As the weather starts to warm up, so does the start of OOFD’s adaptive program season. Already this year, we have had FIVE adaptive rides, with a few more day rides and an overnight trip planned! I have been so lucky to have been on four of these rides, so I thought I’d share with the OOFD community how wonderful they are - and how easy it is to volunteer. I promise you, if you join an adaptive ride, your cup will feel full for weeks [maybe even months]. The joy you get to experience on these rides is second to none.
The first adaptive ride of the season is always at LADSE (La Grange Area Department of Special Education) out in the suburbs (Westchester, IL). We were able to help 32 students with special needs, aged 4 - 11, experience the thrill of riding bikes. Like most of our adaptive rides, we get the kids set up on the Pinos, our specialized tandem bikes for the adaptive program, and our volunteers pilot them around the playground. The LADSE event has become one of my favorites because the students and teachers look forward to it each year. This year we had one student who was so overwhelmed with happiness at seeing the bike that she started to cry - if that doesn’t say how powerful biking is to these students, I don’t know what does!
Our next adaptive ride was with one of our favorite partners, KEEN Chicago (Kids Enjoying Exercise Now). Ten families came out to ride bikes along the North Branch Channel Trail to an ice cream shop, then ride back via a very scenic route. A highlight for me was reconnecting with Eli, a young rider I rode with 4 summers ago, and his father. They were so excited by that first ride that they purchased their very own adaptive bike to continue the experience year-round. This ride is so much fun because not only do we get youth on bikes - but we also get their families to join along in the fun - truly the best kind of fun there is to have.
Two days later, the OOFD adaptive team was back at it at Northside Learning Center (NLC) for their field day. This is a Chicago Pulbic School that specifically serves Every year we are involved, the event seems to get bigger and better. Our small but mighty group of volunteers who took 50 students on rides - 50 students!!!! This ride is super fun because we took students around Peterson Park, which is beautiful this time of year. As we wrapped up the day, NLC’s bike director, and former OODF board member Joseph messaged us:
“Thank yall for coming to the field day and riding with students. We got tons of positive feedback from students. Maybe for next year, since we had so many students (150+) sign up we could maybe make it a 2 day event. Field day and then the day after.”
And finally (well, not finally for the adaptive program, but finally for rides I’ve been on this year), we had the KEEP Field Day where we had 17 riders - many of whom came back to ride multiple times - or who didn’t want to get off the bike once they were on!
If you ever see an OOFD email looking for more adaptive volunteers, and you have the time to do it, please take the opportunity. Even if you haven’t ridden a Pino before, we will get you comfortable riding before the kids show up, or we can always use help getting the riders ready with helmets and getting them on the bikes. For volunteers, these rides are typically shorter, and there is usually no prep-work as there would be for a ride in our Adult or Family Program. You just show up, ride around with some youth riders, and then go home with a big smile on your face. I promise it will be a highlight of your summer, and you will be telling stories about how much fun you had for months to come. I know I’ll be telling everyone about racing Glenn with my rider at Northside and then my rider taunting Glenn as we rode past him. Sorry Glenn, not sorry we beat you :)
