The ride stuff
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 11 months AGO
A young rider takes aim and tosses a newspaper into a box at the annual bike rodeo at the Larson Recreation Center Saturday.
Joel Martin/Columbia Basin Herald
Eight-year-old Kira Close rides triumphantly off the advanced obstacle course set up on the hockey rink at the Larson Recreation Center in Moses Lake Saturday.
Richard Teals, a member of the Moses Lake Trail Planning Team and one of the organizers of the bike rodeo, fits Lydia Michie, 10, with a new bicycle helmet.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | September 30, 2023 12:50 PM
MOSES LAKE — It was wheels, wheels everywhere at the Larson Recreation Center on Saturday as kids turned out in droves for the annual bike rodeo, officially called the Bicycle Activities, Repairs, Giveaway and Skills event. The rec center, which opened in December, gave organizers some elbow room to add some things.
“We have a lot to work with,” said Richard Teals, a member of the Moses Lake Trail Planning Team, which organized the rodeo along with the Kiwanis Club of Moses Lake. “The obstacle course is a big hit inside the hockey rink. Then we have all the bike giveaways, and the GTA is here with their new buses, which of course carry bicycles all around the county.”
At previous locations, including the Paul Lauzier Memorial Athletic Park and the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center, there was only room for a basic obstacle course. The vast open space of the hockey rink at the Larson Recreation Center allowed for a longer, more intricate course, with stop signs and school signs interspersed among the orange cones indicating twists and turns. The basic course was still there too, and various other tests of cycling skill, including a newspaper toss, where potential paper carriers could practice throwing a rolled-up newspaper into a box as they rode past. Riders who completed the obstacle course successfully were invited to honk the horn on the GTA bus.
“That’s their celebration,” said Kiwanian Louis Logan, the initiator and chair of the bike rodeo.
There were activities for those who weren’t riding as well. One table held books and games about bike safety, and there was a tire station with pumps and tools where young riders could learn how to repair their own bike tires. Another station had grownups making repairs to bikes that needed a little work.
And drawings were held off and on to give away bikes and other prizes.
“I think there were nearly 25 bikes we gave (away),” Teals said. “We repaired them and put them in good shape and maybe had to buy a new seat for them.”
The bikes are used ones that have been donated and refurbished, Teals explained.
“The bicycle shop in town has been a real help,” he said. “And also individuals, a person who's maybe outgrown their bikes. A lot of people are just generous in giving their bikes.”
Joel Martin may be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
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Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
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Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.