有目的地踩踏板
Lucas Beyer ’24 spent the majority of his childhood outdoors—whether it was pedaling a bike, 从山上滑雪下来, 或者用自己的双脚奔跑. He was a free-range kid before “free-range parenting” became the subject of heated debate on internet forums, 他很喜欢.
“It was like the jackpot of a childhood,他说 recently. “There wasn’t a name for it, it was just kids being kids.”
多年来, Beyer has been pondering a personal mission inspired by his upbringing: getting kids off screens and outside. He wasn’t sure how to accomplish it until his sophomore year, when a friend passed through Boston on a bike trip from Maine to Florida. Immediately, Beyer knew what he wanted to do.
“It just connected for me: We bike across the U.S. and give bikes to as many kids as possible while teaching them how to be safe with them,他回忆道. “Biking is great for kids because it’s not just recreational—it’s a mode of transportation and a way to experience the outdoors.”
Beyer (left) and CycleService co-founder Seamus Galvin.
CycleService launched as a certified nonprofit in January 2023 and last summer, 经过几个月的计划和筹款, Beyer and his friend Nick Clark put his plan into action. 不到三个月, 他们骑自行车,横跨全国500英里, 在田纳西州的中型城市停留, 科罗拉多州, 和加州举办社区研讨会. 在每一个, they gave away bicycles and helmets to 50 local kids, and partnered with a nonprofit in the area to teach them how to safely use and maintain them.
他们记录了这次旅行, 还有他们一路上遇到的人, 在CycleService网站的博客上. 在他们在诺克斯维尔的第一个工作坊之后, 田纳西州, Beyer described what it felt like to watch a young boy clambering onto his new bicycle, 渴望行动起来.
“我简直不敢相信，”他写道. “轮胎在滚动，刹车也在运转. For some reason, I thought we would never get to this moment to see a real kid riding a real bike. If just one kid out of the 50 today falls in love with the outdoors and lets it change their life as much as it did mine, 整个夏天都是成功的.”
Beyer and Clark’s cross-country trek began in Yorktown, 维吉尼亚州, where they dipped their wheels ceremoniously into the Atlantic Ocean before heading west. A few things took getting used to—in Beyer’s case, 是他新自行车上的夹式踏板, which sent him toppling to the pavement on several occasions—but eventually the pair settled into a groove, spending long days in the saddle and stopping to check out local attractions, like a hidden waterfall and a “forest” made out of glass bottles. 在晚上, they camped in public parks or behind churches, often ditching their tents to sleep under the stars. 他们所到之处, 人们想知道他们在做什么, oftentimes offering them a free meal or a place to stay once they found out.
“The amount of people looking to connect with another human every day is amazing,拜尔后来回忆道. “If you take the time to slow down and look up from your phone and just observe, 所有这些相互作用都在发生.”
At the community ride in 科罗拉多州 Springs, 53 kids tested out their new BMX bikes.
When Beyer and co-founder Seamus Galvin were developing the CycleService model, they realized that the best way to serve kids in local communities was to partner with nonprofits who knew them best. For each of their four workshops (three took place during the ride, and a fourth was held in the fall in Beyer’s hometown of Buffalo, New York) the CycleService team worked with a local partner to plan and execute an event that catered to the needs of the local population. 在科罗拉多斯普林斯, that meant sourcing BMX bikes for young kids to use on a local pump track, 在文图拉, 加州, older kids received larger bikes they could use to commute to school, and lessons in mechanics and bike lane etiquette.
Funding for the bikes, helmets, and trip itself came from a variety of sources. 在骑行之前, 拜尔和高尔文筹得不到40美元,000 in donations and secured coveted partnerships with well-known brands like Schwinn, 克利夫酒吧, 和巴塔哥尼亚, which hosted the CycleService team and other nonprofit leaders at a reception at its Ventura headquarters last summer.
The support allowed the young nonprofit to give away a total of 206 bikes and 550 hours of bicycle instruction in its first year, 拜尔认为这仅仅是个开始. 这个冬天, he and Galvin began planning for the next ride, which will follow a different model: Instead of Beyer and Clark riding alone, two guides will lead a team of four riders across the country, 在沿途的社区活动中停下来. Riders will apply to join the team and be in charge of their own fundraising, similar to major athletic events like the Boston Marathon.
“在未来五年内, our vision is for CycleService to become the premier cross country ride for a cause,拜尔解释道。. “We want to grow it into something that’s a way for the whole outdoor industry to give back to kids.”
当他展望未来时, he’s also still processing the memories of last summer, whether it was eating hot chicken in Nashville, 在锡安国家公园徒步穿越海峡, or riding alongside a gaggle of kids on a dusty pump track in 科罗拉多州 Springs.
“I’m feeling really gratified and fulfilled about what we completed, 但我的头肯定还在转,他说. “I’ll get these flashbacks at random points in my day and think ‘Did that really happen?’ Some of it feels like it wasn’t even real.”