Interview with Quinn Travis
Spotlight Series Topic: Interview with Quinn Travis, Flagstaff Youth Riders (FLYRs)
Guest Name: Quinn Travis
Guest Credentials: Executive Director of FLYRs
Discussion Details: In this interview with Quinn Travis from FLYRs, Dr. Jordan gets to know:
- How Quinn got into biking
- How Quinn came to Flagstaff
- What the mission of FLYRs is
- The future of FLYRs
And much more interesting information.
Benefit of Watching: Learn about an amazing local organization that helps kids to get on bikes, which will impact them and their fitness for years to come. Also, you will learn about the executive director and his passion for cycling and how he started out.
Address of Guest’s Business:
2532 N 4th St #419, Flagstaff, AZ 86004
Dr. Jordan Williams: Hi everybody. I’m Dr. Jordan with Proof Physical Therapy and Performance. Today we’re talking with Quinn Travis. He’s the executive director of Flagstaff Youth Riders, or Flyers, which is a nonprofit organization that works with kids from two to 18 years old to provide a structured and team-oriented approach to mountain biking. He’s also a real estate agent, a husband, and a father, as well as a legit guy, welcome Quinn. Thank you for being here.
Quinn Travis: Thanks, Doctor Jordan. Thanks for having me.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Yeah, absolutely.
Quinn Travis: I’m in the dojo, a beautiful studio.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Today, we just want to learn about you and your organization. Let’s start from the start. Tell us a little bit about your background, how you came to Flagstaff.
Quinn Travis: Yeah, well, with all the sports I did growing up, ice hockey brought me to Flagstaff, Arizona. I ended up playing college hockey for NAU for one year. I was kind of sick of getting in a charter bus every single weekend and traveling to Utah, California, and doing the thing that I’ve been doing since I was 17 years old. So after a year, I’ve realized actually how amazing Flagstaff was in terms of trail access and just how close we are to Sedona and Grand Canyon. So I put the skates away, and I took out the mountain bike.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Right, nice
Quinn Travis: Because mountain biking has been a big part of my life for a while. But hockey brought me to Flagstaff, and I’m so ever grateful for that.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Nice, yeah. Awesome. So that’s how you got into biking.
Quinn Travis: Yep.
Dr. Jordan Williams: So, kind of history getting into mountain biking, but have you branched out from mountain biking into, say, gravel road biking very much?
Quinn Travis: Oh yeah, I do all the biking. I started with mountain biking, actually BMX racing as a kid in the mountains of Colorado, and then slowly progressed to dirt jumping, and you know, finding the freedom of the bike, how we can utilize it to jump, and kind of scare ourselves, and see where our confidence can go. And then that led to, as I got older, I always thought really long mountain bike rides were really boring, but as I got older, I realized that it was actually so fulfilling, right, to do some big rides. So when I was about 17, I started getting into kind of longer-distance riding on top of all the other. You know, I was playing hockey at the time, so I didn’t have a lot of time to do it. But yeah, so that’s how I really got into biking, and I was doing it in Colorado. So that’s where I found the love of riding the mountain bike, and then it slowly progressed into, well, I’m kind of getting sick of just single track, which is kind of hard to believe. But when you do it every day, you kind of do, like, eat
Dr. Jordan Williams: Steak for dinner every night.
Quinn Travis: Exactly, and so I got the gravel bike, and then that led to doing dirt roads at 22 miles an hour. You know, hitting potholes, underbiking, jumping, throwing the back end around, and just having fun, and then you can only do the two enough, and so I had to get a road bike, and so got a road bike, and then realized I can do 100 miles in, you know, in the morning, and then so all why not all three different types of forms of riding is so much fun.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Awesome,
Quinn Travis: Yeah,
Dr. Jordan Williams: What what do you like most about racing?
Quinn Travis: Yeah, racing. I think it’s a form of challenge that you have to structure training, structure your life around a date. You know, and so that’s what I really like about racing. I don’t necessarily like racing other people, but it’s the performance of working towards a goal, and then when the race comes, you can see it all play out. You can see your top-form fitness; you can see the fueling that you’ve been practicing, water, and there’s so much logistics that go into a 50- to 100-mile race or 420-mile race. There are so many things that go into it, and I love that as the preparation. So that’s really what got me into racing. Plus, I’m kind of competitive. Why I have to.
Dr. Jordan Williams: You still racing now? What do those look like?
Quinn Travis: Yeah, I do not as much as I did last year. As you know, you’re a father. You kind of get busy with flyers, with real estate, with being a dad. There are so many things that are going on that I can only put my energy in so many places. So, racing’s on the back burner for now, but I can see myself doing some more big 400 ultra, like pack racing kind of stuff. Yeah,
Dr. Jordan Williams: You didn’t race gravel this weekend, did you?
Quinn Travis: No, no, unfortunately,
Dr. Jordan Williams: It was a good race. It looked sweet. I was in it, so you were. Yeah, nice. Did the 30. So
Quinn Travis: How did it go?
Dr. Jordan Williams: It was good. I was not in the top 50%, but you know, first gravel race. I’d never done that when I was on my mountain bike.
Quinn Travis: That’s all. And you finished?
Dr. Jordan Williams: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you have fun? It was definitely awesome. That’s all that matters. It was a lot of fun. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. So, 3:30. It’s challenging. Now I’m testing, like, looking at mount at gravel bikes. I’m like, I don’t, I don’t know. I’m gonna have to start with the used one.
Quinn Travis: So when this is wrapped. You want to have a conversation because we can get you hooked on gravel biking. Even though we’re talking about flyers and mountain biking, there’s a whole other aspect.
Dr. Jordan Williams: It’s all biking. Also, little-known fact: you were a Pearl Izumi model for a season, right?
Quinn Travis: I was.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Look at you.
Quinn Travis: Yeah, they did. It was a friend of a friend. Yeah, and so I went out there to Tucson to do their new line, first time ever doing something like that, and it was good to get extra money to ride my bike and get my picture taken with Pearl Izumi. So it was pretty cool.
Dr. Jordan Williams: That’s pretty sweet. Yeah, I remember seeing you on the website, and I was like, “What the?
Quinn Travis: Yeah, I know that guy. I know, I know. So it was super fun.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Changing gears a little bit. Tell us about the origins of Flyers.
Quinn Travis: Yeah, Flyers started in 2016 with a dream to make bound biking more accessible in Flagstaff. There were no youth mountain bike programs here at the time, and Tyler Nelson and Angelina were the founders of Flyers. They had young kids, and it started with seven kids, and the origin started with a family just trying to get more kids on bikes. And it started with seven, and then 10 years later, we’re doing over 1000 kids a year on bikes. So it grew exponentially, and I don’t think they had the dream of that. I think just how this community is is in general, it attracts so many different types of active people. Active people, and then a lot of you know, the school program was then implemented in like 2018, 2019 to create more access to the sport of mountain biking here in town. So it’s free programs at Startup Puente Elementary. Now we’re in seven schools with over 300 kids a year through our free program. But yeah, so that was the origin. We just needed a youth mountain bike program, and now we are some people put it together. Bike program, yeah.
Dr. Jordan Williams: And you’ve been executive director for how many years?
Quinn Travis: I’m coming up on two years. Okay. Yeah, in November.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Yeah, and still growing,
Quinn Travis: Still growing, still learning.
Dr. Jordan Williams: What led you to want to step into that role?
Quinn Travis: The job became available, and I was working in property management and real estate at the time. And I mean, not the most fulfilling job in the world. For all you property managers out there, hats off! I mean, you do an amazing job. It’s a hard, hard job. But this position was posted. My wife said, “You are stupid if you don’t put your application in. And at the time, I was pretty young too, and I didn’t expect much. I just threw my name in the hat. But I think with my passion for mountain biking, my passion for youth, and I have experience working with youth in the past. And I’ve owned a business before; I kind of have the admin-style work. I think it was just a perfect fit. And now, I mean, I wake up and sometimes have to pinch myself that I get to structure my day around getting kids. You get to get paid and work with bikes.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Exactly. Yeah. What is the mission of Flyers?
Quinn Travis: The mission is to develop growth-oriented, resilient, and caring youth through mountain biking. Yeah. Pretty simple.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Okay. Yeah. And you said about 1000 kids on bikes, roughly throughout the year.
Quinn Travis: Yeah, in 2025, we did 1013. to be exact. Okay, we’re looking at around 1070 registrations in 2026, but unique registrations, I think, would be closer to like seven or 800 total kids. Okay. Um, in 2026. So yeah, we’re really pushing that 1000 kids envelope. Um, and you know, it’s awesome to see.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Awesome. And I’ve personally worked with a lot of the Flyers kids. Shouldn’t say a lot. With a high school cohort of the Flyers kids working with strength training and getting them strong to go race, and so it’s a lot of fun.
Quinn Travis: We’re in here. We were in here every Tuesday for eight weeks, and Dr. Jordan put all the kids and me through the wringer. And I think it’s, yeah. I think that’s what I think the partnership we have is, and how we’re introducing not just mountain biking to the kids, because strength training is such an important part of everyday life. I think everyone should strength train because it’s so important. But especially for the kids to learn that it’s not just about mountain biking; it’s about how jumping.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Everything that goes into the mountain biking behind it, you know.
Quinn Travis: You could see how much they grow from when we’re done with the eight weeks, and then they’re hitting the bike. They’ll be texting me, “Yeah, so I just did a workout, you know, and so they’re actually starting to implement strength training on the side. So I think it’s really cool, and our partnership has been super fun. Yeah, it’s my highlight of the year. Is actually coming to Pruvit on Tuesday, Tuesday. But it’s dark and cold.
Dr. Jordan Williams: It’s miserable outside, but we’re sweating it up in here. Yeah. What would you say are some misconceptions about mountain biking that you encounter frequently?
Quinn Travis: Yeah, some misconceptions. I feel like there needs to be a certain body type, or there needs to be a certain level of financial stability, or you need to wear a certain style. You need to wear spandex. You need, you know, like there are a lot of misconceptions about mountain biking. When in in general, go to Goodwill, grab a mountain bike with no suspension and treads on it, buy a decent helmet for 60 bucks, and you could be on the trails like everyone else. You could do it in jeans. You could do it in shorts. You could do it in jorts; I highly recommend jorts. Yeah, but you could put a backpack on with, you know, a few extra water bottles, and you can. What you have in your closet is how you can go out and ride. And so the misconception is that you need the clips, the shoes, the nice bike, the suspension, all the things before you can get into it. Yeah. And here at Flyers, like we’re trying to teach these kids, like the barrier to entry can be very low, but it’s a misconception that it is a very expensive sport. That’s known, but you can do it in a way that you could bring a BMX bike out there. It’ll be hard,
Dr. Jordan Williams: yeah.
Quinn Travis: But you can do it, right? So that’s a misconception. I think people have this idea of what that looks like, and they might judge the people in lycra, right? Or they might think. I can’t do those drops like downhill riders or enduro riders. You could be, you could be old. You could be young. Different body types. Everyone, everyone is able to mountain bike.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Yeah,
Quinn Travis: Maybe not everything that everyone else can, right? But there’s always a starting trail.
Dr. Jordan Williams: There’s always an access point. Yeah. Okay. Is there anyone you would say is not appropriate for Flyer’s participation?
Quinn Travis: So to join our pedal bike program, it is required that your kiddo knows how to pedal without training wheels and knows how to brake confidently. The only reason we make that a requirement is because it ensures that the whole group remains safe. Because if we don’t have a kid who can brake, now we have a coach that’s dedicated to 10 other riders. So we have two coaches. We don’t just have one, but we have two coaches, but that means one coach now is teaching one kid how to ride their bike or teaching them how to brake. And so, when we’re taking one coach, that’s a resource out on the trail in the backcountry that we need to support the group. So that’s the only thing, and we only see that at our very young 567, year olds. But we have push bikes. So at two years old, you can put them in the push bike group, which teaches them how to balance. And then as we evolve as flyers, we want to do more clinics on how to learn to ride. And we work with kids who don’t know how to ride. Like, we’ll meet them in a parking lot. We’ll see where they’re at in ability, and then we can let the parents know, hey, maybe not this season, but here are some tips.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Yeah,
Quinn Travis: We’ve given kids bikes to practice on. So just because you don’t know how to ride and you can’t be involved in the groups, we still deeply care that we want you in there. So we will do everything we can to get you out on the trail
Dr. Jordan Williams: As soon as possible. Sweet, sweet. What do you see for the future for Flyers?
Quinn Travis: I see Flyers becoming one of the biggest nonprofits, giving every kid a chance to ride mountain bikes with their friends, whether they can afford it or not afford it. I want to make the barrier to entry super cheap, but I could easily see us in the next five to 10 years easily doing 2000 registrations a year, increasing our programming. So our summer camps are evolving and changing. So you’re not doing the same thing every year, but giving all of the kids a chance to be out there. Flyers definitely. I could see us getting into a bigger space. We have bikes and storage and shirts everywhere in our tiny little office, and so I definitely see us, you know, hopefully raising some funds to get us into a space. And if you’re out there and you have a piece of property or something that’s just sitting around vacant, let us know. We’d love to talk about how we can chat about it. Bigger space is definitely needed for our growth and more staff members. We only have two full-time and one part-time, and so I see us that that evolving as well. So we can start focusing resources on fundraising, on grant writing, on programming through all age levels, and coach, or yeah, coach managers. So someone dedicated to the 100 coaches that we onboard and train a year-that’s a lot of people. Big operation, yeah. So just yeah, kind of refining it. As we say, we’ve been building the plane as we’re flying. So now I think we’re- we’re- let’s just get the plane leveled out and built, and then land the plane.
Dr. Jordan Williams: The plane starts to stabilize. Yeah, they start climbing.
Quinn Travis: Exactly. It’s stabilizing, so we’re almost there. Okay. Yeah.
Dr. Jordan Williams: Lastly, is there anything that you’d like people to know about flyers that we haven’t talked about?
Quinn Travis: Yeah, I think you know one thing. A big misconception about flyers is just our paid programming. That’s what a lot of people see when parents talk to one another. It’s all about, yeah, my kids in, you know, five- and six-year-olds, or my kids in push bike, and that those are all paid programs. It’s a paid program for entry. We have a huge scholarship application. We highly recommend that if you are ever considering that it’s too expensive to fill out the scholarship application. It’s 100% free. So we have a good scholarship program, and then our school-based program. A lot of people don’t actually know how big it is, and we are in seven Title One schools in Flagstaff: Cromer, Marshall, Summit, Mems, Killip. There are a few other ones at Puente. Yeah, I keep going. So we’re in a lot of schools, and we’re doing over 300, 350 students a year. Okay, and these are kids with, you know, financial barriers, or transportation barriers, or don’t have a bike, or have never ridden a mountain bike, and so these are kids that we’re changing their lives and really getting them into the sport, getting outdoors, off screens with friends, and so yeah, just want to throw that out there. A lot of people don’t know that we do that, and I think that’s one of my biggest parts of Flyers, and the big, big piece of my heart of Flyers is our school program and creating access to the sport. We have 85 to 90 bikes that are dedicated to loaner bikes and school program bikes that they get a ride for free, and so
Dr. Jordan Williams: Yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming in today. We love learning about flyers and love having you in here, so thank you so much for watching and listening today and we will see you next time.