Bike Thanks
Dear Editor: Thanks to everyone who participated in and supported last Saturday’s Kidical Mass family bike ride. It was a blast to ride with you!
A special thanks to North Sister Crepes and Juice Co., who loaned us their customized blender bike so that kids of all ages could mix up smoothies using nothing but pedal power.
Kari Johnson also gave us 100 compostable cups that were perfect. St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm’s lead gardener Laura Schmidt got us a big bag of fresh, local greens so that every smoothie was even more of a nutritional powerhouse. Thank you, Laura, and thank you, Sitka Local Foods Network.
The Yellow Jersey Cycle Shop donated door prizes as did Community Schools who also helped with logistics, cones and more. Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School agreed to be our destination and the covered area proved to be a great place to practice skills like riding in a straight line, looking over your left shoulder without swerving, signaling, breaking without skidding etc.
A big thank you goes to Aaron Prussian who worked non-stop at the bicycle maintenance station and to countless others who assisted before, during and after the event. Thank you, Raven Radio, KIFW and Sitka Sentinel, for helping us spread the word about the event. Because of your efforts Sitka’s first “Kidical Mass” bike ride was a big success.
Thanks to all the community partners who made this event a success: Sitka Community Hospital, Sitka Conservation Society, UAF Cooperative Extension Service, Big Brothers Big Sisters, 4-H and Sitka bicycle friendly community coalition.
Last, but not least, we’d like to thank the adults who supported our young riders and the cycle-loving kids who brought so much enthusiasm on Saturday. For many adults the bicycle is an economical and environmentally responsible vehicle that provides transportation and much needed physical activity. For the kids it’s about fun and that’s very important too.
To see pictures from the event and to pick up some bicycle safety tips go to https://sitkacycling.wordpress.com/
Thank you, Gunalchéesh and happy biking.
Doug Osborne,
Sitka Community Hospital,
Mary Wood,
Sitka Conservation Society and 4-H,
Kealoha Harmon,
Big Brothers Big Sisters,
Jasmine Shaw,
UAF Cooperative Extension Service
