NICA Partners with Blackburn, Bikepacking Roots for Bikepacking Curriculum

The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA), Blackburn Designs and Bikepacking Roots announced a new partnership that establishes a bikepacking curriculum and traveling gear library for NICA student-athletes and coaches. Bikepacking Roots is providing the on-trail expertise and Blackburn is providing the funding and bikepacking kit for 20 riders as part of their Bronze Level sponsorship with NICA for 2020.

“We’ve been looking to get more involved with the future of bikepacking for the past few years,” said Blackburn marketing manager Dan Powell. “This partnership with NICA came up after the release of a video project ‘Wild Virtue’ we sponsored, and we felt like this was the opportunity we’d been waiting for. We’re very proud to be working with these two organizations.”

Bikepacking Roots said it is the only non-profit to support and advocate for the bikepacking community. The organization develops and sustains multi-day off-pavement cycling routes, advocates for the conservation of and access to the public lands and wild places through which we ride, and cultivates stewards who create a positive impact while exploring by bike, said the group.

“At Bikepacking Roots, we’re passionate about facilitating human-powered adventures in wild places and reducing barriers to those sorts of empowering experiences. I’ve watched the remarkable transformation new bikepackers go through in just a handful of short bikepacking trips, and I couldn’t be more excited to partner with NICA and Blackburn to create such an opportunity for kids across the United States,” shares Bikepacking Roots executive director, Kurt Refsnider, Ph.D.

Photo: Oregon League student-athletes take a break from the Oregon Timber Trail during their bikepacking adventure in 2019. Credit: Dylan VanWeelden