The Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex is excited to announce that the Bike Rodeo is back in motion for 2022!
While the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on the popular bike safety event in 2020, then deflated its tires slightly in 2021 with a scaled down event, Sunday, May 15 will mark a full-speed return to the annual Bike Rodeo.
“We are so excited to be able to offer this free event once again at full capacity to youth in the community,” says Emma Davidson, Child and Youth Recreation Coordinator. “Bring a bike and a helmet, and come ready to ride. This year we’ve partnered with several great local organizations and volunteers to make the Bike Rodeo a fun and action-packed, but also educational, event.”
The Bike Rodeo will take place in the large back parking lot at the Complex, and is geared toward children of all ages who can ride tricycles or bicycles. Its goal is to promote safe bicycling habits to reduce riding accidents involving youth.
At the event, a series of stations will provide participants an opportunity to learn correct riding skills and techniques. The emphasis for riders is to learn how to control their bicycle. Some stations will teach and enforce proper hand signalling and traffic safety skills, while others will focus on safely stopping, turning, trail etiquette and more. One of the stations will even include a safety inspection on participants’ bikes and equipment.
The Safe Kids Canada website states that “children suffer injuries doing wheeled activities because of a combination of factors that most commonly include inexperience, loss of control, lack of traffic safety skills, high speed and the tendency to attempt stunts.”
The CMRC is partnering with several local organizations to host the Bike Rodeo: Red Shred’s Bike and Board Shed, KidSport Williams Lake, Citizens on Patrol, the Williams Lake RCMP, the Williams Lake Cycling Club and the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society (CCCS) and its “Bikes for All” project.
The CCCS Bikes for All project aims to recycle gently-used bicycles, offering them at no cost to residents. Anyone in need of a bicycle can contact the CCCS by calling 250-398-7929 or emailing coordinator@conservationsociety.ca.
While registration for the Bike Rodeo is free, space is limited. Participants are asked to preregister to secure one of six following available time slots: 10 to 10:30 am, 10:30 to 11 am, 11 to 11:30 am, 11:30 to noon, noon to 12:30 pm or 12:30 to 1 pm. Registration is at www.williamslake.ca/programregistration.
“Rider and bike safety is the theme but, ultimately, we want the Bike Rodeo to be all about fun, getting children active and outdoors, and helping them to enjoy this great opportunity we have to recreate on bikes in and around Williams Lake,” Davidson says.
For more information contact Emma Davidson at edavidson@williamslake.ca or call the CMRC front desk at 250-398-7665.
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