“Watch me!” declared Reginarose as she pedaled by with the biggest grin on her new green Kona. The eight-year-old was one of 70 lucky kids, ages 5–15, who won our giveaway of a nearly-new bike provided by SFBike’s Bike it Forward program at the annual BMAGIC Back to School event for families in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco.
This year’s BMAGIC Bike Giveaway was a huge success thanks to our many dedicated volunteers, who supported the families through every stage of the process. After signing in, the youth selected their own helmet and our volunteers helped them choose a bike that would be a good size for them. New bike joy was everywhere you looked, and by the time the kids came to my station for their locks and lights, they looked excited to get riding.
And ride they did, using a fun bike course set up by our licensed cycling instructors and staff. Reginarose was wobbly at first, but with a little coaching and practice she quickly mastered the power start with one pedal raised to help her roll with confidence and grace. She was so stoked to master this new skill, and her enthusiasm was infectious.
At the end of the event, Oscar Grande from Excelsior Bike Club emceed our live bike giveaway for the dozen or so bikes that remained on our racks. Families gathered in anticipation as the winners were called out to cheers. We left with light hearts and an even lighter load in our rental trucks as all the bikes were given away.
Ensuring access to biking for all in our community is critical to the growth of our movement. All of us can relate to that first bike feeling. Watching that new-bike energy from the smallest balance-biker to the tallest teenager was a heartwarming reminder of the power in this movement.
Bike it Forward relies on donated bikes, mostly from individuals and sometimes our local bike shops are able to help us out – and the reality is, there is always more demand than supply for this program. We want to give a huge shoutout to Mike’s Bikes for donating about 18 kids bikes for BMAGIC this year, and the dozens of members who showed up at our office with sentimental dropoffs of kids bikes their families have outgrown! We are also so grateful for the hundreds of hours of wrenching time our amazing volunteers put into these bikes reviving them to near-new sweetness.
We need more bikes and financial donations to expand our reach and get more bikes into our communities. This fall, you can help out by signing up for one of our weekly Bike it Forward Community Repair Night on Tuesdays. Together, we can keep supporting powerful new skills in Bayview, and beyond!
