Mountain Biking with M.U.S.T.

Every Teen Said Yes

The Nature Project x M.U.S.T. x Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance

Duthie Hill sits inside a forest that feels removed from everything. That was the point. Two days, 24 riders, and a group of young men who showed up ready for something they had never done before.

The Nature Project partnered with M.U.S.T. (Mentoring Urban Students and Teens), a Seattle organization serving young Black men, to bring teens into the forest for two days of adventure, community, and growth. Participants arrived with their near-peer mentors and were met by volunteer instructors from the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, who guided everyone safely through the forested trails of Duthie Park with skills instruction and steady encouragement alongside them the entire way.

The day started with a walk. A boardwalk winding through the forest, ferns spreading out on either side, large trees rising overhead, the trail climbing uphill until it opened into the clearing where everything would begin. That walk through the woods was its own kind of arrival.

Before anyone touched a bike, TNP mindset and yoga instructor Angeline Corpuz led the group in breathwork and intention-setting among the trees. There, standing in the forest before the trails opened up, everyone got grounded in the moment and in the mission. What were they here for? What did they want to take with them when the day was done?

Then the stories started. TNP volunteer and Seattle Seahawk Lofa Tatupu joined the group and shared what the outdoors has meant in his own life, the growth he has found in nature, and what it looks like to keep choosing hard things. Professional women's soccer player Zjada Baydass spoke about how nature grounds her from the chaos and busyness of everyday life and competition. Two athletes, two different worlds, one shared truth: being outside changes something in you.

What made the day different was what happened in between. Lofa moved through the group one on one, sitting down with teens along the trail, talking the way you only talk when you're outside and the pressure is off. He was honest about the hard things: injuries as a teen athlete, the moments of doubt, what it felt like when your body let you down or the game didn't go the way you needed it to. The teens who are athletes themselves heard something in that they don't often get to hear from someone who has been where they are. That it's hard for everyone. That asking for help is part of the game. That getting back up is the whole thing.

Everything the teens needed was there waiting for them. Helmets, bikes, gear — all provided. Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance volunteers who came not just to teach but to share, opening up about their own experiences on the trails and what this sport has given them. They taught safety first, built the foundation, and then introduced something that doesn't come from a manual: that feeling of standing at the edge of something a little scary and choosing to try it anyway. That edge is where the real learning lives, and the volunteers knew exactly how to hold it.

Then they rode.

All 24 of them. Through forested trails, with instructors beside them and mentors behind them and something building inside them with every turn. Some had never been on a mountain bike. None of them stopped.

Every teen said yes that day. Yes to showing up, yes to something new, yes to something bigger than themselves. On the trails they said yes to physical challenges that pushed them past what they thought was possible. And in the quiet moments between, they said yes to thinking about the harder things too: difficult times, family struggles, the pressures of school, and carrying the confidence they built in those woods back into their everyday lives.

And then there was the pure joy.

One young man shared his intention word at the start of the day: try. Just that one word. Later, at the top of the hill, he said he remembered it. And then he flew down laughing like an eight year old kid, all the way to the bottom. The others knew exactly what he meant. That laugh, that hill, that moment of just going for it — that was the whole day in one breath.

That confidence belongs to them now.

At The Nature Project, this is what we do. We go outside, we have fun, and we make space to share and reflect. Not as an afterthought but as the whole point. Nature has a way of opening people up, and when you pair that with honest conversation and real connection, something shifts. We believe that being in nature together, really together, is one of the most powerful things we can offer young people. The fun and the reflection are not separate. They are the same thing.