Sprinting into Our Tenth Year: A Note from Sabra
We are absolutely sprinting into our tenth year at Little Bellas. With this milestone, we have to reflect for a moment on the past ten years. . .
We have perfected the art of riding next to a girl. This ensures the most fun possible is achieved on a bike. Seemingly a simple task, there are complexities to it. Our mentors have to know a girl well enough to find the exact moments of when to challenge her and when to hold her back to cultivate both confidence and a smile simultaneously. It’s celebrating those successful moments that have fueled our hard work to bring this program to so many places across the country and to girls of all walks of life. Despite how large we become or how many girls we have on bikes, we are still rooted in each single girl’s experience and her empowerment through biking.
We started with only 15 girls in a field in Vermont. Since then, we’ve had 2000 girls on bikes to-date! This was achieved with help from over 300 mentors. For 2017, we are preparing for our single largest year to date with 700 girls on bikes and 240 mentors! Yes!
We are also proud to introduce our newest chapters for 2017: Bentonville, AR, Asheville, NC, and Hanover, NH. Incredible program leads are already working with female mentors in their communities, trail systems and families. We have also built a strong team. Our team includes 7 board members, 4 part-time passionate staff, 15 program leads around the country, and a legion of volunteers. It takes a village!
While we may not be riding with the girls at this very moment, our days are full to make this year better. The off-season isn’t very long. Our programs kick off in just over a month. Spring registrations launched on January 1st with more girls registered than ever before. Get your refresh button ready parents! Summer and fall program registration launches on February 1st, 9am local time.
We have new fresh and fun goodie bags prepared for the girls too. Camelbak has water bottles ready for each and every Little Bellas! Primal is printing our jerseys as we speak. And alas, Specialized has something truly unbelievable that will be available for the Little Bellas. It’s still a secret! My lips are sealed.
I store up the smiles all summer for these preparatory off-seasons, but I’m more ready then ever to head to warmer climates and start riding with the Little Bellas again!
To a lot of muddy smiles and two-wheeled fun in 2017!
-Sabra Davison, Executive Director, President, and Co-Founder
ps. If you are just tuning in to what we are all about here is our best foot on the pedal forward!
