We had the opportunity to work with YouthCity and Entheos Academy again during this session, in addition also started working with the YMCA.  Now I know why the song says it’s fun to stay at the YMCA.  These kids had a zest for life and a willingness to learn.  I enjoyed them so much and walked away feeling as if I learned more from them.  They are a reminder that life should be fun and full of laughter.  I’d like to thank all of the groups that participated in this session.  They keep our organization going.

 

 

BLAST OFF!  Session two complete, with 61 more graduates. This has been an amazing experience for me. I have met so many wonderful children. I want to thank all of my volunteers without them the Collective would not be the special place that it is. This sessions graduates came from, Youth City- Central City, Valley Mental Health, Youth City-Liberty, Boys & Girls Club- Lied,Youth City- Ottinger Hall, Boys & Girls Club- Midvale. 

What an amazing start to our summer Earn-a-Bike session.  77 students graduate with honors!

The following organizations attended summer session #1 with us. Youth City-Central City, Valley Mental health, Youth City-Liberty Park, Capital West, Boy Scouts Of America, Youth City-Fairmont. We would like to thank these organizations for participating with us they truly make our program what it is successful!

Q: What is the Trips for Kids Program?

A: Trips For Kids brings a mountain biking experience, and all incidental benefits, to Salt Lake City's youth.

Q: Where do you ride?

A:  Mountian Biking is a challenge for most people, ideal locations will have a WIDE variety of terrain types.  Often Trips For Kids rides will meet on Red Butte Canyon Road, just beyond Red Butte Garden Amphitheater, This location offers a variety of terrains, including the Bonneville shoreline trail, to promote a progressive trip.  Local trails are accessible for near term trips, with planning further locations are certainly possible.  

Q: Do we need bikes?

A: Bikes, hellmets, water bottles, will be brought to the trail head by SLC Bike Collective.  PRIOR to each trip, please specify how tall each rider will be, so an appropriate assortment of bicycles can be furnished.       

Q: How much does it cost?

A:Each ride costs $125, $100 of which we completely refund upon completion of the ride.  

Q: Do you do Bike Rodeos?

A: No, we do not, but click here to find out who does.

Contact our Trips for Kids Coordinator, Evan Mitchell, with the following information ready:

1. What is the name of your organization?
2. What is the size and age range of the youth group?  NOTE: Youth must know how to ride a 2 wheeled bike (no training wheels).
3. What are possible ride dates and times?
4. How many adult volunteers can your organization provide on the ride?
5. What is your contact info? (especially e-mail)

Pre-ride Checklist:

1. Pay the Ride fee.
2. Have each parent sign a Participant Application Waiver.  NOTE:Youth without a signed Participant Application Waiver will not be allowed to ride.
3. Have each volunteer sign a Volunteer Waiver.  NOTE: Volunteers without a signed Volunteer Waiver will not be allowed to ride
4. Ensure each participant has had breakfast, is wearing closed toe shoes, and is prepared to spend time in the sun.

Tiny wheels turn into big wheels, come volunteer and help a child in your local community Earn-a-Bike (EAB) volunteers must: Enjoy working with children; Have a willingness to learn, mechanical experience not required, free training available; Regular availability sometime between Monday - Thursdays 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Volunteering is the gift that keeps on giving!  Amazing people call or text Hailey at 801-688-0734 or email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

We partnered up with all four of the Youth City locations this summer for Trips for Kids.

Liberty Park had a great Friday morning ride going which is a lovely start to any weekend. Central City and Ottenger Hall had tight schedules, but squeezed in some pretty intense 3 hour rides. Fairmont Park signed up for two rides per week! These kids got to learn so much and we can always tell through their gigantic smiles that it was most definitely worth it to them.

Check out the pics below:

Bonneville Shoreline via Memory Grove

This guy made it to the top and wanted to keep going.

First timer and what a posi attitude shes got.

2nd year in our program!

3rd year in our program!

LOVE watching these sweet kids grow into teens. :D

These 5 decided to keep on climbing and wanted to climb, climb, and keep on climbing! Once you realize you get what you put in it normally hooks those unafraid of high speed descents. Our only group that really understands switchbacks and berms; they really gave it their all. They loved the down a little more than the up and were notably proud of the full view of the valley they had earned!

Tanner Park

Standing, relaxed, focused, and looking ahead - go girl!

Students quickly decided they weren't ready for the jumps at Tanner Park. Alternatively we built up a successful beginner jump and practiced some new skills.

 

 

 

We've partnered up with the Police Athletic League Pete Suazo Boxing Center. Students are required to attend successful tutoring sessions before they are admitted to the boxing center - what a wonderful concept. Mountain biking is great cross training for these young boxers and they certainly weren't afraid of those hills!

Bonneville Shoreline Trail - a student prepares to go down.

 

Summer is now half over with 72 students graduating the first of two Earn-A-Bike sessions!

The following organizations attended Summer 1 with us Youth City - Central City, Youth City - Liberty Park, Youth City - Ottenger Hall, Boys and Girls Club - Sugarhouse, Boys and Girls Club - Lied and Stepping Stones Child Placement Agency.

 

Just learned to patch her tube - woo!

Adjusting bottom brackets today.

This is our volunteer Dan's FOURTH summer with us! Here is Dan helping these two wonderful young ladies repack some bearings.

This fine young man agreed to be our model on what NOT TO DO with the grease. ;)

WHAT A BLAST!

A BIG THANK YOU TO...

for donating some new Pearl Izumi cycling gloves to Trips for Kids SLC!

We have partnered up with Clayton Middle School this spring for their after-school program on Fridays. We averaged about 14 kids per ride which is a great turnout and our max. (unless we get creative in transporting the bikes...) Gotta love the fearless teen groups!

Just finished practicing skills in the parking lot.

Yep, flat tires happen.

Coming back from some dirt! :)

Going over some final rules before more advanced technical trail.

This cool sunny April morning marks the 1st ride of the season for Trips for Kids SLC.

Working with a Boy Scouts of America Troop based in SLC we stop for breathtaking views, snacks, and water.

The Boys and Girls Club Lied built up 15 BMX bikes and road 5 miles back to their club.

We don't normally have enough pegs for the kids, but through their determination and patience by the end of the class they found enough pegs for each other.

One very accomplished teenager. (More pegs!)

Don't just take it from us, it really does feel good to build your own bike. (And more pegs hiding out.)

On another note, we don't normally have a whole class full of BMX bikes either. BMX bicycles are high priority here during youth programs so they go very quickly. This was our first teen group and they were so focused and mature the whole time at the community bike shop without, of course, leaving out any fun....

Helmet safety dance!

When students finish their bikes early we often have the opportunity to ride. We were able to go from 2312 South West Temple to 464 South Concord. We chose to utilize the bike paths on 17th South and the Jordan Parkway Trail. The Jordan Parkway Trail ended up as a safe and exciting opportunity to practice tricks along the way. This was such a fun ride with the teens and saved the club a trip or two on loading up the bikes in their van.

We just finished up our winter session with youth coming from the YouthCity Central City and Fairmont Park after school program locations.

This young gentleman came in asking if he could build a "fixie."  However we weren't able to find a frame in his size, so he built his cool BMX.

(Please excuse the shop, we have been blessed with many community donations this winter.  However we could always use more!)

 

 

 

2010 marks our 3rd year of Trips for Kids® Salt Lake City! TFK® is a mountain bike program for disadvantaged youth, rooted in Marin County, CA, with locations throughout the United States. We have a flock of hardtail mountain bikes and a truck with trailer to transport the bikes. This will be the second year I'll be heading up the Salt Lake Chapter of TFK®. As the primary volunteer, albeit paid through UCC Americorps, I'll need some help this coming mountain bike season. We currently need the following to expand and successfully carry out our rides program:

VOLUNTEERS - for planning, outreach, and ride leaders.

Planning - this entails helping me make decisions on the where, what, and how of our program.

Outreach - volunteer and organization outreach i.e. cold calling, e-mail, tableing and follow-up

- may also include tasks such as grant writing.

Ride Leaders -  attend rides, unload/reload bikes, helmet fittings, mountain bike training, and

hang out w/ the youth!

Note: Dedicated (attending 3 scheduled rides) ride leaders will be given paid CPR/Frist Aid Training.

GROUPS - organizations for rides with transportation to the trailheads.

Organizations - can include non-profits, schools, after-school programs, youth groups, etc.

If you or anyone you know is interested please contact me:

Krisha Pessa
Education Director
801-931-0895
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Want to coordinate a Bike Rodeo for your organization?

While we do not perform any Bike Rodeos, we do have minature traffic signs that can be reserved and rented with a fully refundable deposit if you would like to put on one yourself.  We also highly recommend that you use the League of American Bicyclists' ( LAB) Smart Cycling curriculum for Bike Rodeos.

Do you want someone else to do it for you?

In Salt Lake City you have two options:

1. Contact the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD)'s Fusion Bike Squad.  Specifically, Sgt Derek Christensen at 801-799-3306 or email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or Sgt Shawn Smart, 799-3669 or  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
2. Contact the Utah Department of Public Safety, specifically the Keri Gibson (801-243-7571), to set up a time.  Don't wait until the last minute, their schedule fills up quickly.  If they aren't avaliable, they do have a complete bike rodeo kit that comes in a trailer that you can reserve and rent for free.  This trailer contains bikes, helmets, traffic signs and scooters.

We need patient volunteers to enlighten the minds of young mechanics. Contact me if you are interested in becoming an Earn-A-Bike Instructor. Ironically you do not need any previous bike mechanic skills or experience. The quality we look for the most is your ability to work with young adults. If that is something you relate to, I will gladly set aside time to teach you the mechanics part.

Earn-A-Bike dates are as follows:

Monday & Wednesdays 4:15-5:15PM
Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:00-5:00PM

Thanks,

Krisha Pessa
Youth Director
Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
2312 S. West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
w: 801-328-2453
c: 801-931-0895
f: 801-466-3856
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Summer was a total success with 215 students completing our 2009 Earn-A-Bike program. This is our 7th year with Youth City! We're excited to announce, in addtion to our long standing parter, Boys and Girls Club South Valley and Spectrum Academy are now part of our Earn-A-Bike program.

Our other amazing program, Trips for Kids, had 15 mountain bike rides with a total of 126 youth this season. We visited Bonneville Shoreline Trail - Red Butte Gardens & Memory Grove, Little Dell Resivour - Mormon Pioneer Trail, and a little singletrack around Liberty Park on days transportation became an issue.

Local photographer, Charlie Ehlert (www.redwellimaging.com), asked if he could photograph one of our Earn-a-Bike classes.  Here are the wonderful results, go to our Photos section to see the other 70 photos.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Entheos Academy 9th Grade body organizes ride and raises over $10,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Institute

My lovely students!

Earlier this month I traveled to Entheos Academy to help prepare them for a 4 day fund raiser ride. About 1/3 of the entire 7th, 8th, and 9th grade rode up to 40 miles per day! It was important for them to be prepared in bicycle safety and mechanics. I demonstrated and students participated in flat tire repair, ABC quick check, bicycle components, bicycle safety, and of course proper helmet fit. They were simply an amazing class and I'm so proud of their success!

 

For Immediate Release

Salt Lake City, Utah (April 8, 2009) – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah is excited to announce their involvement with the Earn a Bike Program that the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective has hosted since 2003. This is an amazing opportunity for the youth of our program. They will be learning new life skills as they will take apart and re-build a bicycle. This is a six week course that teaches them about mechanics, safety and the rules of the road. After they complete this course, the youth will have a bike of their own and a thorough understanding of how to be a responsible bicyclist. Together with their Big Brothers and Big Sisters, they will be working on a project that will have a long-lasting benefit. It’s a great honor to be invited to be part of this outstanding program.

The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective states, “In a world of disposable products and video games, today’s youth are losing opportunities to develop their mechanical aptitude. Our Earn-A-Bike classes re-acquaint the concept of repair, providing an affordable means of transportation, promoting a sustainable and healthy lifestyle, teaching safety, as well as instilling a sense of accomplishment and pride.”

We invite all media to join us on Friday, April 10th from 6-8pm at the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective at 2312 S. West Temple in Salt Lake City for our first session. This will provide great photos and sound as the kids are working on their bikes. This can also make a great long-form story as you can cover their progress through the six week course.

For more information contact Linda Schott at 801-313-0303 x118 or 801-205-1916.

For Immediate Release

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah joins Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective’s Earn a Bike Program
Salt Lake City, Utah (April 8, 2009) – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah is excited to announce their involvement with the Earn a Bike Program that the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective has hosted since 2003. This is an amazing opportunity for the youth of our program. They will be learning new life skills as they will take apart and re-build a bicycle. This is a six week course that teaches them about mechanics, safety and the rules of the road. After they complete this course, the youth will have a bike of their own and a thorough understanding of how to be a responsible bicyclist. Together with their Big Brothers and Big Sisters, they will be working on a project that will have a long-lasting benefit. It’s a great honor to be invited to be part of this outstanding program.

The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective states, “In a world of disposable products and video games, today’s youth are losing opportunities to develop their mechanical aptitude. Our Earn-A-Bike classes re-acquaint the concept of repair, providing an affordable means of transportation, promoting a sustainable and healthy lifestyle, teaching safety, as well as instilling a sense of accomplishment and pride.”

We invite all media to join us on Friday, April 10th from 6-8pm at the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective at 2312 S. West Temple in Salt Lake City for our first session. This will provide great photos and sound as the kids are working on their bikes. This can also make a great long-form story as you can cover their progress through the six week course.

For more information contact Linda Schott at 801-313-0303 x118 or 801-205-1916.

 

Official SLC Chapter!

Trips For Kids® is a national organization that provides the materials, moral support and inspiration that an individual or group needs to form a chapter and help disadvantaged kids discover the joy of mountain biking.  With more than sixty chapters in the United States and Canada, Trips For Kids® has helped open the world of cycling to thousands of at risk youth. While each chapter operates independently and with its own approach, the general idea is the same - to get kids out in the woods on bikes. While enjoying the thrill of mountain biking, we mentor kids in a practical skill and strive to share lessons in personal achievement, responsibility, and environmental awareness.   The Bicycle Collective established a Salt Lake City chapter of Trips For Kids® in 2008. Too many young people grow up in the Salt Lake Valley without experiencing the abundance of natural beauty and healthy fun that our local mountains have to offer. Our goal is to seek out these kids, get them outdoors, and share with them an appreciation for nature, exercise, and bicycles and all the fun they can be. Tapping into kids natural love for bikes, we strive to get them out of their usual routines and to broaden their horizons with the seeds of a healthy lifelong habit.   Thanks to generous sponsorship from companies like REI, TREK, CLIFF BAR and PARK TOOLS, we have a fleet of high quality new mountain bikes and other equipment. The bikes are stored and maintained at the Bicycle Collective, and we transport them by trailer to the various spots around town where we start our rides.   We are always looking for fresh volunteers who might be interested in helping to lead our rides. We are also always interested in finding new groups of kids (aged 10-16) who would like to take part. Please contact Youth Director with any inquiries or to book a ride today!

The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective offers consulting services to Utah school districts that are taking advantage of the wonderful federal funding program, Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S).

 

The bicycle collective's newest youth program, Trips For Kids SLC, got off the ground this summer with its mission to share the thrill and healthy challenge of mountain-biking with local kids who might otherwise not have a chance to experience it.   With a donated trailer and fleet of some new and some refurbished mountain-bikes, Collective volunteers led groups of kids from the YouthCity summer program on a series of rides at City Creek, Red Butte and Mountain Dell Reservoir.

 

According to TFK SLC director Matt Peterson, "Its been a successful start this summer.  We've had a great bunch of enthusiastic kids and we did some fun rides.  Thanks to our dedicated volunteers and the helpful staff at YouthCity, we have our program fine-tuned and are looking forward expanding in the coming seasons."

Plans are currently underway for rides this fall and next spring, and we are actively looking for groups of kids to take part.  Anyone interested in getting involved with this exciting program  is encouraged to contact the collective.

If you are interested in volunteering as a ride leader, or know of other youth organizations that might like to partner with please contact Matt Peterson. 

UPDATE: REI Donated 12 brand new bikes for Trips for Kids!

UPDATE: Photos from this summer!