Bike Rodeo gives away bikes while teaching kids about safe riding in Summit County
Red, White and Blue Fire Protection District has been doing the Bike Rodeo for years, with the aim of giving kids the skills and know-how to ride their bikes safety through Summit County no matter what the wilderness or the neighborhood streets throw at them.
Obstacle courses and special challenges await the kids with a deeper message.
It stems from knowing how quickly things can go wrong, and the tragedies that can come in those split seconds.
"We have had some kids get hurt on Farmer's Corner, I remember at the 7-Eleven a few years ago," said Jackie Pike, deputy fire marshal for Red White and Blue. She also remembers all too well a kid in a Wellington neighborhood who was struck and killed. "He rode out from an alley into a street and it was just too close. The driver had no time to react to it."
Those grim reminders are at the base, but the vast majority of the bike rodeo is a joyous field day for bikers in elementary school. Eight-year-old Gabriel said he knows it's an important skill to hone.
"Because they get hurt (if they don't), it won't be fun, and it is all about having fun," Gabriel said.
The course included six stations ranging from understanding traffic signals (and reacting to cars who aren't following the rules) to picking up tennis balls, looking back, helmet safety and going up and down ramps and stairs. The course re-appears each year thanks to the hard work of Pike, who bashfully agreed the kids in Breckenridge were probably the best bikers in Colorado.
"I would like to think so! I've been doing this event for quite a while," she laughed.