Trips for Kids Sacramento: Giving Back to Sacramento Through Bike Riding
The wind in your face, paths to explore…what youngster doesn’t love the freedom and exhilaration of riding a bike? Whizzing off on two wheels should be a rite of every childhood, but it isn’t always. Typically, inner city or disadvantaged youths don’t have access to either bicycles or safe bikeways. Now, the Sacramento chapter of the national nonprofit Trips for Kids, formed less than a year ago, is bringing bicycling to kids who wouldn’t typically get these opportunities in the capital city’s Oak Park neighborhood. The chapter founders are looking to expand regionally so teens from other nearby communities can join the rides.
Elle Steele, board president, cycling instructor and the mother of two young bike riders, walks her talk. She hasn’t owned a car for seven years. “My bike fills my needs for transportation,” she says. “I like the freedom it gives me. I find it’s a lot easier to get around the city on my bike.” She does her shopping on her cargo bike, including carting boxes home from IKEA. “This region is ideal for biking,” she adds. And you can ride in the rain—”you won’t melt.”
Steele and the board of directors signed up their first Trips for Kids Sacramento riders, about 10 of them ages 12-18, at a farmers’ market. In the past year, they’ve led biking groups on six rides, tooling along the area’s “really great trails,” including the American and Sacramento River parkways. “It’s nice to be able to show kids what great resources there are in their own neighborhoods,” she says. They keep a small fleet of bicycles and helmets for teens who don’t have them.
Each outing is more than a ride, however. Before they start pedaling, ride leaders school the group in bike safety, even teaching them how to avoid and maneuver around hazards, just in case. They make sure participants have the opportunity to interact with nature as they go, too—listening to birds and identifying scents, for example—and bring healthy snacks for every rider. “I want kids to experience the wonderful feeling of interacting with the world differently,” she says, “especially kids who wouldn’t otherwise be able to do this.”
In addition to rides, Trips for Kids Sacramento is working to be able to give youngsters who participate in bike safety and maintenance workshops the opportunity to earn bicycles of their own. Throughout the country, more than 12,000 kids since 1994 have received bikes through the national organization, Trips for Kids.
One of Steele’s goals—once she builds up the number of volunteers and resources—is to add rides that will include families and younger children. To that end, and to help the local chapter expand, hands-on help and donations are welcome.
Steele is committed to spreading the word that cycling is a viable form of transportation and fun. “There are benefits for everyone,” she says. “It’s not an elite sport. Anyone can ride a bike.”