June 2013 Cascade Courier by Cascade Bicycle Club

June 2013

Bike to School Day report by Lindsey Parker, AmeriCorps, Youth Programs Assistant

ay 8 was National Bike to School Day! All around Seattle youth of all ages could be found pedaling their way to school. Approximately 2,497 elementary students rode to school on National Bike to School Day in our area! As of press time, numbers are still rolling in and students are still rolling out to school. The weather during Bike Month was fantastic, and schools planned great events to engage their students and help refuel after their ride. Bagels, doughnuts and orange wedges awaited riders near the bike racks. Sneaky parents and teachers decorated bike handle bars during the school day with colorful and sparkling ribbons. The principal at Loyal Heights elementary led a bike train to school with a line of enthusiastic riders, as did the principal of Alki Elementary. Another school created a fun balloon archway for students to

ride through in celebration of the arrival to school by bike. Nathan Hale and Roosevelt high schools had Cascade Bicycle Ambassadors visit to hand out prizes and snacks, and the Major Taylor Project visited Chief Sealth, Global Connections, and Highline high schools that morning to celebrate students as they rode in. Eckstein middle school hosted a bike blender party after school that day, where students could use their pedal power to play games, go through an obstacle course, or blend up delicious smoothies. For some schools, this was their first year participating in an organized bike to school event. For others, this was the year that brought a record breaking numbers of students to their school by bike. There is so much fun to be had, and Bike to School Day was just the beginning. Keep up the momentum. Every day can be Bike to School Day!

ARTCRANK: The Poster Party for Bike People comes to Seattle June 29 The Piranha Shop, 1022 1st Ave. South Seattle, WA 98134 www.artcrank.com/seattle

ikes are the world’s most fun, accessible way to get around. Posters are the world’s most fun, accessible art form. ARTCRANK brings them together. ARTCRANK stages live events featuring bicycleinspired posters created by local artists. The show began in 2007 at a bike shop in Minneapolis. Last year, more than 30,000 people attended ARTCRANK events. This year, ARTCRANK will hold 14 shows in the U.S., Britain and France — including its first-ever event in Seattle. ARTCRANK Seattle is schedule for Saturday, June 29 at The Piranha Shop, located at 1022 1st Ave. South in Seattle. The show will feature limited edition, bike-inspired posters created by 24 Seattle artists. Copies of each poster will be available for $40 each, and admission is free. While ARTCRANK is best known for bringing bikes and art together, the show also has a charitable component. For the Seattle show, ARTCRANK is teaming up with Widmer Brothers Brewing to offer a selection of craft beers in exclusive ARTCRANK pint glasses. All proceeds will benefit Bike Works and its efforts to educate and empower youth, and make bicycling accessible and affordable to the Seattle community.

What does the Major Taylor Project mean to me? by Abdi Nigatu

You don’t have to be wealthy to make a significant gift to Cascade

ou’ve spent your years riding with the Club and helping us create a better community through cycling. Keep the cycling community growing through legacy planning. Whether you’d like your gift to go to a specific program, like our education programs or our advocacy work, we’ll work with you to create a package that honors your interests and ensures that the programs you care about can continue to thrive long after you’re gone. You can make a gift that costs you nothing during your lifetime and doesn’t upset your cash flow. Creating a legacy is easy. We’ll even provide sample language. If you’ve already named Cascade is your estate plans, please let us know. Your story will encourage others. For more information and sample language to include in your will please contact Tarrell Wright, Development Director, at 206.240.2235.

y name is Abdiweli, but everyone in my school and my club know me as Abdi. I joined the Major Taylor Project when I was a freshman in high school, and now I am a senior. I go to Global Connection High School in Sea-Tac, Washington. I enjoy working with my teammates and Major Taylor staff. They show me a way to really make a difference that matters to our community and as a team. I work with a lot of adults in the club, and I also learn what it means to be a bike rider. To me biking means I sometimes ride by myself when I feel it’s a nice moment to zip around the neighborhood. My bike is not just a bike: it is my car, it is my gym, it is my playground, it is my community. Biking is my passion. Not only have I learned how to ride a bike, I also learned and experienced how to ride safely and do the maintenance work. I learned maintenance in the winter when I did the Major Taylor Project Earn-a-Bike program by attending six weeks of lessons where I learned how to fix brakes, derailleurs, chains, cables and flat tires. Once we finished fixing our bikes we got to keep the

bike, a lock, a helmet, water bottles, patch kits, some tools and front and rear lights. It is really amazing what Major Taylor staff do for our students at Global Connections High School. They provide us well organized events and longer distance rides. For example, one of the big rides I rode with Major Taylor was the Chilly Hilly on Bainbridge Island. I enjoyed the hotdogs at the lunch stop, which our principal, Rick Harwood, bought for us. It was so amazing, and I liked the people who attended the event. I have also participated in many other events, such as Bike Swap, Bike Expo, Spinathon, and many more. We get to see other cities, and ride over rivers; we exercise and we get to see the neighborhoods, beautiful nature and other exciting natural phenomena.

M.J. Kelly, Editor Diane English, Editorial Assistant; Susan Hiles, Photography; June contributors: Mary Collins, Ed Ewing, Diana Larson, Hanna McFall, Abdiweli Nigatu, Lindsey Parker, Robin Randels, Anne-Marije Rook, Julie Salathé, Peter Verbrugge

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