MICL we are now able to introduce hundreds of families each season to the mountain bike community and the benefits this program provides for all participants.
For the 2023 season, MICL had 691 student-athletes and 365 volunteer coaches across 28 teams around the state. MICL produced a coach training weekend in the spring to onboard new coaches, and then the 28 teams held practices and rides throughout the summer and into the fall. MICL ran an event series in the fall featuring 4 race weekends and one non-competitive adventure weekend. All events were held in MD State Parks. The MD state finals have been held the last several years at the Pickall area of Patapsco Valley State Park (PVSP) on the “School’s Out” trail, which was built in part by MICL coaches, riders, and their families during the Covid pandemic.
Up until 2023, NICA leagues operated wholly independently and there were no inter-league competitions and no multi-league events. That all changed last year with the first ever NICA Regional Festival and Championship at Fair Hill, Maryland. MICL, along with the Pennsylvania and New Jersey leagues hosted a dozen leagues from the East Coast. These leagues sent riders to participate in a full weekend of adventure riding, invitational racing, and a large festival and expo experience.
This past year MICL achieved several firsts. We held the first ever MICL night ride at our Button Farm event on the Schaeffer Farm trails, and the first adaptive cycling event at our finals at PVSP in partnership with Friends of PVSP and Kennedy Krieger. We then closed the season with our first ever coaches relay race. The race proved to be fun and gave us a great opportunity to finish the season in a competitive and “wacky and fun” way.
The Maryland Interscholastic Cycling League Leadership team , from left to right: Jon Posner, Adam Lewandoski, Diana Allen and Fred Powell.
Photo: Korey Hopkins
Personally speaking, one of this year’s highlights was being presented with a team jacket from the Washington DC Dunbar High School Prime Ability team during the MICL finals. The team gathered all around me and clapped it up like they do in practice before presenting me with their team jacket. It was really a special moment that meant quite a lot for me.
Coming into the 2023 season we completely revamped our callup and staging processes. We worked to communicate the new procedures to everyone during regular coach calls and in town hall meetings. Ultimately, the new system worked wonderfully. We plan to keep this system in place for the 2024 season.
We had the opportunity to work with many other leagues during the production of the regional event at Fair Hill and learned a lot about the different approaches that each league takes to getting things done. We’re taking the information and lessons learned from that collaboration and incorporating them into our operations plan. Folks should notice better maps and other improvements at future events.
One of this year’s highlights was being presented with a team jacket from the Washington DC Dunbar High School Prime Ability team
MICL student-athletes officially logged over 1,460 hours of volunteer work in 2023, but we’re certain that number is higher. In 2024 we’re going to work to improve how we track and report this, including participation in advocacy, education and trailwork in our registration platform, PitZone.
The 2024 season, season seven, will kick off with coach registration opening in early March and a coaches summit later in the month especially geared towards new coaches or individuals launching new teams. Student-athlete and team registration will open April 1st. Teams will begin to come together in May and June, with regular practices starting in July and running right into the race season which will start in late August. Like 2023, MICL will hold 4 races plus an adventure weekend in the fall of 2024 that will include the regional festival and championship.
Getting involved is easy. To enter a child onto a team, the first step is to reach out to the league, or find and contact a team nearest to you. If one does not exist you can consider starting a new team. It only takes one rider and one coach to start a team!
Other than having a child in the league, the best way to get involved is to become a coach or event volunteer. To become a coach contact your local team director or any league core staff and request a coach email invitation. From there, registration and training are straightforward. During the Fall event season MICL will publish volunteer signup pages for each of our events, most volunteer positions can be filled by any adult. Volunteering at a NICA race is a guaranteed fun time and is a front row seat to transformative moments for young mountain bikers!
We hope to see you in 2024 so you too can find your NICA Why and witness and experience the joy of seeing others discover and experience that same love of cycling we have at the MICL.