"Miss, do you want to bike down this hill with us?"

There's a crowd of about 20 kids on bikes at the top of a hill in Botwood. I decline and instead watch the swarm of bikers fly down the hill.

Acting as Queen Bee of the group is their teacher, Christian MacKinnon, who runs the Botwood Mountain Bike Club.

"It gives them the opportunity to get involved in a sport that doesn't necessarily involve going to a try-out, doesn't necessarily involve them to excel or be the best at the sport, just as long as they're able to participate," he said.

The after-school mountain bike program started at Botwood Memorial Academy about three years ago — but this is not the only school with this kind of program.

Similar clubs can be found in Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor and Eastport. In fact, there are about 300 students from across central Newfoundland who are now involved in mountain biking programs.

'We're not reinventing the wheel'

Corey Samson is the active schools coordinator with the Newfoundland and Labrador Eastern School District.

I can feel the fresh air in my body and it feels refreshing - David Burry

"We're not reinventing the wheel. Kids and bikes, they just go together and as soon as you get them together in a little club, they get a little feeling of being involved in something and they just love it."

Samson visits schools like Botwood and joins in on the program. Both he and I have strapped on helmets and are biking with the club. There are a few rules we have to follow: single file to the right when we're on the road, and tell people when you're passing or braking.

Children taking part in a mountain biking program in Botwood. (Julia Cook/CBC)

Simple enough, but once we're on the trail, the students are flying in all directions. Some are using their own bikes; others are borrowing some the school bought with some government funding.

Rebecca Newhook is nine years old; it's her first year in the club. She sits proudly on her bike; there's mud on her clothes and face, but she doesn't mind getting a little messy.

"Getting outside is fun to me because it's active. I'm an active person. I can feel the fresh air in my body and it feels refreshing."

David Burry says he's the second faster biker in the group, but hopes to be the fastest by next year. He's the one who wanted me to bike down the hill with the group.

No special tricks or hard terrain

The kids in this club aren't doing any special tricks or hard terrain. For many of them, this is their first experience with mountain biking. But teacher Christian MacKinnon says this is the perfect time for young people to get involved in sports.

Christian McKinnon and Corey Samson help school kids in central Newfoundland learn mountain biking. (Julia Cook/CBC)

"Anyone watching the Olympics and one of the first questions they ask these athletes who win the gold medals is, 'When did you start ... riding your bike?' And they always say. 'When I was six or seven years old.' And 20 years later, they're competing on a national or even a global level."

Norah Grant and Jillian Rice have now been mountain biking for a few years and have stuck with it because of how much fun they've had together.

Jillian says her favourite parts of mountain biking are, "Going new places and doing a bunch of tricks. When you go down really big hills and you take off your hands."

Norah agrees. "Just being able to be with your friends and the fresh air in your face."

But this is their last year because there isn't a club at their next school.

"Here has been really fun and to just stop doing that is kind of sad," Norah said.

Schools such as Botwood Memorial Academy would like to see more kids join the program — and the hope is that more schools will also start up their own mountain bike club.