Thanks to the Monterey County Weekly for Jessica Bray’s story  “Wheels Turning” in the 4/19-25 Weekly.

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Instructors Joseph Crabtree, Korey Ericson, and Frank Henderson, along with the Volkswagen Sea Otter Classic; world-renowned Monterey County companies Light & Motion and SIDI America; Salinas bike shops Bear Bikes and Bobcat Bicycles; Monterey-Salinas Transit/”The Bus”; Pacific Grove’s Forest Hill Bike Shop; and Fine Wordworking are all committed to being a part of the solution.

Solution to what?  To helping youth stay away from gang relationships and similar traps.  How? By helping them find their place in the bike community–starting with a Bicycle Repair/Maintenance and Safety class at the Monterey County Youth Center in Salinas.  More on the involvement of this team of supporters below.

Class has begun! 

The first class was April 15, with the three primary instructors all present to provide an introduction.  The youth started right in, learning first to put together the bike stands they’ll be using each week. 

The expertise of the repair instructors will be supported by that of the safety instructor.  For example, after working on a derailleur with a repair instructor, youth can do a test ride on the grounds with the safety instructor, to confirm that the derailleur is working exactly as intended.

Who’s teaching the class?

We’ve lined up some of the very best!

Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Instructors:  Joseph Crabtree and Korey Ericson.

Bicycle Safety Instructor:  Frank Henderson.

Future classes may also include instruction from Light & Motion team members. 

These instructors provide a rich mix of  experiences and styles.  Learn more below about these and other volunteers who have brought this dream to life. 

Thank you, Monterey County bike community.

 

Joseph Crabtree of Forest Hill Bike Shop, Pacific Grove

Joseph Crabtree, who will serve as senior instructor of bicycle repair and maintenance, is a professional well known for custom bikes and service, including pro builds for road, mountain, and cyclocross.  He has been involved in the bike industry since college, and he brought those decades of experience together to open Forest Hill Bike Shop, Pacific Grove in 2008. 

While he’s a master of his trade, his quiet humility regarding his talents  is apparent.  As Aristotle put it, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”  Joseph’s manner will make him an even more valuable role model for the boys he’ll share his trade with.

Korey Ericson, Bike Builder, Monterey

Korey will serve as co-instructor of bicycle repair and maintenance, including sharing responsibility for curriculum development.  A resident of Monterey, he is a hobbyist well experienced in building beach cruisers, BMXs, mountain, and road bikes.

The local transportation professional who referred him noted he is a top-notch bike builder with style.   He’s cool and artistic, “a man’s man with sensitivity.”  And he’s “totally caring for people and especially children and teens.”  In discussions with Korey, and hearing his many ideas for working with Youth Center students, that was easy to discern.  Great to have him aboard! [4/18/12 update:  Learn more about Korey in Jessica Bray's story in the 4/19-25 Monterey County Weekly, "Wheels Turning."]

Frank Henderson, Bike League-certified instructor

Frank Henderson will serve as bicycle safety instruction coordinator, teaming up with Joseph and Korey to be sure that the  students not only get solid knowledge of bike repair and maintenance, but of safety skills as well.

Frank is a League of American Bicyclists certified instructor.  He is also a Transportation Agency of Monterey County Golden Helmet Award winner (2010) and a Hartnell College Learning Center instructor.  Learn more about Frank here.

The safety instruction component has the added support of Heidi Hall and Light & Motion team members, who may participate in teaching night-riding skills.

Why is this class needed?

Every child is precious!  Yet, for a variety of reasons, as kids grow, some take a serious fall on the road of young life, with major repercussions.  And some engage in behavior that lands them in the juvenile court system.

At the Monterey County Youth Center, such local teenaged boys are provided treatment aimed at steering them away from the pressures of gang violence and other crimes–and getting them on a path to a healthier, happier, more rewarding life. 

Youth enter the Center at ages 14 to 17; some may turn 18 while completing their treatment at the Center. 

Where are the youth from? 

Although the Youth Center is located in Salinas, the youth come from all over Monterey County. About half are from Monterey County cities and census-designated places including Monterey (population 27,810), Prunedale (17,560), King City (12,874), and Gonzales (8,187). The other roughly half are from Salinas, which has by far the largest population (150,441) of any city in Monterey County.

Hey, can a bike class really make a difference?

The need is great for a broad community effort to prevent youth violence in Monterey County, which has the highest youth homicide rate in California, for the second year. Learn more by reading the links in “Salinas Youth and Others for Bikes.”

Preparing for a 2/7/12 presentation to the Board of Supervisors, the Monterey County Health Department’s Linda McGlone stated to the Salinas Californian, “We are hoping that community members and agencies come to truly believe that these deaths and shootings can be prevented.”

Julia Reynolds reported in a Monterey Herald 10/27/11 story that Senior Probation Officer Dawn Allen “cautioned the charges sometimes sound overly ominous — a robbery can mean taking another kid’s iPod and an assault can be a charge stemming from a schoolyard brawl.

“[Probation Chief Manuel] Real said that doesn’t mean the crimes aren’t often serious, but today’s model for juvenile justice is based on evidence-based treatment methods that provide better results than plain old punishment.”

A bicycle repair and safety class at the Youth Center will equip its students with skills that give them a leg-up on discovering the many benefits of bicycling.  It will also provide an introduction to valuable vocational skills, and show them new possibilities for meaningful work.   And it will not only benefit them personally; the bike repair, maintenance, and safety skills they have learned from experts are something of value they can share with others.  

Maybe some of these students will someday return to the Youth Center–this time, as individuals who have passed the background checks and are themselves highly desirable instructors.

How did this bike class get started?

Bicycling Monterey has been wanting to help get youth bike classes going in Monterey County similar to those that occur in various parts of the country, and Rancho Cielo has been in mind as one possible location.  (Check out the links below, under “Summary of background, and related inspiration.”)  Available time has postponed progress. 

Then, while attending a community forum in East Salinas about the Monterey County Youth Center, Bicycling Monterey learned from their brochure that the Youth Center has been wanting to offer a small number of their youth a weekly on-site Bicycle Repair and Safety class.  Deputy Director Richard Gray and Youth Center staff were inspired about having a bike class after seeing how Treasure Island combined teaching bike skills with math and other skills.

Why haven’t they? Lack of volunteers.

Bingo!  Bicycling Monterey knew that the Monterey County bike community could surely meet this pressing need, so began rounding up the necessary support. When our county seat is fighting gang violence (and other behaviors that land teens in the Youth Center)  on a shoestring, let’s make sure that includes a bike shoe shoestring.

Monterey County Youth Center’s Bike Class

The first Monterey County Youth Center bike class series will have three students, with one adult volunteer providing the instruction.  For this first series of classes, there will be two co-teachers, Joseph Crabtree and Korey Ericson, rotating weekly in providing repair/maintenance instruction.  Some weeks, Frank Henderson will provide bike safety instruction.  [Update: Class size increased to four students in May, with Frank Henderson serving as second instructor on hand every week, along with the rotating repair instructors.] Light & Motion team members may step in at times, too, rounding out the class with their own approach to riding smart and safe at night.  

The first class series will be once a week, on Sundays, from approximately 10 a.m. til noon.  (Potential volunteers to expand the classes at a later date can contact me to check if another day is possible.  See “About Volunteering” below for more info.)

Got bikes?

Yup, got bikes for the Youth Center class.  There are already bicycles available on which the youth could learn bike maintenance and repair skills.  (See bottom of this post for who to contact if you have bikes you would like to donate.)

And there is also the possibility of class participants earning a bike:  Those who graduate from the Center in good standing may, with their parent or guardian’s permission, be given a bike to take with them upon graduation.

That’s especially good news!  At a recent meeting about the Youth Center, I viewed the work of teen artists with Hijos del Sol who were painting or sculpting bicycles.  Some quietly admitted that although they loved bikes, they didn’t actually own any bicycle to ride.  Bikes repaired by the Youth Center class participants can help put these kids and others on two wheels.

See “Team of Supporters” (below) for what else graduates of the first class, in good standing, can look forward to.  Supporters are ready to celebrate success!

The physical space for bike instruction

On-site at the Monterey County Youth Center, there is a storage unit with a roll-up door storing those at-the-ready bicycles, and another empty unit, also with a roll-up door, available for class instruction.  (Awesome!  Think open-air classroom, instead of being stuck indoors.)

Although bicycle field trips cannot take place at this time, there is space on the secure, fenced-in premises for riding, to practice bike safety skills.

The Team of Supporters

In addition to our volunteer instructors, listed above–Joseph Crabtree of Forest Hill Bike Shop,  Korey Ericson, and Frank Henderson–support for the first class is also being provided by the following.

Light & Motion

Light & Motion, world-renowned for their fabulous bike lights and more, jumped right in.

Light & Motion will be donating commuter bike lights to the Youth Center for the first graduates of a bike repair and safety class. 

Light & Motion’s Heidi Hall promptly offered that Light & Motion could also assist the class instructors in providing education about how to ride smart and safe at night.

SIDI America

As the best racers know, SIDI America is a market leader when it comes to shoes for cyclists.  They care about top athletes in need of top-performing shoes. And they care about motivating and encouraging teens in a Monterey County Youth Center bike class to see their work there to completion, and in good standing.

One of those youth (perhaps chosen by raffle) will be awarded a pair of SIDI shoes–SIDI’s best-selling mountain bike shoe, the Dominator 5.   SIDI knows that a Youth Center graduate who is seriously interested in more time on his bike will find those bike hours all the more enjoyable if he has good shoes on his feet.

This world-renowned company has a motto of “Fit to perfection. Fit to perform.” And when it’s time for graduation, SIDI has offered to bring their 24-foot fitting van to the Youth Center, so those shoes will fit that graduate exactly as they are intended to.

Every member of the class who graduates in good standing will be recognized with a SIDI t-shirt.

Bear Bikes and Bobcat Bicycles

These Salinas bike shops know it often takes a community joining together to make good things happen. Got shoes, yes, but what about the necessary SPD pedal to go with those SIDI shoes?  And how about some good socks to make those pedaling feet more comfy after many a mile?

Thanks to Bear Bikes for jumping in with an offer to provide SPD pedals, and to Bobcat Bicycles for donating socks to go with that graduate’s shoes. 

Even when the economy is down, these guys are up–up to the challenge of playing a part in preventing youth gang activity and criminal behavior, one pedal stroke at a time.

Please stop in and visit them, and let them know you appreciate our local bike shops being part of the solution.

The Volkswagen Sea Otter Classic

Hmmm…What are some potentially long-lasting ways to help more youth find their place in the world of bicycling?

Ah-ha!  The Volkswagen Sea Otter Classic, now in its 22nd year, is 15 miles from the Monterey County Youth Center.  In addition to attracting 10,000 pro and amateur road, mountain, and cyclocross racers annually, the Sea Otter Classic is the bicycle world’s premiere festival and one of the world’s largest, with 50,000 bike enthusiasts making the annual pilgrimage to this very special event. 

Sea Otter immediately recognized that helping youth to spend four days at this world-renowned “Celebration of Cycling” could be a meaningful way to inspire and support youth in building new relationships in the bike community. 

There will be opportunities galore to try free activities–from the restorative activity of yoga to the adrenalin rush of the Big Air Bag!  There will be ops to chat with bike industry professionals at the Sea Otter Expo and elsewhere on the festival grounds–whether to simply learn more about what’s out there, or perhaps to explore career possibilities.  

In so many ways, Sea Otter is an awesome place to really get a feel for the many ways that bicycling can be an exciting part of life.

Graduates in good standing of this first bike class will each receive four-day festival passes for the 2013 Sea Otter Classic.  Each will also receive a second four-day pass, so they may invite a younger sibling or other family member or friend to share the experience.

Monterey-Salinas Transit

Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST/”The Bus”) knows that every cyclist has times when their schedule or stamina means it isn’t possible to bike all the way to their destination.  Using the bicycle racks on the MST buses is a great bike-and-ride option for such times.

To help sponsor this first bike class, MST is gifting a one-month MST bus pass to each graduate in good standing.  Being able to load their bike on an MST bus may mean the difference in getting to work, school, or a health care appointment on time.  And it can also help keep a graduate out of harm’s way at times–for example, if using a bike for transportation at night in a less-safe neighborhood.

Fine Wordworking

Fine Wordworking, a writing and related services business, was established in Monterey in 1981.  Clients served are on the Central Coast and throughout the United States. 

Fine Wordworking, owned and directed by Mari Lynch, is providing organizational and other support to launch this Monterey County Youth Center bike class.  These start-up responsibilities include securing sponsor support and volunteer instructors, facilitating communications, writing preliminary announcements and press releases, and more.

Summary of background, and related inspiration

Bicycling Monterey:  Salinas Youth and Others for Bikes:  Bikes make life better (chock-full of related links).

New York Times, 1/30/12:  In Salinas, fighting gang violence on a shoestring.

Bicycling Monterey: Teaching children well:  Bicycle safety and bike tech education.

Thanks to Project Bike Trip for the photo from the Santa Cruz County high school (directly below), and for being part of the inspiration for this work.   

About volunteering

Volunteers have made Monterey County Youth Center specialty classes available in gardening, guitar, knitting, and more.  Now, thanks to the first volunteers, that long-desired bicycle maintenance/repair and safety class is ready to rock!

Want to help teach future classes, making this training available to more Youth Center teens?  Please contact me (831-375-6278).

All volunteers must be approved through a background check.  Of course, a congenial, respectful, and mature attitude; a genuine caring for the well-being of youth; and a solid track record of following through on commitment are some of the essential qualities for teachers of these classes.

Volunteers receive a Monterey County Youth Center volunteer orientation.

A Youth Center officer will be present throughout every class.  The youth in the class will be those who have been at the Youth Center a long time, are settled in, and have been screened to participate in the class.

How to talk to a teenager

Hey, teenagers aren’t aliens, they’re just people ages 13-19.  (And at the Youth Center, they are ages 14-17+.)  Still, some people might think, “I have bike repair and maintenance skills, and I have respect for the challenges of these teens.  I’d like to volunteer, but I’m not sure I’d be at ease, and effective, in talking with teens.”

If that’s you, here’s a hot tip:  With regard to more positively working with youth, our county is especially fortunate to have a great resource in nationally renowned master teacher Selwa Said, and in her students and associates at Honey’s Children, who work with Monterey County Youth Center kids. You may request Selwa’s brochure regarding her weekend courses on Effective Communication and Relationship Building by contacting Honey’s Children or by phoning Selwa at 831-394-8860. 

Can’t commit to teaching regularly but want to help?

I have more ideas for how to expand on this bicycle repair, maintenance, and safety core class in ways that will help fuel teens’ interest in biking.  Some are as simple as cool spoke cards with URL directing them to bike safety and community-building connections. These ideas are just waiting for your expression of interest and support.  Please contact me.

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For another glimpse into the heart of bike love in Salinas youth, see “Artists of Hijos del Sol.”

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Some Monterey County teens are relatively problem-free–

and out enjoying the freedom of the bikeways regularly, such as, the teens below. 

Note: The youth pictured in this post are from the general community.  None are from the Monterey County Youth Center.

The following youth are bike-loving role models for their peers. These teens know the many benefits that biking provides, including:

a safe and sane form of recreation…

an economical and environmentally friendly form of  transportation….

and a great way to skip traffic…..

 

an exciting activity to share with family and friends…

health-building exercise…

and a positive adrenal boost!

Dear Bike Community:

Thank you for coming together to create the Monterey County Youth Center bike classes.  Please contact me (831-375-6278) to learn how you can support the success of these classes.  For general questions about the Youth Center, contact Richard A. Gray, Deputy Director for the Monterey County Youth Center, at 831-759-6700.

There are additional opportunities to help get more youth and adults in need on bikes, and some of these are listed below.  Also see  “Salinas youth and others for bikes:  Bikes make life better,” then jump down to “A dozen ideas to help get youth on bikes.”

Bikes to donate?

If you have bikes to donate that may be in need of repair

Contact me.  If they are needed at the Monterey County Youth Center for the bike classes, the necessary arrangements can then be made for drop-off. 

Others who may be in need of bikes requiring repair are Men in Transition and the newly formed Gears 4 Good.

If you have bikes to donate that are ready to ride

Interim, Inc. is especially in need (3/26/12–scroll to end of their wish list).

Safe Place for Youth would also appreciate bike donations–and ride outings, too.

Refer to “How to help: Bikes,  gear, skills for youth and others without“  for details and contact info on all these:

• Interim, Inc.
• Safe Place for Youth
• Men in Transition
• Gears 4 Good

–Mari Lynch

Resource Manual

Special thanks to Frank Henderson for sharing the following Bikes Not Bombs resource, which can be helpful to anyone desiring to start up similar classes.  http://bikesnotbombs.org/resources/earn-a-bike-training-manual