Many children still put bikes at the top of their wish lists for holiday gifts. But if they are lucky enough to get one, many are not keeping their bikes on ice until spring.   

P.J. Renquin, 14, of Attleboro, just completed his first year of racing, but has already advanced far beyond most peers. “Bicycling is basically my life right now,” says the talented teenage rider, crowned New England champion for ages 12 to 18 in the Root 66 Cross Country Mountain Bike Racing Series the past summer. “I started in Category 4 (beginner) and I went to Category 2, but I want to be in Category 1 (expert) next year.”

Renquin and his mother, Judy, are active in the Union Velo Cycling Club, founded in 1988 by Rick Desmarais, owner of Union Cycle in Attleboro. The non-profit group helps sponsor year-round riding and racing activities and also has social-related forums for 155 members who range in age from 6 to those in their seventies.

“We give local riders a place to go for riding and racing,” says Desmarais, also a long-time expert racer in Master (ages 35-plus) races and a bicycling evangelist. “We help develop and train riders. We also try to promote the sport of cycling to be healthier and to develop the kids in the sport.” 

Club trips can be as long 50 miles in warmer months. Many adults and families travel as much as three to four hours to races all over New England for mountain biking, road racing and criterion racing, or closed course competitions. Winter trips and rides are often conducted on trails in state forests.

And more families are choosing to participate in the Union Velo club. “If we get enough ride leaders and parents, then we will have a group ride for young children as well,” Desmarais says. “But we usually look for anyone who is aspiring to race and can go long distances.”

Still, Desmarais is encouraged by two younger and motivated junior racers, including Luke Mello, 7, of Seekonk, and another boy who is 6. “We usually do not have members this young who are able to ride and race.”

Adults and children of the club race on dirt, gravel and sometimes off-trail and wooded terrain under the auspices of USA Cycling and the United States Cycling Federation. They ride on bikes that can endure the road or rougher unpaved conditions.

“Every racer has to get licensed, and they hold that registration number for life,” Desmarais says of closely-monitored USCF events and series. “They accumulate points in each race and get more points the higher they finish.”

“I have been riding three years,” Mello said. “I won two races. In one race, my shoes got loose and my laces got stuck on the chain.” 

“We just raced at Goddard Park in East Greenwich, RI, last week and there were 1,000 adult and children racers there,” says Luke’s father, Craig Mello. “It’s got so popular that most adult venues there now have kids’ courses, too. It is a great spectator sport, and on most courses we never lose sight of the racers.”

Desmarais notes it is rare to have any children or adults become national champions from the Attleboro area. “Many just go on to get a car at age 16, get a job and lose interest. To be good it takes up to 30 hours a week to train, travel and compete in races.”

Attleboro native Evan Ruzanski, now in Colorado, is one example of a local resident who became committed to the sport and did achieve great success. “Evan was racing in the nationals at age 14,” Desmarais says. “He went on to the military and raced on the Air Force and other professional cycling teams.”

And young girls have their own role model, too. “Susan Lynch of Attleboro was a two-time National Mountain Biking champion,” Desmarais said.

Luke and PJ are among a growing legion of boys and girls who compete in races all over New England and beyond. Rewards for winning or for merely participating in races include trophies, plaques and “swag,” or free biking-related merchandise donated by vendors to racers, says PJ.

“I usually beat everyone by a lot," says Renquin, now on his second bike, an “Epic Comp 29er. "I sometimes beat all racers, even adults. I want to turn pro in two years.”

As for Luke, his pedaling hero is Lance Armstrong, so it is not unusual to hear him say: “I want to be in the Tour de France.”

But the biggest reward for increased participation by children in the sport might dwarf all the prizes — congratulations by peers, cheers and handshakes by officials.

For example, Judy Renquin has begun to ride and race. So, too, has Luke’s father, Craig Mello. And one or both of these boys' parents always supervises, accompanies and/or rides with their children wherever they pedal.

“Who can be a better mentor and inspiration for their child who wants to ride and race than their parents?” Desmarais says of the family-unifying activity.

In the meantime, steer wide of the distinctive blue-and-yellow outfitted members of the Union Velo Cycling Club. Young and older champions might be at work and at play, too.