Little Bellas is introducing six (!) new chapters for 2022! More than any other year, these chapters help redefine "mountain biking" in order to get more girls on bikes, read on!

Each Thursday night in Butler County, Kansas, families, friends, and newcomers load up their mountain bikes and head out to Santa Fe Lake to play around on the trails there. Not everyone goes to ride singletrack because there’s plenty going on in the parking lot, where grills are lit, friends recount their week, and kids speed around on two wheels under the watchful gaze of adults. Amber Simon took a look around and concluded that what this place needed was a Little Bellas program.

“I was confident that the nearby trails would be perfect,” Amber said. “They’re in between towns so they’re easily accessible; somebody just needed to step up and make it happen.”

Meet Amber Simon

Few people in this world are more determined to make mountain biking happen than Amber, whether it’s for Little Bellas or for herself. As a relatively new mountain biker back in 2016, Amber didn’t just go over the bars in a spectacular crash, she took her bike with her and broke a couple ribs when she hit the ground. Instead of chucking mountain biking forever, Amber turned to gravel riding to ease back into riding off-road. She also saw a sports therapist to address the anxiety she had about mountain biking. She’s a big advocate for mental health and saw therapy as a way to work toward a healthy relationship with staying upright on her mountain bike. Mom to 9-year-old Ava, what Amber brings to Little Bellas is a positive outlook, tremendous community leadership, and the faith that solutions exist for all challenges.

Santa Fe Lake

The Augusta Little Bellas will meet each Tuesday, starting June 7, at Santa Fe Lake, which is equidistant from both Augusta and Andover (about 10 minutes away from each). Amber chose Santa Fe Lake for its large, grassy fields where the Little Bellas will participate in various activities, rides, and games all as a way to work on mountain bike skills progression, and its five miles of beginner trails where they can practice what they learned. 

Register for Little Bellas

Registration for the new Augusta, Kansas Little Bellas chapter opens on April 1, 2022 (no joke!) Learn more about the program and how to register here.