Kids with special needs learn to bike, develop confidence at camp

The first time a child rides a two-wheel bike without help is a big moment for parents.

For Trixy Harding, seeing her 10-year-old daughter Hailey riding around a parking lot in Provo on Wednesday morning was an emotional moment.

Hailey has Turner syndrome, which is a chromosomal disorder, and Harding said she has struggled to ride a bike when they've tried it in the past.

"She has not been able to ride a bike, and she wants to so badly," Harding said. "A lot of it is fear, and we've tried to help but haven't been able to."

But on on Wednesday morning, Hailey circled around and around and around the parking lot on her black bike while an adult ran after her, ready to catch, steer or be there if anything went awry.

Hailey was just one of 25 kids with special needs who got another go at riding a bike this week through the 2017 Ride to New Heights bike camp, which was held at the Vivint Smart Home Gym in Provo.

The camp, which is a partnership between the United Angels Foundation and iCan Bike, gives participants daily 75-minute classes for five days while taking them through a program to develop the necessary skills and build the confidence to ride a bike.

The goal for the week is to get everyone on a two-wheel bike.

"This (seeing someone ride the two-wheel bike) is the exciting part," Charlotte Romberg, fundraising director for United Angels Foundation, said. "I mean it's all exciting just to see the kids going, but that two-wheel part is great. If we can get them all on two wheels, camp ends Friday, but they can keep practicing at home, too."

The program is designed to help the participants build up the strength and confidence needed to ride a bike by starting out on bikes that has a roller for the back wheel. As the rider progresses, the size of the roller decreases and it becomes more tapered to require them to balance the bike more.

Each rider also has two volunteers who just work with them to make sure they have all the support and assistance they could need.

"You don't realize how much of your body and your brain and how much everything is engaged when you are riding a bike," Romberg said. "With some of our riders, their feet are going and they're fine. But the whole steering thing is hard for them."

This is the second year United Angels Foundation has hosted a Ride to New Heights bike camp. Jill Austin, executive director of United Angels Foundation, said they'd had parents who had been looking for a bike camp for awhile.

Last year, 40 children were able to participate. Of those children, 30 of them were able to ride the bike at the end of the week.

Austin said the ability to ride a bike is important because it provides independence, inclusion and transportation.

"I think that parents are looking for inclusion, and when your kids can learn to ride a bike, they are able to be independent," Austin said. "I think that's why these parents are interested in this. If their kids can ride a bike they have transportation and they can hold down jobs and go places and fit in."

Harding said she's already seen a benefit for Hailey in just the few days she'd been coming to the camp.

"Her confidence has done awesome," she said. "She (Hailey) got on the bike and took off."

"She has a big smile on her face (when she rides)," Harding added.

Kami Peterson's son Tate, an 11-year-old with autism, was another one of the participants in the camp. He'd speed around the gym on one of the smaller rollers asking when he could take his bike outside.

"I'm hopeful that by the end of the week he will have the ability to ride a two-wheel bike," Peterson said. "If not, this gets him started and going down that path."

She'd heard about a similar program being offered in another part of the country from a friend, and she was excited to get Tate involved when she heard that United Angels Foundation was going to be hosting a camp, too.

"I just signed up like that day to make sure we got a spot," she said.

For Tate, Peterson said she thinks being able to ride a bike will allow him to be more involved in other activities.

"Our family wants to go on bike rides, but Tate can't go because he doesn't know how to ride a two-wheel bike," she said. "If he could just learn then he could be part of the family then and he wouldn't have to stay home."