Duwe -- dba "Bushwhacker" on the trianglemtb.com Web site -- is a 37-year-old kid who has a kid of his own. Together, Duwe and 11-year-old son Jake make the rounds of some of the Triangle's more challenging singletrack mountain bike trails: Legend Park in Clayton, Beaverdam and New Light on Falls Lake, the semi-private Tar River Trails near his home in Granville County. (Granville County and Falls Lake seemed a long drive from his old home in Knightdale, so Duwe moved the family to be closer to the action.)

Often, they take a bunch of other kids with them. "It's the only way for a kid who can't drive," says Duwe of his frequent chauffeuring of pre-license kids who love to huck off an 18-foot cliff.

Accessibility is a key barrier to recruiting young mountain bikers. The Triangle has about 75 miles of singletrack trail at a dozen venues -- but very little of it is right out the backdoor for young riders.

That's part of the reason behind the two-year-old Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, which is Oct. 1.

"First and foremost, we're trying to reach the next generation of cyclists out there, give them a friendly introduction to the sport," says Mark Eller, spokesman with the Boulder, Colo.-based International Mountain Bicycling Association. IMBA sponsors Take a Kid, an event backed by two Colorado legislators and U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Virginia Fox, both of North Carolina.

New recruits

Just how big an issue it is to find new recruits in the singletrack wars is hard to say.

The Outdoor Industries Association, which tracks activity in a number of adventure pursuits, doesn't follow so young a demographic. Neither does the National Sporting Goods Association. The only statistical glimpse comes from the National Bicycle Dealers Association, which shows sales of 24-inch youth mountain bikes relatively flat the past three years.

Accessibility is perhaps the main problem in attracting young riders, but it's not the only one. Mountain biking is a relatively new pursuit. Though it dates to the late 1970s, it didn't catch on until a decade later. Thus, most parents of today's youth didn't grow up riding and may be intimidated by the sport.

"Mountain biking sometimes gets tagged as being extreme," Eller says, "that you need to be super adventurous to try it.

"In fact," he says to any parents who may be listening, "it's about progression. You have to walk before you can run."

The Triangle has a few places where a novice mountain biker can walk: Lake Crabtree and Harris Lake county parks both have beginner-friendly terrain.

Of course, it's that same extreme image that attracts kids.

"Mountain biking has really been embraced as a marketing tool," says Tony Moll, with Raleigh's Bike Rack bike store. "Flonase, Allegra -- you see it all over."

Cost factor

Another factor that might deter a reluctant parent: cost.

"A mountain bike can be a fairly expensive piece of equipment," admits IMBA's Eller.

Especially when junior or juniorette might only fit a bike for a year or two before it's time for a bigger ride. Plunking down a minimum $250 every couple of years for a passable bike may seem excessive to a non-riding parent. There are, however, ways around this dilemma.

For one, you can buy a cheaper, heavier, off-brand bike at a big box retailer, often for less than $100. The Bike Rack's obviously biased Moll tries to be politic when addressing that possibility.

"Quality control," Moll simply says. "When they're putting bikes together, they have a quota." Implication: They don't spend enough time getting things right.

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