NEOCycle Urban Youth Initiative gives away 105 bicycles

After building all 105 bicycles, it was finally time to give the bikes away to the well-deserving NEOCycle Urban Youth Initiative participants. 

This past Saturday, the NEOCycle team, in collaboration with Jim Sheehan of the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op, GE Lighting, and University Hospital’s Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital helped fit 105 students from the City of Cleveland recreation centers with properly fitting bicycles and bike helmets.  In addition to the bicycles, the students, all 8-10 years old, also received some instruction on safe riding, bicycle maintenance, and learned a little bit about the science and the physics behind how their new bicycle works. 

After they were fitted for their bicycle and their helmet was on correctly, it was time to take their new bicycle on a test ride.  Sheehan set up a course that emphasized some of the more important skills when riding, such as being able to turn back without crashing, slalom between some posts, and being able to stop sharply without falling off.  

While many of the kids knew how to ride a bike, some were a little less confident.  Instead of going through the course, these kids worked on mastering balance while they became more familiar with how to ride their new bicycle. 

Over the past three weeks, the participants were required to keep a log of their daily eating and exercise habits.  They also learned more about bicycle safety and bicycle parts through some exercises in the booklets they received.  The participants who completed their bicycle booklets and were the most focused on recording their eating and exercise habits were selected to receive one of the bicycles at the end of the program

NEOCycle will begin September 26-28.  You can find out more about the event and registration information at www.neocycle.org. 

                                                                             Participants showing off their new bicycles