By Elaine Bothe
It’s been an amazing ride all year, every Monday afternoon at Montavilla Community Center! We ran this program for 7-8 weeks during Fall Term ’23, and Winter and Spring Terms in ’24. Each term, 15 amazing kids were signed up, and we regularly had 12-15 participants each day. Most were in grade 3-5 with a few 2nd graders mixed in. Each term, we had a few returning students along with many new faces as well.
This program was a coordinated effort between NWTA, Portland Parks & Recreation, the SUN program at Vestal Elementary School and Montavilla Community Center. The goal was to provide a biking opportunity to the students, get the kids outside and be active. They rode a lot, played bike games, worked on some mountain bike skills and generally had a blast.
We also enjoyed the play structures and some kids loved to run and run and run around the gravel paths. They also learned about the bikes themselves, including the parts of a bike, how to pull a tire and inner tube off a rim AND put it all back together, adjusting the fork, shifting, bike safety and some rules of riding in groups.
Each day we started with handing out the loaner helmets and bikes, courtesy of Trek Bicycles and Trek Bicycle Portland Westmoreland store. As we fit helmets and sized the bikes, students warmed up inside the gym on a squiggly cone course. Eventually, if the weather cooperated, we’d head outside to ride around on the gravel paths and through the puddles and grass.
Snack break was also a popular activity. Fueled with bananas and cereal bars, the kids would get back onto their bikes again. During Spring term, we had a lot of sunny, warm days and we spent the entire time outside, including snacks!
One of the highlights of the year were the 7 kids who did not know how to ride a bike at all before they joined our program! By the end of their term, they were all pedaling around on their own, even on uneven gravel paths, lumpy pavement and grass. What an achievement!
Another highlight was the addition of two new (to us) 24” Trek bikes to our fleet. The 13 sturdy Trek Marlins we already had are sized for riders 4’-5” and taller, and now, thanks to Sterling and his crew at the Trek Bicycle Portland Westmoreland store, we can support shorter riders too! These bikes were trade-ins in Trek’s program, overhauled by Westmoreland Trek, already got a lot of love this year so far, we are very grateful. Thank You!!!
Overall, it was a school year packed with bikes, kids, action, learning and riding. At the end of the year, and each term, and even every day the time went by fast and we were sad to see the kids leave!
This program would not have been a success without the help of Ray, Robert, John, Heather and everyone at the Montavilla Community Center; Robin and Ryan from the SUN Program, and the instructor team led by Elaine Bothe of Elaine B. Bikes with instructors Jenn Phillips, Myles Ridge, Susan Koonce, Nanne Heijenga and Ruandy “Roo” Albisurez.
This programming was truly launched three years ago with support from project^, a local design firm looking to put dollars back into community programming. With their dedicated support, and with the donated bikes from Trek and a bike rack from Lolo Racks, NWTA was able to pilot a series of youth bike clinics and classes. By integrating this successful programming with our PP&R partnership, the programs have grown to where they are now (with more on the horizon)! NWTA is currently seeking a full-time Youth and Recreation Programs Coordinator to manage these programs. We couldn’t have done it without all of this support. We look forward to our summer programming and we’ll see our school campers in the fall!
Photos by Elaine Bothe
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US