We share how a Tulsa firefighter helped launch NICA’s first Oklahoma season, building a safe, welcoming league that gets kids racing, families involved, and communities investing in trails. From scholarships and loaner bikes to short‑lap course design, we map the practical steps that make youth cycling work.

• mission to empower youth for life through mountain biking
• why NICA’s short courses and marshals make racing safer and more fun
• how teams form, coach training levels, and practice formats
• 2025 fall race plan including Purcell, Turkey Mountain, McMurtry, Arcadia
• economic impact of weekend‑long youth events on host towns
• Teen Trail Corps and 565+ youth hours improving Oklahoma trails
• scholarships, loaner bikes, and access for families
• aligning calendars so parents can race and support their kids

Instagram @oklahoma.mtb

We trade gossip for a plan to fix Oklahoma mountain biking: rally support for OMBA, align race calendars, simplify categories, and build real youth pathways. Sponsors get thanked, Arcadia’s new features get spotlighted, and we outline a statewide board to bring order to the chaos.

• OMBA’s role, funding gap, and 50-dollar membership drive
• Palo Duro Marathon’s low turnout and event promotion lessons
• Arcadia’s dual slalom, Outer Space build, and safety signage
• NICA’s growth, parent logistics, and youth progression paths
• Mass starts pros and cons based on field size and trail width
• Category bloat, sandbagging, and mandatory upgrade ideas
• Shorter Cat 1 vs Cat 2 parity, prologues, and course design
• Unified calendar with seasons for XC, endurance, short track, and cyclocross
• Forming a statewide board to coordinate dates and standards
• Practical ways shops, teams, and racers support the trails

Join OMBA at omba.org. “It’s $50 a year—please do that.” Also: “More very, very exciting news to come very soon. As soon as I can release it, I will release it.”

Ryan Drummond takes us from Tulsa Tuff breakthroughs to a Pan Ams podium, shares how team support sharpened his race craft, and lays out the plan for Fayetteville and a two‑month European block. We ask for help funding the campaign so he can test himself against the world’s best.

• Tulsa Tuff tactics, solo bridge, omnium jersey
• Marathon Nationals result and shifting failure
• Comp Edge team camp, routines and pro habits
• Green Mountain Stage Race leadouts for GC
• Early USCX top tens and U23 podiums
• Trek Cup U23 win and confidence shift
• First elite CX podiums in mud and fast tracks
• Northampton teamwork and role reversals
• Pan Ams nerves, crash, and last-lap surge to third
• U23 UCI ranking rise
• Nationals goal in Fayetteville, Europe schedule
• Funding needs for travel and World Cups

There is a link in the show notes if you want to help donate, if it's $10, $20, $100, $1,000, whatever you can to help him fulfill his dream and represent us as a state, our country, and racing in Europe where he's getting ready to head off to

DONATE HERE!!!!!!!

https://gofund.me/41f14dab8

Instagram @ryan_drummond

We sit down with Brent and Jonathan to trace how two fresh racers launched The Salty Dogs, built a real team structure, raced across the country, and started giving back to get more kids on bikes. Mindset, tactics, and community sit at the center, with plenty of laughs in between.

• founding story of the salty dogs
• mindset shifts from survival to strategy
• racing upgrades, team roles and finishes
• tactics for crit positioning and energy budget
• kit design, branding and a club line
• community work with kids, helmets and bikes
• national travel, ambassadorship and culture
• gear favorites, dream routes and classics
• selection philosophy for future teammates

Instagram @saltydogscycling

A couple of old guys drinking beer talking about the state of cycling in Oklahoma

Ray Heck - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1757465/episodes/16210734