When plans change, doors open
The mountain bikes were ready. The weather was not. What happened next is the kind of story that makes you believe in happy accidents.
Last October, when rain forced our mountain bike workshop to make a last-minute pivot indoors, Pathways Program Manager Sam Glew called MoBo Bicycle Co-op's Kids' Day Manager, Kat Ruegger, to see if she could lead a last-minute bike repair workshop at our warehouse. As she graciously does, Kat readily stepped in and guided our teens through a hands-on Bike Mechanics 101, covering the basics of checking brakes, how to return a dropped chain to the gears and patching and replacing tubes.
Somewhere in the middle of all that grease and gears, Kat told them about MoBo: a beloved Cincinnati resource and long-time Adventure Crew partner where kids earn free reconditioned bikes, learn to fix them up themselves, and become part of a thriving community of mechanics and gardeners at the Village Green in Northside, where MoBo is located.
For Sascha Kuchera, then a seventh grader at Walnut Hills High School enrolled in the mountain bike workshop, that introduction changed everything. He showed up at MoBo a few weeks later, earned his bike and kept coming back every week.
"I learned complex bike skills in a matter of hours," Sascha told us. "When I learned that many people stay and volunteer, I was immediately interested. I learn more and teach more every week."
Today, Sascha considers himself a volunteer mechanic, has made lasting friends and has even claimed a plot in the community garden out back.
Kat has watched that growth firsthand.
"Sascha's learned to care for every part of the co-op, and is a trusted member and role model in our community," she said. "I'm so glad he returned after learning to fix flats — he's not only built up his own bike from the frame up, but calmly and kindly helped younger youth without access to reliable transportation do the same, asking questions every step of the way. Now, Sascha tends to seeds in the greenhouse and garden, but is also growing programs towards deeper youth self-determination."
Sascha's story is exactly what Adventure Crew works toward: connecting teens to skills and then to communities across the region where those skills have a home; places teens can go on their own and belong to on their own terms, then continue to grow long after a single program ends.
It's also a reminder of what happens when teens are taken seriously. Adventure Crew is expanding youth leadership opportunities within our own programs. In rock climbing, roller skating and ski and snowboard programs, teens who develop strong skills — or earn certifications such as a belay certification at an indoor climbing gym — are tapped to step into junior leader roles, helping guide their peers at future workshops. It's a model built on a simple premise: sometimes the best teachers are often the people just a few steps ahead of you on the trail.
Soon, that same pathway will open for road cycling and mountain biking. Teens who fall in love with two wheels, the way Sascha did, will have a route not just to ride, but to lead.
This July, Adventure Crew will host a Bike Camp, introducing Crew teens to road cycling, bike mechanics, and the learned knowledge that a bike can be transportation, exercise, community and freedom all at once. Mobility, Health. Community. Fun! And easy on the planet.
This fall, Bike Camp will morph into Bike Club: a standing after-school program where teens build a road cycling community alongside adult mentors from Cincinnati's vibrant network of bike advocates and nonprofits. We're proud to be part of a city that takes cycling seriously, and we're inviting that community in. If you ride, wrench or just believe that every kid deserves a bike and a place to ride it, we'd love to have you involved. Reach out to me at libby@adventurecrew.org to learn more. Together, we'll help our young cyclists learn safe city riding skills, how to maintain their bikes and know that they are valued members of the greater cycling community.
"I believe we should have more organized rides and more people from Adventure Crew flowing through the doors of MoBo," Sascha said. We couldn't agree more.
Ride on!
Libby Hunter