Andrea and I volunteered this weekend to work at the Community Cycling Center’s Holiday Bike Drive. They spend the better part of the year taking donations of bikes from the community. Then an army of volunteers cleans, tunes and repairs each bike so that it can be given away back to a kid in the community. Today was the day that everyone waits for…the day when the kids get to pick our their bike and ride away with it.

On Saturday I helped transport the 550+ bikes from various storage locations around town to the hospital where the give away event was today. It took 3 hours and 5 or 6 trucks with trailers to get all of the bikes to the hospital. They then had to be unloaded and stacked so that they could be easily accessed today by the volunteers who wheeled them into the main room where the kids got to choose from about 40 bikes.

After registering, each kid would get a few tips on safety, then get fitted for a helmet (everyone also gets a free helmet with their bike). They then got escorted by a volunteer to the area with the right size bikes for them. Once they chose their bike, other volunteers fitted the bike to the kid and performed a final safety check. The kids then got to ride in the “bike rodeo” where they got to practice starting, stopping and weaving around cones.

The Holiday Bike Drive is an amazing community event. It brings a lot of people together in true holiday spirit. It’s a day about giving then giving a bit more.

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Loading trucks at the CCC.

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Bikes piled high in the warehouse.

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Loading bikes one by one.

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The bikes getting re-stacked at the hospital.

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Lots of little wheels.

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An ad hoc bike shop setup to re-fix the bikes after storage and transport.

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Trying out a bike.

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The helmet fitting area.

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Riding away with a new bike.

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And helmet.

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Riding in the bike rodeo.

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Dave working on a bike.

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A view of the whole atrium. Helmet fitting is in the back, bike choosing in the middle and the mechanical area in the foreground.

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Ready to go.

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Two of the dedicated volunteers.

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Waiting for the mechanical checkout.

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Trikes for the little tikes.

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A little mechanical lesson.

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Choosing a trike.

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Wheel it away.

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Pink helmet to go with the outfit.

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Getting that buckle on.

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Ride away.

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Two new bikes.

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And two more.

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Painful wait.

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Riding down the line.

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