A record-breaking fun weekend at Cycle Oregon Kids Camp
By Kim Whitney, Youth Programs Manager
This past weekend, we broke records on miles and fun at our fourth annual Kids Camp through the Cycle Oregon Weekend Ride, a family focused off-shoot of Cycle Oregon. This year’s ride took place on the Oregon State University Campus in Corvallis. At Kids Camp, youth ages 5 – 14 have an opportunity to ride in five different camps offered over the weekend.
A major highlight of the weekend was our Family Bike Parade on Saturday evening. Around 30 families joined us for bike decorating fun, where we outfitted paraders with bike bells and festive ribbons. The group gathered for a quick safety check then the parade began, making it’s way from the Bike Camp area to the main stage. Several campers had an opportunity to join our Executive Director, Alison Graves, and I on the stage to share their experiences. One of the younger campers, 5 year old Sarah, shared with the audience that her favorite part of camp was riding 7 miles and visiting 3 parks.
Our amazing staff of 9 instructors and 5 volunteers had a blast and did a wonderful job of ensuring that the kids had a great time. The kids smiled the entire time and many didn’t want to leave at the end of the day.
On Saturday, each group rode between 7 and 31 miles. Younger groups explored nearby parks, while the Advanced Riders had an opportunity to ride along with the adults on the medium-length route. The Hubs (ages 6-7) and Spokes (ages 7-8) camps visited the Avery Nature House on Sunday, where they interacted with snakes, lizards, and frogs that are commonly found along the Willamette River. All camps rode through the finish line on Sunday to enjoy some ice cream with other riders and to celebrate their accomplishments over the weekend.
Thank you to all of our volunteers for helping make the weekend so memorable, and to Zipcar for their generous donation of vehicles that transported our volunteers, staff and their bikes to make this event happen!