Run to Win

About 3 years ago, I wrote about a great program started by Matt Velguth in Portland, Maine called The Bike Shop. He operated in some space owned by the Portland Housing Authority in one of the poorer neighborhoods of the city, where he taught civic values to kids by selling them $5 bikes (and $1 bike parts), teaching bicycle maintenance, and leading group rides.

In the program, he has kids between the ages of 8 and 17 and who began by using tricycles and have worked their way up to competing in some of the toughest triathlons in the state. Recently, the group has ridden their bikes all the way to the New Hampshire border (pictured at right.)

Unfortunately, the annual budget of $51,000 that depended upon private funding has dried up and the program has outgrown the small space that it has available to it. Local nonprofit companies haven’t been willing to donate money while allowing the Bike Shop to maintain its independence, so the program is going to be closed down as of the end of October, 2008.

“We just can’t go any further,” said program director Matt Velguth. “There’s going to be hundreds of bikes that literally grind to a halt.

“I really believe this is the most successful bike project in the country and we just can’t get support for it.

“If we had more funding or more space, we would have stayed.”

The shop serves about 500 kids annually, and has helped over 1100 kids in the past 5 years. It’s sad that the program has to close down, and I hope that Matt is able to successfully get it started again with wherever he moves to.

(More info: The Forecaster)

This week last year I began my final preparations for the New York City marathon and completed my marathon preparation series.

• I finished up the series on rest by describing how to time rest during a workout. I described different types of rest, and gave a few tips that I use to measure my rest as I am working out.
• I got out in my neighborhood for my first Halloween run. The nice thing about Halloween is that drivers are being careful as they drive. The not so nice thing is that there are twice as many drivers as usual. I did not run on Halloween this year, though, as I felt a few days off after my marathon were called for.
• I described how the starting corrals work at New York City. It is a good thing to understand how they work, especially when you want to run with a friend in a different corral. I also provided a guide for how to single me out and cheer for me at the race. The article is made more useful by the fact that it linked to quite a few resources for cheering for any runner, and not just me.
• This week two years ago, I wrote about planning your workouts. You are much more likely to stay on track if you know what you are supposed to do ahead of time. I also wrote about The Bike Shop, where children can build their own bikes and learn how to maintain them in an effort to teach fitness and responsibility. The owner “sells” the bikes for $5 to local kids, teaches them how to maintain them, and brings them on group rides. If there is not a similar program in your community, perhaps you could consider starting one?

I was reading an article in the Portland Forecaster yesterday about the Bike Shop in Kennedy Park. The owner, Matt Velguth, sells donated bikes to the local youths (aged 8 to 17) for $5, and bike parts for $1. He teaches them how to ride and how to maintain their bikes, and has group rides every weekend.
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