Earlier this summer, Sunshine Loveless walked into the Lookout Mountain Conservancy (LMC) boardroom on South Broad Street, sat down with seven teenagers, and asked, rather casually, a most important question:

“So, how did it go?”

Sunshine, the executive director of Southern Off-road Bicycle Association (SORBA), spent five consecutive Tuesdays with more than a dozen students from The Howard School, all LMC interns.

With Sunshine? Other SORBA volunteers - Kat Volzer, Mandy Rhoden, Jamie Wallis, Ginger Sillery Jones - who led mountain bike clinics on LMC’s Rockmont Park and the adjacent Tennessee Riverwalk.

Why?

“Because biking is a vessel for the rest of life,” said Sunshine.

This month, SORBA released the region’s first-ever mountain bike trail guide. SORBA’s new “Adventure Guide to Mountain Biking in the Greater Chattanooga Area” is a treasure, featuring 12 major trails - from Aetna Mountain to Enterprise South to Walden’s Ridge.

For more than 20 years, SORBA has worked with regional partners to produce a mountain biking ecosystem and landscape known across the U.S. More than 175 miles. A dozen trail systems. All within a half-hour of downtown. The guide includes it all: maps, descriptions, difficulty ratings, bike shops, even breweries and restaurants near trailheads.

“This guide is your key to it all,” it proclaims. (See for yourself at: www.sorbachattanooga.org/trails.)

SORBA is our region’s chief architect, building literal trails and figurative bridges for countless regional pros, amateurs and beginners. For the second summer in a row, SORBA volunteers led mountain bike clinics for LMC interns at Rockmont Park, which connects to the Tennessee Riverwalk and the intern-maintained Guild-Hardy Trail, which then connects to the 31-mile River to Clouds Route.

Before SORBA, our interns were stewarding Guild-Hardy, but, sadly, had never ridden it.

Biking connects us to joy, freedom and autonomy, Sunshine likes to say. A bike is never just a bike, which is why SORBA volunteers spent summers with us instructing, teaching, encouraging and guiding at Rockmont Park, which connects to both the Guild-Hardy Trail and Riverwalk.

LMC’s interns? Some are old pros at biking. Others? They’d never ridden a bike before. Sure, some of those interns spent hours getting their sea legs, wobbling over pavement, possibly running into car fenders or other interns, but hey: you gotta start somewhere.

But by the end of summer?

“Everyone was riding singletrack,” said Sunshine. “That is the progression I would like to see. Basically from zero to 100 in five weeks.”

Plus, SORBA showed up with a Christmas in July experience: everybody got new bikes, thanks to White Oak Bike Co-op.

“Ya’ll didn’t leave anybody behind,” one intern said.

That’s why they had come to LMC’s boardroom for review and feedback. Give me some feedback, Sunshine said to the interns. What did you like? What worked?

“How far we would go,” said Monica. “I like the distance. I like how ya’ll teach us.”

“I like going fast,” said Jimmie.

What do you need in order to go fast?

“Skills,” said Chad.

“Space,” added Jimmie.

Space equals freedom. SORBA’s work prioritizes the ongoing reduction of so many barriers to access. Equipment, places to store bikes, helmets, access to trails. LMC offers this all.

“Chattanooga isn’t just a city near outdoor recreation,” Sunshine said, “it’s a city built around it.”

Both LMC and SORBA are National Park City (NPC) partner organizations, allowing them to build larger connections and audiences than before. Sunshine has high hopes for the future of NPC Chattanooga.

“It should also guide policy and decision-making at the highest levels, keeping the region’s identity rooted in nature, recreation and conservation,” they said.

At minimum, NPC opened valuable doors for SORBA, especially allowing it to broadcast its “Sidewalk-to-Singletrack” project.

“It gave it a bigger stage,” they said. “Through NPC’s community events and presentations, SORBA could put that vision in front of a broader audience.”

SORBA’s got a good project cooking with this one. “Sidewalk-to-Singletrack” links established walkways and bikeways with trails. It’s a bridge both literal and figurative.

“The idea: a welcoming, approachable stretch of singletrack right off the Riverwalk; a literal on-ramp connecting a paved path to the 100+ miles of trail SORBA already maintains,” Sunshine said.

“It reaches the person walking the Riverwalk who's never thought of themselves as a mountain biker.”

One of SORBA’s super strengths is offering transformation through mountain biking. Before SORBA, so many of our interns didn't see themselves as mountain bikers. How could they?

But now?

“I want new challenges,” said Jimmie. “I want to go farther.”

Sunshine, Kat, Mandy, Jamie, Ginger, a big thank you from the bottom of our LMC heart.

One Tuesday, they led interns on an out-and-back ride from Rockmont Park onto the Riverwalk. Kat noticed one intern - Jacqueri - who rode up steeper-than-steep Old Wauhatchie like a freight train.

“You know,” Kat said, “she could go somewhere with this.”

Thanks for giving her the chance.

(David Cook is the Director of Communications and Storytelling for Lookout Mountain Conservancy, a 35-year-old land trust based in St. Elmo, stewarding 1,500 acres of regional land.)