Bells were binging and students were zooming at the annual Bike Rodeo at Upper Blue Elementary School this morning.
“We’re doing some bell installs and airing up some tires, making sure all the brakes are working and just having some laughs with these guys,” says a bike tech with Carver’s Ski and Bike in Breckenridge. “The bells are an instant hit.”
For two decades, bike techs, nurses and firefighters with Red, White and Blue Fire have been teaching bike and helmet safety at Upper Blue and Breckenridge elementaries, where firefighters lead students through custom obstacles courses. Students ride bike, bikes with training wheels, and sometimes even scooters.
“We like to keep kids safe and teach them that they can do this,” newly promoted RW&B fire captain Lacey Davidson says. “Even if they wreck, we help them back up. We get them back on the bike and they still do it. We love to get involved with our community and teach the kids a thing or two.”
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Captain Davidson and her teammate were man in Station 3 at the Bike Rodeo, what you might call The Gauntlet:
- Follow the yellow arrows from the start line
- Go underneath the hula hoops
- Make a 90-degree corner
- Ride over the rumble strips
- Follow the yellow and blue arrows back to the start
Every student in every grade at Upper Blue gets to ride in the bike rodeo, but first, it’s brain safety 101 with Lizzie DeGilla. She runs the local Think First program.
“Your brain is squishy and your skull is hard,” DeGilla tells a group of students. “So if you hit your head, your squishy brain might rock up against your hard skull and give you a concussion.”
The bike bells are free. So are helmets for any kid without one. Coming soon the Bike Rodeo is growing.
“For next year, we’re going to start gathering some bicycles for students that do not have them,” says Natalie Munson with RW&B Fire. “In June we’ll be going to six of the daycare and preschools and this will be the first year that we have Lizzie joining us at the preschools.”