Cranberry Township bike rodeo teaches confidence and good riding habits
CRANBERRY TWP — After practicing on a balance bicycle for a long time, 4-year-old Maxwell Huang took his two-wheeler out for a spin around an obstacle course at the municipal building Saturday morning, Aug. 1, following right behind his older brother.
The parking lot of the Cranberry Township Municipal Center was set up with cones and tennis balls, which created a nice route for youths to ride their bicycles through. And most of the children who showed up Saturday for the township’s annual bike rodeo didn’t hesitate to swerve around the cones and pedal toward the finish line.
We have all these course elements to help them build confidence and safe habits,“ said William Ahlgren, a lieutenant with the Cranberry Township police department. ”We try to instill that sense into them.“
Ahlgren, who also helps in community relations for the police department, said the department reinvented the bike rodeo in 2015. The event functions as an opportunity to educate youths of the area on how to be safe while riding bikes, but also as a way for the police department to engage with families in the township.
According to Ahlgren, the event was for all ages, and the police department had information for teenage bikers, who may be taking their bicycles on more populated roads, as well as parents, who may take their bicycles out alongside their children.
“When they get their driver’s licenses they know some of the rules of the road they have to follow,” Ahlgren said of educating teen bikers. “We have parents come out and ride with their (children).”
In addition to the Cranberry Township police, the Cranberry Elks had a table at the rodeo, where its members checked youths in. The UPMC Passavant Foundation gave helmet safety checks and made sure they were secure on children’s heads; and people from Trek, a bicycle store, were there to perform checks on the bikes themselves. Every child under 12 years old has to wear a helmet while on a bicycle, Ahgren said.
Donna Galbraith, who is in injury prevention with the Passavant Hospital Foundation, explained that a helmet should feel snug on their wearer’s head without the strap being uncomfortable to wear. She helped children secure their helmets and learn how they can do it themselves.
“We have a prevention program where we teach these things,” Galbraith said.
But most of the children who flowed into the event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. were eager to take on the obstacle course. This was the second year that Aubrey Zelmore, 7, of Penn Township, attended the bicycle rodeo, and was more adept at navigating the traffic cone maze without knocking any over. She also took on a tight circle of traffic cones, which challenged riders to do as many loops as possible without falling over or stopping their bike.
“I did 20 loops,” Aubrey said.
Maxwell’s parents said their two children were looking forward to the bike rodeo, and their boys did several laps around the whole course before leaving.
The Cranberry Township police were also raffling out at the event gift cards to Trek and Dick’s. Ahlgren said with the popularity of bikes in the township, he expected the Saturday event to be well attended.
“It’s a great opportunity to engage with the public,” Ahlgren said.
