RIF recently gave 28 bikes to the girls of Mother Caroline Academy, a college prep school for 5th to 8th graders located in Dorchester. This was kind of a unique giveaway— it started out as a Youth Cycling Program event and transitioned into a RIF donation. Youth Cycling Program is Roll It Forward's sister program. YCP events take place at Boston schools, community centers, and camps. There is always a classroom component to these events — kids are given bicycle and helmet safety instruction prior to riding. The events usually last three days, generally an hour per day with each class. By the end of the session the kids are riding safely and in control with others. Most YCP events culminate with a cycling tour...maybe just of the school grounds for third graders or of the neighborhood or a town park for the older kids. The goal is to show kids that the bicycle is a safe, healthy way to navigate their environment...while having fun!
Often we find that many kids, primarily at lower grade levels, have never ridden before. It isn't uncommon to teach a half dozen or so individual kids to ride for the first time in one session. Our instructors never get tired of that "FLY AWAY LITTLE BIRD, FLY AWAY!" feeling they get from seeing a kid ride off on his or her own.
More on YCP in future blog posts, back to RIF and Mother Caroline...
So a YCP event occurred at Mother Caroline and the girls there were so awesome, it turned into a RIF event where they got to keep the bikes at the school. Now you might be asking: "Why didn't they just keep the YCP bikes?" Good question. The YCP bikes take a BEATING going from school to school all year, so we use only the highest quality Trek bikes, most of which have been donated by RIF sponsor International Bicycle. Also, if we gave away our YCP bikes, we might not be able to replace them...24" wheeled, and small 26" wheeled mountain bikes are very hard to come by. The mechanics in the 'Boston Bike Mines' had to scrape and dig to come up with the 28 bikes that made it to Mother Caroline.
Hey, if you have a line on where RIF can get some more small mountain bikes, we're all ears!
Jonathan Chamberlain is one of mechanics in the Boston Bike Mines. He spends countless hours prepping bikes for Roll It Forward.
I recently started riding again after years away from the bike. For practical purposes, I got myself a folding bike, but I wasn't sure I was going to remember how to ride. But once I got going, it was exactly like the first time I rode...I thought I was having a flashback!
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