Summer (Bike) Fun: Scavenger Hunts

To celebrate the season, we’re posting a series of blogs on all the ways in which a bicycle can propel your summer fun this year! Here is the first on scavenger hunts!

Puzzles, the Macarena, egg hunts… sounds like the makings of a scavenger hunt, right?

Well, El Grupo, a youth cycling organization in Tucson, Arizona, does it all by bike!

The organization’s yearly fundraiser takes the form of a bike scavenger hunt. The concept isn’t all that unfamiliar for those who bike in cities — alley cat races grew out of a strong competitive streak among bike messengers. Alley cat races are essentially a scavenger hunt with the added pressure of a race.

For El Grupo, the scavenger hunts, which began in 2004, help raise funds to sustain their work throughout the year, but it also opens eyes.

“The main goal has been to help people discover the cool things that they may pass by every day, but never stop to see…something that you can enjoy so much better by bicycle,” said Daniela Diamente, executive director of El Grupo. “It came together because life is so much better — and all that you can see and enjoy that surrounds you — when traveling by bicycle, so why not make a fun challenge out of that?”

El Grupo’s mission is to empower youth through bicycles and to get more young people on bikes more often.

“Our scavenger hunt helps to fulfill this mission through the variety of ages and abilities we get out riding on bikes all around our downtown area through it,” Diamente said. “We have more families participate in our event than any other category, and everyone feels like a kid when riding their bikes in our event.”

And there is plenty of fun to be had at the after party, too. Title sponsor New Belgium Brewing has helped El Grupo put together an event with food, beer, a DJ, raffle and more.

To learn more about El Grupo Cycling, visit elgrupocycling.org.