Get the kids in on it!

A few weeks ago I took my new mini down to the roadworthy centre to get it checked out and all the papers sorted.  It was my third visit, as the car had failed the first attempt, and the second visit had simply been way too busy, so I decided to head down early on a Saturday morning.

On my previous visits I had noticed a few signs belonging to what looked like a bike shop, but couldn’t see any entrance or proper shop front, so figured it had closed down a while back.  This time however, there were a few kids rolling around the front of the building, all kitted up in helmets and riding gear.  My curiosity was piqued, so while my car was waiting to be checked, I went and stuck my nose in the door. What I found was a little bit of amazing.  I won’t go into too much detail about that find on here, but what I do want to share, and something I feel quite passionate about, is the people behind a humble project, doing their bit to promote both the sport of cycling, and a bit of goodwill amongst lesser advantaged communities.

My personal experience of the cycling community, however naïve it may be, has to this point been very fulfilling.  From when I first took up riding as a way of life rather than just a past time, sharing a passion for the sport with other cyclists has been an outlet void of pretention.  I’ve cycled in quite a few countries, and in every situation friendships with other cyclists have been formed instantly.  Cycling is a sport that can really be enjoyed at every level of competitiveness, and doesn’t really require a whole lot of input to get a lot of enjoyment out of.

So what better way to get kids together for a roll around the mountains, create some new friendship and keep them out of trouble?

Enter the FREEWHEELERS Bicycle club, headed up by Trevor Knowlden who is the Outreach Manager. Trevor founded the club back in 2004 with the aim of getting kids from disadvantaged communities on bikes.  It’s a volunteer organisation that provides biking outings and outdoor education to lower income youth.  Generally speaking, their intended demographic can’t really afford to have and maintain a hobby like cycling, so the work these guys are doing is really making huge inroads in community development.

The passion with which Trevor runs his cycle club is also very clear.  Having been on a bike since 1983, he realised that the sport would be a great channel for turning kids in the local community away from the influences that normally prevail, like gangsterism and drugs, and rather promote a sense of personal wellbeing and achievement.  What struck me the most during my short conversation with Trevor that morning was when he said, quite matter-of-factly: Cycling with these kids is what I live for, you take that away, and there’s not much left for me to enjoy. And some of the things the Freewheelers have achieved over the past five years are clear evidence of this:

The club recently took a trip to the Netherlands to participate in the Hondsrug classic, an annual cycle tour.  They also competed in the annual Knysna Oyster festival mountain bike race, which runs over a massive 50km’s.  Worth mentioning that two of the Freewheelers riders, Bevan Hendriks and Brandon Knowlden, finished the race in just over three hours.  Just this past  Sunday, the Freewheelers took part in a triathlon at Big Bay near Blouberg Strand

The rides take place every Saturday or Sunday, and take on trails in and around the Cape Town countryside.  There are usually around 20 kids on the rides, and a leader trained in first aid and CPR directs each ride.

The development aspect of the club is really what is inspiring.  Trevor and his team have tapped into a huge source of potential talent.  Kids, who would otherwise never have the opportunity to get on a bike, are now being scouted as potential sports men and women over the next few years.  They are also actively promoting cycling as a mode of transport to alleviate traffic congestion, and run a program aimed at sourcing bicycles for kids who have to walk further than 2 kilometers to school.

The Freewheelers club does rely heavily on volunteers, as they try to keep the youth to adult ratio at around 5 to 1 on each ride.  Anyone who is willing to head down for a ride should therefore get in touch and go riding with the kids. Trevor can be reached at 0217884174, 072 108 2849 or knowldenmtb@gmail.com.

Now, I know the idea of taking a bunch of fixie riders up a mountain path is, well, bunk, but I do feel this would be a great way to spread awareness of our style of riding to a group of kids who are really in need of something to engage themselves in.  Freestyle fixie riding (and track racing) is still very much growing in its popularity, so I think making as many people in our city aware of it as we can will only mean good things in the future.

As a show of interest, let us know in the comments if you would be interested in heading down to Tokai sometime over the summer.  I’m sure if we get a big enough crew together, we could convince Trevor to do a road route, which would enable us to go show off our weird bikes to the kids.  Failing that, there is no shortage of loan bikes at Trevor’s warehouse, so it would be cool just to go for a roll with the kids on one of their weekend outings.