Kids on Bikes gets youth pedaling toward health and independence
In 2005, the nonprofit Kids on Bikes was founded in Colorado Springs to promote a healthy lifestyle for the community's youngest members. And learning to ride a bike is, after all, a rite of passage, as Daniel Byrd, executive director of Kids on Bikes, reminded me.
Byrd is a bicycling enthusiast. He commutes to work most days, arriving at the downtown Kids on Bikes administrative offices via two wheels. Byrd explained that while the nonprofit has many barriers to address - including the ongoing need for bicycle donations and financial support - Kids on Bikes strives for a deeper and more long-lasting impact on the community through programming that provides access to bikes, education on cycling and opportunities to ride.
"In our experience," Byrd explained, "one out of 10 fifth graders in Colorado Springs does not know how to ride a bike." He emphasized this is not the result of a scientific study, but an observation of an issue Kids on Bikes is working to overcome.
It’s awesome! - Tyler Lull
The nonprofit's programming toward making riding and owning a bicycle more accessible city-wide includes providing refurbished bikes in low-income areas, learn-to-bike classes and camps, bicycle safety and maintenance instruction and community family bike rides.
The hub for Kids on Bikes is a community outreach center called Pedal Station. When I visited Pedal Station (2222 Bott Avenue) on a Saturday afternoon, the multi-story bicycle garage, shop, and donation center were buzzing with activity. Tyler Lull, a volunteer-turned-employee of Pedal Station, was first to greet me. With the defined calf muscles and wiry build of a cycling veteran, Lull explained his passion for bikes began at six years old.
"My dad, grandpa and I built my first bike," Lull recalled. Growing up in Gunnison, Colorado, he said the trio started with some loose parts and molded the pieces into a bike, working from his grandpa's garage. Lull knew he wanted to grow up doing bike things full-time.
Recently, his six-year-old daughter attended a Kids on Bikes Learn to Ride camp. Lull is an advocate of the camp. "My daughter went from using a stride-bike [a bike without pedals] to balancing and pedaling really quickly. It's awesome!" He shared.
Daniel Byrd, like Tyler Lull, felt an early call to do bike things full-time. His adult life began with a career as a social worker. As Executive Director for Kids on Bikes, he continues to influence young people, including enabling young adults to obtain a bicycle. Byrd explained that owning a bicycle can be an essential tool for at-risk 18- and 19-year-olds in finding a job, getting to work and achieving independence.
"Kids on Bikes plays a role in helping Colorado Springs youth exit homelessness," Byrd said. The nonprofit can facilitate bicycle distribution and offer classes and camps with income from Pedal Station's sister shop, Mountain Equipment Recyclers (MER), as well as support from community donations.
"We take old bikes in any condition," Byrd said. The basement of Pedal Station is full of neatly organized racks of for-sale used bicycle rims. Lull and the shop manager, Austin Latare, spend their work hours here, both maintaining bicycles and answering the mechanical questions posed by cycling enthusiasts.
"I can't imagine a better place to work," Latare said.
Kids on Bikes values community support in the form of bicycle donations and financial offerings. Visit KidsOnBikes.net for a full list of programs and ways to participate.
