Got Bikes...Ride 'Em? 2011

 

It seems like this spring has been crazy busy, but May is now upon us and May is National Bike Month.  few weekends ago, I was asked to help out in this year's installment of the Got Bikes?...Ride 'em! program. Our team met at the Dr. James R. Smith Center, with Commissioner Samuel B. Ings, during the Kid's Health Fair & Field Day. There were a few hundred kids there to participate in multiple events and learn about proper exercise and diet. The day included an Easter Egg Hunt, live music, food, "bouncy houses", and our obstacle course and bike training rodeo and bike raffle.

We set up an obstacle course and that let the children take turns making bike signals at stops and intersections, weaving through cones, looking back at signals, and finally riding while avoiding obstacles. After they had completed the course, they were given a raffle ticket for one of the ten bikes and helmets we gave away.

As usual, the children had fun winning the bikes, but today was also cool to see them ride bikes and learn about proper riding techniques. It makes it all worth while when you can see kids retain things that you are telling them, and that a few kids get a brand new bike to ride home. It was also cool to see a few of the kids that won last year, stroll in on the bikes. They had kept their bikes with pride and were happy to come by and ride through the obstacle course too. It is always good to share bike handling skills and to give kids bikes of their own.

Got Bikes?...Ride 'em! - Part 5

Well I missed my typical Lakemont ride, but it was for a great cause. Today was the 5th installment of the Got Bikes?...Ride 'em! program. We met at the Dr. James R. Smith Center, with Commissioner Samuel B. Ings, during the Kid's Health Fair & Field Day. There were a few hundred kids there to participate in multiple events and learn about proper exercise and diet. The day included an Easter Egg Hunt, live music, food, "bouncy houses", and then different "stations" for the events similar to ours.

Our program was set up differently today, in that we didn't have a PowerPoint presentation and held everything outside, and we let the kids actually ride bikes. We set up an obstacle course and let the children take turns putting on helmets properly, the ABCs of checking out their bikes, correct bike signals at stops and intersections, and finally riding the bikes we had brought. After they had completed the course, they were given a raffle ticket for one of the six bikes and helmets we gave away.

As usual, the children had fun winning the bikes, but today was also cool to see them ride bikes and learn about proper riding techniques. It makes it all worth while when you can see kids retain things that you are telling them, they look at the bikes for the giveaway and you know they don't have a bike of their own, and then their number gets called out at the end of the day and they explode with happiness in being one of the winners. It felt like Christmas, but on a bright spring day!

Got Bikes?...Ride 'em! - Part 4

This afternoon was our 4th installment of the Got Bikes?...Ride 'em! program. Today was exciting because we were in my district and I got to see several of the children from Ferncreek Elementary that are in my mentee's class. Today at the Colonialtown Neighborhood Center we had over 70 kids and gave away 4 bikes and helmets.

Commissioner Sheehan was also present and she informed me of her "Wheels for Kids" program where she gets 100 bicycles, helmets, and locks to 100 children on Christmas Day. Pretty amazing program and I will be keeping it in mind when she starts to gather bikes to donate again.

This Saturday we are joining the Kid's Health Fair and Field Day at Dr. James R. Smith Center on Brunton Blvd., from 10am-1pm. 

Got Bikes?...Ride 'em! - Part 3

This afternoon was our 3rd installment of the Got Bikes?...Ride 'em! program. Today we were at the College Park Community Center and were visited by Commissioner Stewart. We had over 75 kids and gave away 5 bikes and helmets.

One of the main things that I come away from these events, is how attentive the kids are and how well run the after school programs are. The kids are excited about winning bikes, but they sit through an hour of presentations and demonstrations before they receive anything. When I was a kid, I don't think that my classmates and I would have been as attentive as I have seen so far. The staff in these centers are doing a great job of teaching discipline and keeping things under control.

Of course when it was time to give away stuff, the kids were racking up. Each child was getting a water bottle from David's World Cycle and a packet of bicycle safety information that included a flashing red bike light, mini bike license plate, and of course several pieces of safety literature. Orange Cycle was one of the bicycle sponsors today and donated a boy's BMX bike, so it was a battle between the College Park bike shops on who could give the most. I don't think that the kids minded!



As always, if you have a bike to donate or want to see how you can contribute to this program, contact me.

Got Bikes?...Ride 'em! - Part 2

Tonight was the second community workshop for the Got Bikes?...Ride 'em! program. We were visiting the Dover Shores Community Center, in District 2, and we were joined by Commissioner Tony Ortiz.

Tonight's presentation was even better than the first, and it helped that we had over 125 children, about a dozen parents, and even a dozen more staff members from the community center. We went through the same presentation and safety demonstration and gave away 4 brand new bikes and helmets to 4 lucky winners of the raffle.

The most interesting part of the evening was the trip over to the community center. Geoff and I had to ride on Conway and Curry Ford and we encountered several motorists that weren't too friendly to cyclists. We had two cars that laid on their horns behind us, even though they had room in the left lane to pass us. Poor Geoff actually had a car pass us, yell at us, and then throw a can of "dip" tobacco at him and hit his arm while riding. It just showed us that there are plenty of uneducated, rude drivers out there. It probably would have helped if we had bike lanes to ride in, but either way the drivers didn't know the law and weren't willing to share the road!

We head to College Park for next week's workshop. I am waiting for some pictures from the City of Orlando, to update the posts and give you some images to go along with the stories. If you have any used bicycles or want to donate to the program, please let me know. Ride on!

Got Bikes?...Ride Em! - Part 1

Yesterday afternoon, I got to volunteer in one of the City of Orlando's award winning bicycle programs. Cristina Cruz and Charles Brown developed an innovative approach to community education to attract children and new riders to bicycling through a power point presentation entitled, "Got Bikes..Ride 'em," which covered the history of bicycling, famous riders, safety and places to ride. The presentation will be offered in all six Orlando City Commission Districts during Florida Bike Month (March). Children, commissioners, citizens and communities will together benefit from this great program.

This first community workshop was held at the Citrus Center and we were joined by Commissioner Phil Diamond. I spoke about famous professional cyclists and will be helping in the future during the safety demonstrations. We had about 35-40 kids present and several parents were there to learn about bicycle safety and to enter to win free bikes and helmets. We distributed 5 donated bikes to the lucky winners and everyone was given free literature about safety and bicycle laws, water bottles, and red warning lights. 

We have another presentation on Tuesday night. If you are interested in donating a used bike, please let me know and we can get it in one of the giveaways.