Saturday’s early morning rain gave way to beautiful skies and perfect weather for riding a bike. So people would be safe while riding this summer, Roanoke County Parks, RIDE Solutions, and a number of other groups hosted a bike rodeo and safety event in the Tanglewood Mall parking lot.
Adelia Mau and her mother, Enid from Roanoke, were some of the first people in attendance. Adelia says she rides a lot in the summer and one of her favorite places to ride is at Camp Bethel.
At the safety event she “learned always to ride my bicycle with a helmet, of course. And I learned how to fix a flat tire.” She says you take the inner tube out, replace it with a new one and put the tire back over it “without pinching it because then you have to start all over again.”
“She got it almost all the way but at the end it was a little difficult,” according to her mother.
Enid said her daughter had a physical for school Friday and the doctor asked Adelia if she wore a helmet while biking and she said no. “The doctor said, ‘It’s very important’ and of course Mom tells her that but kids don’t listen to Mom . . . Adelia didn’t wear her helmet because it was too tight, but they fitted her for a helmet and she says it’s comfortable and she’ll wear it. They showed her the proper way to wear the helmet, too. That’s the most important thing – I think is that they actually showed her how to put the helmet on and fit it so that it’s properly worn.”
Shane Sawyer from the Roanoke Valley Allegany Regional Commission led 8-year-old Penelope Holmes through the bike rodeo course teaching her hand signals, balance, how to ride in a straight line, starting and stopping, and avoiding hazards on the road.
The biggest problem he sees when it comes to bicycle safety is not using common sense rules of the road. “There’s no secret to staying safe on a bicycle. A lot of it can be accomplished through common sense and common courtesy. I think some folks know the laws but choose not to obey them but some folks are ignorant of the laws.” Penelope’s father is Jeremy Holmes, with RIDE Solutions. “There’s a lot of opportunities now to get out and ride in the Roanoke Valley with the expansion and completion of the Greenway system; local governments are doing a good job of accommodating bikes on the roads. People are more interested in getting healthy, and if we’re going to take advantage of those things, it’s really important to know how to interact with traffic, how to take care of your bike, how to ride safely if you’re in interacting with pedestrians on the Greenway.”
He says his group is seeing an increase in interest from new riders. “The Greenways are a great place for families. Now, there’s a lot of people who are getting their kids out, riding to the park. And it’s very important to get kids active and we’re dealing with childhood obesity issues. This is a great way to get them active, but we want to make sure they know what they’re doing and they’re safe when they’re out riding.”
– Beverly Amsler
