Bike Report: Bridging the Divide

As biking has become more popular, more and more kids’ bikes have been stolen.

“It’s pretty significant, especially in some of our areas where these kids don’t have garages where they leave their bikes on the porch,” said Ski Hut Community Outreach and Events Coordinator Bobbie Larson. “An example is a kid from the Damiano Center last summer had five different bikes given to her, and it was stolen multiple times.

Larson’s son had his bike stolen while camping.

“If I had had a lock, my bike probably wouldn’t have been stolen,” said her son Brody.

“A bike lock is just one extra deterrent to eliminating somebody from just having an easy, you know, run and grab it and take off,” said Larson.

To combat the issue, Ski Hut and partnering organizations will be raising money for kids bike locks on Sunday at the first ever “Bridging the Divide” event.

“We decided this would be the best way to sort of assist in helping kids is to get locks to anybody that has a bike or help get them a bike if they don’t,” Larson explained. “And when they do get a bike, we can give them a lock as well.”

The event will begin with a 2 pm bike ride from Duluth to Superior.

At 3:00, all of the activities will start at Earth Rider. There will be a pop up bike park with a small obstacle course with some activities for kids and adults to participate in.

“We are very excited to be part of the bus-ride-walk month and bridging the divide between Duluth and Superior, bringing our communities together to support a good cause, raising money for bike locks for kids,” said Earth Rider Marketing and Events Coordinator Christina Livadaros.

“Bridging the Divide” will include live music, a food truck, and raffle prizes. It will be free, with donations encouraged.

“One of the things that we will ask is that if you can contribute to buying a bike lock, you can donate a couple dollars, or if you want to donate $10, you actually then sponsor a child,” said Larson. “So obviously we’ll be hoping that people will participate in that. You can also bring a lock and then we will donate those to the bike cave.”

When this campaign started, the goal was to collect 50 bike locks. Organizers then realized that many more are needed.

“Through the last month, we’ve discovered that there are over 300 kids right now between the two schools that are in need of bike locks so at this point, we’re trying to get as many as we can,” said Larson.

Every Thursday, WDIO News will bring you a story about the sport of bike riding. We will focus on the trail systems in our viewing area as well as equipment and bike maintenance.

If you have a biking story that you think we should cover, e-mail Sabrina Ullman at sullman@wdio.com