James John Bike Rodeo and Repair Day a success!
Friday’s torrential downpour did not deter folks from stopping by the first ever James John Elementary School Bike Rodeo and Repair Day. This was the official kick-off of our 2011 Outreach program and we are happy to report that it was a success!James John has been a long time partner of our Bike Club program. We have been serving 4th and 5th graders with our afterschool program since the fall of 2005. Season after season we enjoy riding with up to 14 engaged and enthusiastic students from families with a low income, who work hard to earn their bikes over the six week class by learning safe riding skills and basic bicycle maintenance. To celebrate this long time partnership and to increase our connection with the school, we collaborated with Principal Beth Shelby, to design an event to increase the awareness of bike safety at the school. With the support of the James John school administration and PTA, we set up on school grounds with mechanics, helmet fitters and bike rodeo wranglers to ensure that the James John community was ready to ride for the upcoming Bike and Walk to school month in May. In two short hours we accomplished a lot! Our mechanics repaired 20 bicycles, one of which was carried several blocks because it could not be ridden. We also fit 18 kids and adults to new, shiny helmets. We set up a bike rodeo, or skills park, that included obstacles that helped a dozen kids practice stopping, starting, and avoiding obstacles in the road. We even enjoyed a few slow races. The kids had a blast riding around in the rain in their new helmets and their tuned up bikes.
We would like to thank the team of volunteers for their generous time. We look forward to our next outreach event at the Rigler Elementary Carnival. Opportunities to get involved will be posted on our Volunteer Webpage.