When I first started this project, I was thinking of the kids. Kids who had a bike, but it just fell apart. Kids who's friends were tooling around the neighborhood on their bikes leaving them behind. Kids who went to Walmart longing to have a bike on the rack, but their parents couldn't afford the $50-$100 to get even a basic ride.
When my good friend Mary recently donated a beautiful, well maintained (though slightly dated) Trek road bike; I thought "What kid could use this?". That got me thinking about some things I have seen and the goals of the Southern Tier Bike Project.
The first thing I thought about was something I saw on a cold, slushy, miserable winter day last year. While driving down Hooper Rd in Endwell I saw a bearded, unkempt young man in a tattered coat riding down the road on a bike with a plastic Giant grocery bag dangling from the handlebars. I seriously doubt if that young man was on his bike to be "green", to make any kind of social statement or to maintain his level of fitness. That bike was his ONLY means of transportation to get to the grocery store. I want to emphasize that. For some people, a bicycle represents their means of transportation. It doesn't matter what the weather is like, if you have to go, you get on your bike.
Would Mary's sleek road bike with skinny 23c tires with no tread fulfill that kind of need? Probably not. But what about someone who could gain from the obvious health and fitness benefits of cycling, yet can't afford the $300 and up price tag to get into the sport. Should the emotional and physical well-being of a person be limited simply because they can't afford to get even an entry level bike? How many people in the Southern Tier have a need or desire to pound out endless miles across the scenic countryside, but just don't have the opportunty? Is there a budding Lance Armstrong out there who will never reach achieve their calling just because they don't have a way to get switched on? Because of Mary and the Southern Tier Bike Project, at least one person will have the opportunity to show their stuff.
Kids, transportation, fitness, you name it. There are many reasons why people "need" a bicycle. The Southern Tier Bike Project aims to put a serviceable bike into the hands of any man, woman or child who has a need, no matter what that need is. Your donations of bikes of any kind, parts or $$ to refurbish them are deeply appreciated.
