7,000 riders: Inside Utah's NICA boom - Escape Collective

Soldier Hollow showcases the elite and the adolescent

Thousands of spectators packed the hillside at Soldier Hollow last month, cheering riders on in the shadow of the Wasatch Range as Trek debuted a 32-inch mountain bike and Martina Berta surged late in the season. Amid the UCI World Series racing, teenagers with bare, painted chests idolized riders like Bjorn Riley while Riley Amos wielded a chainsaw on the sidelines, according to recent reporting from Escape Collective.

That high-energy scene wasn’t just a professional stop on the global circuit. Many of those young fanatics were competitors themselves, fueling a massive youth sports movement happening right across Utah.

A massive footprint across six regional divisions

As Escape Collective reported, the Utah High School Cycling League is home to more than 7,000 student-athletes, making it the single largest outpost of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) in the United States. While NICA boasts over 25,000 student-athletes nationwide, more than a quarter of them race right here in Utah.

To put that footprint into perspective, the statewide league is split into six distinct regions, each supporting between 1,100 and 1,400 athletes. League Director Jason Munns noted that hosting the state’s 26 race venues requires massive logistical operations, including race weekends that demand 14 acres of parking just to handle the crowds. Dozens of families in the league have three or more children actively participating in the programs.

From Berkeley origins to an elite development pathway

NICA itself launched back in 2009 from a single high school mountain bike team in Berkeley, California. Over the years, the organization has served as a critical development pathway for elite professionals, helping launch the careers of World Cup stars like Kate Courtney and Riley Amos.

Pal arinsal andorra september riley amos of usa in the uci mountain bike world championships men under race andorra on septem

Why Utah became the epicenter of youth cycling

When caught up at the Soldier Hollow expo ahead of the short track races alongside NICA President Amanda Carey, the central question for league organizers remained simple: why Utah? In an era where mountain biking has established thriving hot spots across the country, the Beehive State has become the undisputed epicenter of explosive youth cycling participation.

With thousands of kids trading traditional stick-and-ball sports for two wheels on singletrack trails, the state’s outdoor infrastructure continues to adapt to an unprecedented wave of adolescent athletes.