Like the iconic brand Patagonia, we believe that all life on Earth is under threat of extinction.
Of course, climate change is one major issue, but so is the growing divide separating us from one another. That divide hampers our collective ability to solve any of our planet’s threatening issues and restricts our ability to work together to explore new, creative solutions to the world’s most vexing challenges.
So where do bikes fit in?
Like it or not, contemporary childhood continues to shift from free-range kids independently exploring their neighborhoods to digitally obsessed kids isolated from the real world around them. As this happens, we are losing the underpinnings of personal relationships, collaboration, and connection to the natural world.
We need these skills more than ever in all Earth’s citizens, but especially in our leaders.
At Buddy Pegs, we envision a world where the kids of today become the joyful and inspiring leaders of tomorrow. Leaders who not only lead on a global scale but also leaders who act locally to guide their communities day to day.
We believe kids who grow up with outdoor adventure, and a close relationship with the adults in their lives, are more likely to change the world for the better.
Through our collective effort with everyone in the bike industry and bike advocacy, we believe that we can return youth cycling participation to the levels found in the year 2000. Together, let’s get 20M kids riding!
2000 youth cycling participation: ~18M Total US population: 282M
2014 youth cycling participation: ~10M (-43%) Total US population: 318M (+12%)
Connected & Present
Self Confident & Resilient
Active & Free
We believe that bicycling delivers a childhood full of outdoor adventure, critical lifelong leadership skills, and a gateway to environmental stewardship our planet so clearly needs.
Today’s kids will be the ones preserving our home planet for future generations…. Or not. From that perspective, it’s not just the responsibility of government and business to save our home planet, we’re all in this together.
Buddy Pegs Founders, Scott and Jannine Fitzgerald, have a passion for steep adventure. Their adventures started on bikes, skis, and snowboards, but these days their ‘steep adventure’ is found in parenting and making the world a better place through cycling.
Steep adventure is all about trying something new, pushing beyond your comfort zone, and realizing the rewards of taking reasonable risks in life. It’s also about having positive impact.
In 2002, Scott and Jannine started a one-man bicycle repair shop in Jackson Hole, WY, and grew it into a Top 50 US bicycle retailer. While running Fitzgerald’s Bicycles, they saw the positive impacts bicycles have on people of all ages, and communities as a whole.
In 2015, they sold their bicycle shop to embark on a new steep adventure to inspire families across the country to adopt cycling as their favorite family activity and Buddy Pegs was born!
The children’s alphabet book B is for Bicycles was their first foray and was successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2014, followed by the picture book Taking The Lead, successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2017. From that launch pad, Scott and Jannine began creating a world of original story telling podcasts for kids from their personal experiences running a local bike shop and raising a family. Have you heard the World of Buddy Pegs?
By creating adventurous stories and experiences for kids, and their parents, Scott and Jannine introduce families to how the bicycle really can be a simple solution to the world’s most complex problems. And a lot of fun!
Out of the stories came something even bigger – insight into what else parents need to help their kids fall in love with bicycles. After meeting thousands of parents at book shows, bike races, and children’s festivals, it became clear that bicycling was lacking what every other sport has: a framework of coaching.
Why can preschool kids join a baseball team but not a bike team? Why is it so easy for parents to sign their kids up for soccer but not for bike riding? The truth is, the way we teach kids how to ride a bike has not evolved and the steady decline in participation proves it.
You’re ready for more! More connection with the kid in your life. More adventures together as a family. More of the family life you want…and a whole lot less of the disconnected, “always-on” screen time thing.
Come along for the ride… and bring your kids.
Buddy Pegs gives you a framework, using tools like bike classes, camps, books, podcasts, and videos, so you can make the most of your time together to get your family off the couch and out for an adventure! We know that those little moments turn into big memories, helping you create solid relationships and raise successful kids.
While owning and running our local bike shop for 14 years, our favorite moments were always helping kids pick out a shiny, new bicycle.
We loved it because we knew this simple tool would make a lasting impression on our little customer. It would make a difference in their sense of self-confidence and their connection with the outside world. It felt inspiring.
Sure, we’ve always been excited about biking and spending time outside. But when we heard that the majority of children in the world today get less outdoor playtime than a prison inmate, we were alarmed and knew we wanted to do something about it.
Wait, what?!
Yep, our kids are spending more time plugged into screens and less time playing outside.
You see it right? The largest companies in the world are spending billions of dollars locking us to our screens and robbing us of what we hold most dear: the relationships and real experiences that define our lives.
And parents are growing more and more protective of their children, which is not inherently a bad thing. But, it does limit the time children develop critical life skills that come from independent exploration.
And the result of all this? Massive increases in childhood obesity, depression, and suicide. Not to mention the significant increase in those statistics in adults. Where do you think it starts?
We’re on a mission to help change all that and we think it starts with supporting childhoods full of outdoor family adventure. And we believe bicycling is the key.
At Buddy Pegs, we believe that when families explore their world from the seat of a bicycle, something incredible happens.
You’ve probably witnessed it first hand! Kids who ride bikes have an early taste of life’s adventure and build healthy relationships with their bodies, their planet, and each other!
But it’s more than that… and it all starts with a MOMENT.
That moment when YOUR Mom or Dad let go of the seat and YOU were free. Free to chart your own course. Free to explore a little bit further outside the safety net. Free to fail. And free to get back up and try again.
That moment, and the childhood on two wheels that follows, has the ability to build confident kids and connected families.
So together, let’s be the change we want to see.
Together, let’s #raiseriders
– Jannine & Scott Fitzgerald
