Thursday nights at The Bike Project will be a little lonely for the next year, as longtime volunteer Paul Ceroke will be headed to Iraq with the Army National Guard. Paul is a fantastic mechanic, and his expertise on three-speed wheels and detail-oriented approach to wheelbuilding and frame painting will be missed. Paul’s headed out of town next week for some training, and will be in Iraq around the first of June. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers over the coming year.
Bike rodeo at Kenwood Elementary: Next Wednesday, April 22, there will be a bike rodeo at Kenwood Elementary (1001 Stratford Dr., Champaign) from 6 to 8 p.m. Rose Hudson of C-U Safe Routes to School answered some questions about the rodeo:
Smile Politely: What activities will be part of the rodeo?
Rose Hudson: We will be hosting a six-station bike rodeo. The stations will include skills such as biking in a straight line; stopping and staying in control; weaving through cones without running over them; biking slowly and staying in control, etc. Bike safety information will also be available to take home as well as a helmet fitting station where families get instruction on how to properly fit a bike helmet.
SP: Is there any sign-up or cost necessary to participate in the rodeo?
RH: The Kenwood PTA and C-U SRTS Project are co-sponsoring this event during National No T.V. Week in hopes of getting Kenwood families out to participate in a fun, free, safety clinic designed to get more people biking and staying safe. Getting safety information to the families will hopefully get more families biking together and helping them to move towards a healthier lifestyle (with no carbon footprints!).
SP: Any age restrictions or recommended age?
RH: The bike rodeo is geared toward children between 5 and 12 (approximately). Some children have been on bikes for many years, some children have never had the opportunity to be on a bike so this is their first experience. The obstacle course can be used for both skill levels – to teach safety to the first timers, or to show where improvement could be used for others.
SP: What would kids need to bring: bike, own helmet, etc.?
RH: Families should bring their bikes and helmets, but if they do not have bikes or helmets, we will have some that can be used for the rodeo. If families have questions on proper helmet fitting, they should bring their helmet and we can help answer those questionst.
SP: If there’s anything else you’d like to add, feel free. Thanks!
RH: The Kenwood PTA thought this would be a great school-wide family activity during National No T.V. week, to get families out of the house and doing something together that could be fun and educational at the same time. The PTA and C-U SRTS Project will have items such as helmets to give away, as well as The Bike Project donating a bike to give away!
Looking for a pick-up ride?: Check out Urbana-Champaign Bike Ride!, a side devoted to getting people together for local rides on short notice.
Local bike blogs to recommend: C-U folks Sue Jones and Robert Baird have excellent bike blogs that you should check out, if they’re not already part of your daily routine.
Sue blogs at Urbana-Champaign Cycling Ventures, which has a lot of good local cycling content, as well as links to articles of wider interest.
Robert started All Bikes R Cool last August in 2005 (hey, only off by three years), and there’s local stuff, as well as a great index of bike blogs. He linked to this Sheldon Brown memorial graffiti yesterday:
