Rider Cyclers Refurbish Bikes for Boys & Girls Club Donation

Roosevelt junior Aaron Wirt and Phillip Blobaum, the parent of another TRHS student, adjust the front wheel of a bicycle.

For several DMPS students, some wrenches, inner tubes and (elbow) grease were the makings for a perfect weekend.

The scene was the Des Moines Bicycle Collective, a local non-profit corporation which promotes bicycling as a means of active transportation, wellness, and recreation in Central Iowa.

But the Bicycle Collective is also about keeping lots of two-wheelers from heading to the bicycle graveyard, refurbishing and reselling used bikes to make cycling more accessible and affordable for all.

And so it was that a group of Roosevelt High School students spent Saturday at the Des Moines Bicycle Collective: adjusting brakes and shifters, checking tire pressure, cleaning frames, and making sure 16 bicycles were in tip-top shape to hit the road.

The students were members of the Rider Cyclers, a club started last year by Zoey Mauck and Emily Weeks, and one of the only student cycling clubs in Iowa.

The weekend wrenching by the Rider Cyclers was about more than just fixing up some used bikes, it was about giving back to the community. Which is why all 16 bicycles refurbished by the Roosevelt students will be donated to the Boys & Girls Club.

Will Gillette fixes the rear brake of a bike at the Des Moines Bicycle Collective.

Carl Voss, who chairs the Des Moines Bicycle Collective board of directors (and was recently appointed to fill a vacancy on the City Council) calls the Rider Cyclers a “great group of kids” who were genuinely excited to spend their weekend preparing a donation of bikes for other kids, as well as seeing their work through to completion when the keys, er handlebars, to the bikes are turned over to the Boys & Girls Club.

In addition to Mauck and Weeks, 11 other Roosevelt students took part in the project. They were seniors  Sam Au, Clare Barcus, Connor Gillette, Sophie Hetherington, Arin Leopold, Aaron Lin, and Caleb Prentice and juniors Luke Donnelly, Will Gillette, Anna McKenzie and Aaron Wirt.

In addition, two parents helped out with the effort: Phillip Blobaum and Paul Prentice (who himself was recently recognized  as the Bike Commuter of the Year for 2013).

Visit Des Moines Bicycle Collective to learn more about the organization.