Safety. Compassion. Integrity. Respect. Fun. These are the core values of Trips for Kids Denver Metro, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to giving underserved and at-risk youth the opportunity to experience and learn about the natural beauty of Colorado from the view on top of a mountain bike. Their mission is to foster positive life skills and healthy development of youth through self-empowerment and community leadership. Recently, Trips for Kids partnered with CBST Adventures to run a team building experience for ALEn, a household cleaning product company. With many company departments represented including finance, sales, management, and marketing, ALEn’s goal for this team build was to build new relationships and new problem solving skills within a working environment other than their office.

For the team build event, ALEn participants were split up into 8 groups where they entered the first stage of the event: the Bike Build. Each team’s objective was to build 2 bikes and 16 in total with 8 teams. At the end of the day, all of the bikes would be donated to Trips for Kids. Putting their collaboration and communication skills to the test, the teams had to build children’s mountain bike from scratch. No small task to say the least. Along with building the bikes, teams were also asked to write a heartfelt message for each child who would receive the bike.

After a mandatory check from a certified bike mechanic, teams were able to move onto the next stage of the event called ‘Challenges.’ During this stage teams find out what their bikes are made of (literally) and ride them through a series of bike station challenges. The teams then broke off into different challenge stations. The first station, ‘Mountain Bike Disc Golf,’ required participants to ride their bikes through an assortment of cones and then attempt to make the Frisbee into a makeshift disc golf goal. Teams next got their limbo on at ‘Mountain Bike Limbo,’ where they had to pass through two different limbo heights, all while riding the bike they built. Other challenges included ‘Turtle Hunting,’ where teams got a good laugh in watching their coworkers act as “turtles,” laying on their backs with their legs up, while other participants had to toss bike tires onto the “turtles” legs. It might sound a little strange but it’s as fun and as goofy an activity as it can get. The teams were grinning ear to ear and cracking themselves up during a good part of this activity.

The day ended with dinner and a special thank you from a Trips for Kids representative, who shared the importance of the day’s activities for Trips for Kids, elaborated on their mission, and thanked the ALEn group for their contribution. We wanted to share that towards the beginning of the month, Trips for Kids had a very unfortunate and disheartening situation – one of their vans filled with at least a dozen children’s bikes was stolen. Since this heartbreaking occurrence, Trips for Kids has desperately needed new bikes to be built, and thus, the ALEn group was immensely grateful to have built and provided these bikes for Trips for Kids.

The event came to a close with hugs, thanks, and smiles on everyone’s faces, as well as positive and an encouraging spirit emanating from the ALEn team. What’s really neat is when you step back and reflect on the day’s event – not only did the ALEn group come together and work cross functionally within their team but they also took part in a charitable experience, first hand. In our opinion, that’s what you call a powerful team build.

If the above sounds like fun and you’d like to learn more about similar events, click here.