Tenth Gear Youth Cycling is
teaching some powerful life lessons, one hill at a time.
The
nonprofit program, involving mostly families who belong to Village
Congregational Church in Whitinsville, is in its fifth year of running
long-distance bike trips for area youngsters.
Bill Roberts, an
Uxbridge father of three daughters, has been a cyclist for 25 years and started
the Tenth Gear trips "for fun for the kids -- for them to see the country and
get to know themselves."
In July, 14 kids in Grades 5-8 biked a
four-day, 185-mile loop from Whitinsville to Mystic, Conn., and back. In August,
32 high school and college kids took a bus to Hershey, Pa., and pedaled back to
Whitinsville, some 400 miles, in eight days.
The kids ran a couple of
car washes and a spaghetti supper to raise money to rent a trailer to haul their
gear, and paid the rest of their expenses out of pocket; a weeklong trip with
Tenth Gear costs approximately $200. The group stayed and ate with other church
groups along the way. Some of the churches they stayed at have expressed
interest in running their own bike trips, with Whitinsville as a possible
stopover.
The longest day was 90 miles, said Roberts' daughter Jessie,
17. "There were a couple of big hills," she said. "It's great experience to
climb them, of course, but the best part really is coming down the other side."
Tenth Gear is for all abilities, and no one rides alone. Experienced
riders are paired with new riders "so there's a mentoring process going on,"
Bill Roberts said.
"There's always someone there to push you on,"
Jessie said.
Stacey Scorza, 19, also from Uxbridge, has been with
Tenth Gear since the beginning. "We go different places every year," she said.
"We've biked the White Mountains, the Green Mountains, a little bit of the
Adirondacks."
Next year's big trip will be from Quebec to
Whitinsville.
Scorza, now a sophomore at University of New Hampshire,
entered 15 collegiate bike races last spring and posted her best finish, third
place, in the Dartmouth Criterium. "I was leading the whole race but I lost it
in the sprint," she said.
Scorza enjoys sharing what she's learning
as a racer with younger riders. "Now we have three or four people in Tenth Gear
who want to race," she said.
But the program's emphasis isn't speed,
it's going the distance.
"There's so many kids that don't make it
onto the football team or the hockey team. With biking, there's no barriers,"
said Steve Berube, another Uxbridge adult involved in the program. "It's just
how much you have inside you that makes a difference.
"They know the
group is only going as fast as its slowest rider, and they're very supportive of
each other, so that's something else they learn," he continued.
Scorza credits the bike trips with transforming her from a shy girl to a
confident young woman. "It opened me up to a lot of different friends, and it
opened me up to what I could do -- because when you see a mountain in front of
you, naturally you just want to turn around and go back. But you learn you can
do it. And that's helped me with some things here (in college).
"It's
kind of that 'no mountain's too big' kind of thing."
~~~
RoundQuabbin, earlier announced as taking place Oct. 10, has been changed to
Oct. 11, Columbus Day. It's a 62-mile road ride around the Quabbin Reservoir,
starting at noon from Bullard Farm in New Salem, followed by a barbecue. Cost is
$20. For more information, call The Ride
(781-641-9515).
~~~
Jim O'Neil is folding up his tent
after 27 years as a bicycle dealer in Webster Square, Worcester. O'Neil's Bike
Shop, 1094 Main St., is selling everything at closeout prices and getting ready
to sell the building.
O'Neil got the biking bug from his father, who
raced in the 1960s and started helping friends get high-quality European bikes
and did bike repairs in the family garage.
The younger O'Neil opened
the bike shop a few doors down from its current location and over the years
expanded it to include mountain bikes and skis. He cut back on the ski side in
recent years.
Lately O'Neil has found it hard to compete with Bicycle
Alley, across the street, which has a a visible corner location, a large
selection, and a handy parking lot.
But O'Neil hopes to open a
smaller store in a different location in the spring. Meantime he'll still sell
high-end bikes via the Internet (http://www.oneils.com/), a successful part of
his business.
~~~
This is the last bicycling column for the year,
even though the road riding season probably has many sunny days ahead.
Nonetheless, both road riders and mountain bikers are shifting gears for
cyclocross season.
The New England Cyclocross Series kicks off Sept.
26 with a race in Palmer and concludes Dec. 18 in Carlisle. A sidelight at the
Palmer race is the annual Team Douglas Bike Swap, with dealers and individuals
selling new and used bikes, parts and accessories. Admission is $3, and doors
open at 9 a.m.
The New England series comes to Central Massachusetts
on Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving, with the Gear Works Cyclocross race at
Devens.
Devens, site of last year's Cyclocross National
Championships, is also the site of the Bay State Cyclocross race Nov. 27.
Devens is also the venue for the first race in the nationwide
SuperCup series, on Oct. 17. That series concludes Dec. 12 in San Jose, Calif.,
following the 'cross nationals Dec. 10-11 in California's Bay Area.
The complete cyclocross schedule, including training series in Rhode Island and
Western Massachusetts, is on the Northeast Bicycle Club web site.
For more information, call Tom Stevens (781-534-2454).