Peninsula students learn rules of the road
A scooter rider navigates the course at the Peninsula Elementary bike rodeo.
MOSES LAKE — Peninsula Elementary students rassled their bikes through the bike rodeo and rode off to school – following the rules of the road, of course – on National Bike to School Day Wednesday.
The bike rodeo was presented with support from the Grant County Health District. The El Sendero Life Center church donated the use of its parking lot, which was filled with bikes and scooters.
The Moses Lake Police Department was there to register bikes for children and their parents. The police department also donated four bikes to school to be given as prizes in an essay contest. Winners will be announced.
Members of the school’s Watch Dogs program and other parent volunteers were on the course also.
Kids got their bikes checked, got their tires checked, got their helmets checked and rode the course. Bike rodeoers were asked to show they knew traffic signals – that right turn signal was a little tricky – and rode around the cones, although some kids missed the cones and had to return for a second try.
Fifth-grade teacher Mark Radocaj cautioned them about running over the teachers, and only one or two adults had to get out of the way. Kids rode bikes with training wheels, bikes with sparkly paint jobs, pink, green and black bikes. Pretty much everybody had a helmet too, pink or blue helmets, red and black helmets, helmets with a mohawk, pink ponies, even a unicorn.
The bike rodeoers signaled and turned left and followed the course all the way to the stop sign, observing the rules of the road. Reinforcing those rules of the road for bike riders is the point of a bike rodeo, and all the kids followed the rules when they rode to school. With a MLPD officer in the lead, kids walked their bikes across the street at the crosswalk, just like they’re supposed to, and rode down the sidewalk to school.
Bike to School Day is an offshoot of Walk to School Day, held each October. The idea is to encourage physical fitness – and because bike riding is fun, according to the group’s website.