Pedal power: Kiwanis Club gets families out on bicycles
A boy rides his bike through one of the courses at the Moses Lake Kiwanis Club’s annual Bike Rodeo on Saturday at the Paul Lauzier Athletic Complex.
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald
A girl rides her bike through a course at the Moses Lake Kiwanis Club’s annual Bike Rodeo on Saturday at the Paul Lauzier Athletic Complex.
Volunteer Thomas Leighty shows a boy how to remove an inner tube and check it for leaks at the Moses Lake Kiwanis Club’s annual Bike Rodeo on Saturday at the Paul Lauzier Athletic Complex.
MOSES LAKE — Cyclists of all ages gathered under a bright Saturday sun and a clear blue sky at the Lauzier Athletic Complex for the Kiwanis Club of Moses Lake’s annual Bicycle Rodeo.
Mostly, it was for the kids. They could learn a few new cycling skills, be out and about, and get a chance to get new bike helmets and even win a bicycle.
“We’ve got 27 bicycles and two scooters to give away,” said Louis Logan, a Kiwanian and one of the co-organizers, along with Richard Teals, of the yearly bike rodeo. “We check their helmets and then when they complete the course, they can put their slip in for whatever bike they want.”
The training course involved cyclists navigating around cones, learning how to stop and give proper hand signals, throwing a rolled up newspaper into a box while riding past, and seeing how far they can coast.
There were also volunteers checking tires, replacing chains and making other small repairs.
“If there’s something not quite right, we’ll try and take care of it,” Logan said.
For Teals, the goal of the bike rodeo is to get families out and riding their bicycles and to promote the slowly expanding network of activity trails, including for cyclists, around Moses Lake.
“We like to have people ride out of the traffic, but we do have sharing the road and other ways to promote cycling,” Teals said. “We want them to be safe.”
“We like to be outside and like to be around community members,” said Nick Bontrager, who attended the bike rodeo with his wife, Nora, and their two children, Diego and Danny. “So here we are, teaching our kids how to ride bikes safely and be with the community.”
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.
