You bring the bike – we’ll bring the adventure.
Open to National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) student-athletes from any state, these mountain bike-fueled adventure camps will combine bike skills and wilderness exploration.
In partnership with the WV Interscholastic Cycling League, these camps are designed for riders who want to explore the natural world by mountain bike. Daily ride groups will vary in terrain, difficulty, and length, and will follow NICA guidelines with certified coach‑to‑rider ratios.
The NICA Adventure program emphasizes skill-building and personal challenge in a non‑competitive environment that prepares youth for lifelong outdoor adventures. Our NICA Adventure Camps feature spectacular mountain biking in iconic areas of our mountain state, along with backcountry skills such as map reading, fire building, and outdoor cooking. Each group will also complete a half‑day stewardship project on a local trail system, earning Teen Trail Corps hours for their participation.
No prior camping experience or outdoor expertise is required; we’ll teach all the skills needed for a successful adventure. Experience Learning provides all necessary camping gear, onsite transportation, use permits, and program food.
Participants must be registered through the NICA League to attend our NICA camps. More information about NICA and the WV Interscholastic Cycling League can be found here.
This is a specialty camp with limited spaces, so we encourage you to reserve your spot as soon as you’re ready to commit!
Program Snapshot:
Lodging: Tent camping, at the beginning and end we will camp in close proximity to amenities and bathrooms, the middle of the week (Canaan Mtn. Backcountry) will be primitive camping in the national forest.
Meals: Breakfast & dinner will be served out of the main kitchen whenever onsite at Sweetwater Farm or the Spruce Knob Mountain Center, while primitive camping, meals are packed to be conveniently prepared and eaten in the field as needed.
Group Size Spicy Camp: 10 kids, 2-level 1 NICA coaches, 1 NICA Camp Director (level 3), 2-Level 2 NICA Coaches
Group Size Bold Camp:12 kids, 2 level 1 NICA coaches, 1 NICA Camp Director (level 3), 2 Level 2 NICA Coaches
Age (& skill) Appropriate Activities: XC Mountain biking:
instruction, skills + drills, games, group rides. Hiking, stewardship project, stream exploration, survival skills, campfire games, sensory awareness activities, stargazing.
Meet our NICA Camp Director & Coaches
Guiding the way through some of West Virginia’s most scenic bike trails will be Hardy County Cryptids Team Director and NICA Level 3 coach, Vicki Sliwa. Joining her in the Advanced NICA Adventure Camp will be Jason Sliwa a NICA Level 2 coach.
Vicki Sliwa has been riding bikes since owning her first bike at five years old, and she has never looked back. She enjoys all types of bike riding, with mountain biking being her favorite. She shares in the NICA and WVICL vision to get more kids on bikes and loves being the Team Director for the newly formed Hardy County Cryptids. When she is not riding bikes she enjoys practicing and teaching yoga, cooking and baking, and hiking with friends. She recently retired from federal government service after careers with the U.S. Department of State and with the United States Coast Guard.
Jason Sliwa is an accomplished bike rider and mountain bike racer. Over the past 30 years he has ridden road, gravel, and mountain bikes in the Rockies, the western desert, the northeast, the mid Atlantic, and in Europe, gaining experience in varied terrain. He is a Level 2 NICA coach in the WVICL, a NICA Teen Trail Corps lead, and trail maintenance volunteer for Lost River Tails Coalition (LRTC). He loves technical obstacles as well as flowy and swoopy trails. He is a returning coach for the Adventure Camp.
2026 MTB Camp Options
Dates: June 28th – July 2nd, 2026
Drop Off: Sunday, June 28th, 1 pm, Location: Sweetwater Farm Trail Center
Pick Up: Thursday, July 2nd, 1 pm, Location: Spruce Knob Mountain Center
Bold means a rider who can confidently ride technical features on a trail to include roots, rocks, and small logs. The rider can successfully ride 7 miles with longer rest stops for food and water.
We will start the week at our Sweetwater Farm Trail Center to ride 10 miles of onsite trails and complete a trail-based service project. Mid-week we will move to the Canaan Mountain Backcountry area and ride additional single track, to include the smooth and sweet Promise Land Trail, while hunting for amazing views of the Blackwater Canyon and Canaan Valley. We will also complete a trail-based service project in Canaan Valley. The program will end at Spruce Knob Mountain Center, riding in the epic Seneca Creek area.
Dates: June 14th – 19th, 2026
Drop Off: Sunday, June 14th, 1 pm, Location: Sweetwater Farm Trail Center
Pick Up: Friday, June 19th, 1 pm, Location: Spruce Knob Mountain Center
Spicy means technical terrain to include many roots and rocks on narrow trails. The expected equipment consists of a lightweight dual suspension mountain bike with disk brakes. The rider’s endurance and strength is above average. Some examples include the ability to ride across a wide, rocky stream crossing successfully, to ascend a rocky steep incline successfully, and ride 10 miles with only brief stops for food and water
We will start the week at our Sweetwater Farm Trail Center to ride 14 miles of onsite trails, to include a black diamond trail, and complete a trail-based service project. Mid-week we will move to the Canaan Mountain Backcountry area and ride additional technical single track while hunting for amazing views of the Blackwater Canyon and Canaan Valley. We will also complete a trail-based service project in Canaan Valley. The program will include the local favorite, the iconic technical and rocky Huckleberry Trail, an IMBA EPIC* trail.
All student-athletes will be screened during registration to qualify for our NICA Spicy camp.
Dates:
Beginner Adventure Mountain Biking: July 5 – 7, 2026 (entering grades 3 – 5)
Intermediate Adventure Mountain Biking: July 13 – 16, 2026 (entering grades 4 – 6)
Intermediate Adventure Mountain Biking: July 20 – 24, 2026 (entering grades 7 – 9)
Each session of beginner bike camp will target different age ranges, and focus on developing skills appropriate with that range. We will take our beginner riders on an introductory journey, spending three days camping in tents from a wooded basecamp at our Sweetwater Farm Trail Center. We’ll go on daily group rides that are beginner in nature and geared towards developing a lifelong love of the outdoors, and bicycling. Our days will be filled with games, skill development, and fun, while evenings will be based at our campsite, learning campcrafts, enjoying campfires, and stargazing under the darkest skies in the east. More information here.
