By Catherine Kempista
Mountain biking might not be top of mind when thinking about youth sports in Delaware, but thanks to Charles Barilo, league director of the Delaware Interscholastic Cycling League (DE NICA), and his dedicated team, it is here, growing, and coming to a town near you.
Established as a state league in 2022 by founders Maria Dziembowska and Scotty Roberts, DE NICA is comprised of eight mountain bike teams across Delaware serving just over 100 student-athletes in grades 5-12. As one of 33 state affiliate programs of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA), DE NICA connects youth to the sport of mountain biking to teach cycling skills, build character and community, and foster an interest in environmental stewardship and adventure.
While the success of DE NICA has not come as a surprise to long-time riders in the state’s close-knit cycling community, its rapid growth year over year is a solid indicator that mountain biking is a welcome addition to the range of opportunities for Delaware kids.
“Every day on a bike is a good day on a bike,” says Nathan Johnson, captain for Salesianum Mountain Bike Team.
In 2023, DE NICA had 58 registered student-athletes and grew to 73 in 2024. Today, the Delaware league has 109 registered riders, representing nearly 2x growth in its participation from its inaugural season. It added two teams this year, and Barilo has plans for a couple more in 2026.
“This organization is just a platform for kids to explore, develop, and grow at the rate they deem fit,” says Barilo. “And that’s why our variance in what we’re offering, whether it’s cross-country racing or adventure riding or GRiT activities or Teen Trail Corps work, is a home for so many people.”
COVID Bike Boom
DE NICA became an official NICA affiliate in 2022, but efforts to get a team off the ground began in 2019 when Dziembowska started seeing leagues pop up in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
“When I connected with NICA, there was an opportunity to just start with a team and have them participate in one of the leagues, like Pennsylvania, which is what we did,” says Dziembowska.
That team became the Delaware Dirt Destroyers, a Newark-based composite team and the de facto representatives of the First State in regional competition at the time.
As word spread, interest grew quickly, and parents of middle and high school students reached out. And while the COVID pandemic initially slowed outreach, interest in the sport exploded as outdoor activities became one of the ways people could be together safely.
“You had this outdoor boom, and then, we saw the big bike boom, which began to give the whole thing some fuel,” says Barilo.
It became clear to Dziembowska and Roberts that enough interest existed to put in a proposal to NICA to establish a state league. Once the proposal was approved, the focus became fundraising and getting more teams up and running in Delaware.
Because the Dirt Destroyers was the model of what a successful team could look like in the new league, it served as a coaching-and-rider incubator for many of Delaware’s early teams.
“It was really nice to have the Dirt Destroyers there and say to these champions who wanted to start their own teams, ‘come on board as a coach, see how things are run, and then, you can spin off as a team the following year,’ ” says Dziembowska.
Getting Started
Because the league works from the model of fun, inclusivity, and adventure set forth by NICA, the league invites riders of all abilities and interest levels to join. Race competition is available but is not a requirement for membership.
“It is absolutely different than all the regular, what I would call, school sports,” says Lori Martin, team director of the Sussex Sand Sharks and the Delaware League Girls Riding Together (GRiT) coordinator. “The thing I like about NICA is you don’t have to try out. If you show up and you want to ride your bike, we’re going to show you the proper way to do it without hurting yourself and to have fun.”
The first stop for many of the DE NICA student-athletes new to the sport is a “Try-It Ride,” which is a free activity-based event led by licensed mountain bike coaches and DE NICA league staff to gauge a kid’s interest. No experience is required, and equipment is available to those who need it.
Students can also get introduced to the sport through local mountain bike camps, like Salesianum School’s summer camp. Kids who attend the camp and show an interest in the sport, but aren’t students of the school, are connected to composite teams in their area.
“That’s how I kick off my season, and that’s very intentional,” say Colbe Klein, team director for the Salesianum Mountain Biking Team. “It gives people an opportunity to experience it.”
Currently, the league’s eight teams represent a wide spectrum of riders who are drawn to the sport. Direct spinoffs from the Dirt Destroyers include Sussex Sand Sharks, the Lewes-based team; Brandywine Devo, the North Wilmington-based team; and the Dirt Surfers, the Middletown-area team. The 302 Trekheads, which is the Urban Bike Project’s mountain bike team, and UrbanPromise Wilmington Trailblazers, were created out of Wilmington nonprofits with youth programming.
Student-athletes riding for 302 Trekheads participate in Urban Bike Project programs, such as school outreach, summer camps, and its youth shop, where kids can learn bike mechanics and repair. While they are one of DE NICA’s smaller teams, many of its riders come to the team with a skill set and proficiency that translates well to mountain biking.
“It’s remarkable what these kids can do the first time they hit dirt,” says Laura Wilburn, executive director of Urban Bike Project and 302 Trekheads team director. “They are better at the technical aspects of riding, like within a month into the season, than I am. The things that often are more challenging for them are climbs and understanding how their traction differs in dirt than it does on pavement.”
The UrbanPromise Trailblazers team athletes are middle and high school students associated with its school, afterschool programs, summer camps, and employment program. Unlike the Urban Bike Project that has a mission based in cycling, the UrbanPromise team emerged from its UrbanTrekkers program.
“Trekkers is an outdoor experiential mentorship and leadership program for our teenagers, so they choose to go on adventures like biking, skiing, camping, and rock climbing,” says Keefe. “Ultimately, we want to introduce them to a wide variety of experiences, places, skills, people that might otherwise be inaccessible to them.”
The Salesianum Mountain Biking Team stands alone as the only school-based team in the league, and with 30 registered riders, they are currently its largest squad. The team initially started as a school club by Klein, another avid mountain biker who wanted to bring the sport to his students.
“When DE NICA was founded, I jumped at the opportunity to do whatever I could to make that happen for the school and the guys,” says Klein.
Project Pedal
Project Pedal, one of the league’s newest teams, may have the most unique origin story. It emerged as a collaboration between New Castle County’s Project SEED and local cycling group Pedal with Purpose (with support from New Castle County Police (NCCPD) and the Garfield Park PAL Center).
At the center of the team’s story is George Corbin, Jr., who is the team director of Project Pedal, the founder of Pedal with Purpose, and a Project SEED staff member. Like many of the league’s team directors, Corbin is an avid cyclist who has been spreading the word on the benefits of biking for years. However, Corbin took his passion for the sport to the next level when he officially founded Pedal with Purpose in 2021 in response to the post-COVID cycling boom.
“In 2020, people are blowing my phone up asking where can I get a bike? What can I do?,” says Corbin. “That’s how Pedal with Purpose was formed, just getting adults on bikes and teaching them, literally A to Z, like we teach the youth now with the mountain biking.”
Through his experience as a triathlete and cyclist and his work with Project SEED, a county program aimed at supporting neighborhoods self-sufficiency and sustainable growth, he knew cycling was a great way to help kids build community and create opportunities for personal growth.
At the same time, Barilo was working to build new teams to expand the league, so when the two met to discuss the possibility of creating a new team that married all the groups and interests together to get more kids on bikes, it was a perfect match.
Today, Project Pedal has eight student-athletes in grades 7 through 12 and a coaching staff that consists of current and retired NCCPD officers, county employees, and Pedal with Purpose coaches. In its first year, team recruitment has been a grassroots approach, offering the opportunity to kids engaged in PAL and Project SEED programs and through word of mouth.
“I joined the team because I was working with Project Seed and helping them create the team,” says Aahmad Rutland, Project Seed student-athlete. “So when we got the bikes, I fell in love with the sport. It has helped me meet a lot of new people that are interested in the same things I am.”
While many of its athletes came to team with basic riding skills, the transition to mountain biking with its unpredictable terrain, varied riding techniques, and exhausting practices has been a challenge the team has taken in stride.
“I’ve watched our student-athletes light up during their first night ride; take a fall and get right back on; and show a positive shift in attitude after finally conquering a root or a ‘gnarly’ hill,” says Sergeant Tracey Duffy, commander of the NCCPD Community Services Unit and Project Pedal coach. “Those are the moments every coach lives for — seeing them push past fear and realize they’re capable of more than they thought.”
Building Character While Building Community
While the league is still in its infancy, the community it has created in its immediate wake and the positive effects it has had on its student-athletes is evident.
“Being on a DE NICA team not only helped to develop my skills as a rider but also as a person,” says Molly Sullivan, Brandywine Devo student-athlete. “I’ve become more confident in speaking with other people after finding myself in countless small-talk situations with coaches and parents that I may not know as well, and that has helped me on the trails and in classrooms. Overall, I think the easy, welcoming community that DE NICA teams provide is the greatest part about our league.”
And parents agree.
“One of the greatest benefits has been him being accountable for a team, knowing he has to get to practice on time — there’s that connectedness because he’s a part of a team,” says Sunsearra Ruffin, mom of Randolph Ruffin, 302 Trekheads student-athlete. “He’s starting to recognize accountability for his bike itself, and that accountability is starting to translate to other things.”
Building on the momentum from the positive response the league has received, Barilo hopes to create more opportunities for Delaware kids to become part of the NICA community in 2026 and beyond.
“The future for us is to be in schools to make mountain biking more of a mainstream thing here, because we have beautiful outdoor spaces, we have very close proximity and access to trails, and our kids need it,” says Barilo.
— To learn more about DE NICA and ways to get involved, visit DelawareMTB.org.
Above: Kendyl Taylor (l) and Malik Barboza cross the finish line during a recent DE NICA event at White Clay Creek State Park. Photo by Mike Anderson.