Step Up Program is on a Roll
Students milled around a Roseburg High School classroom filled with road bikes Wednesday morning.
Some worked on their bicycles. Others sat around waiting for an 8-mile ride to the nearby Galen Cycles bike shop to begin — peanuts compared to what the teens are about to undertake.
A total of 15 students, all part of RHS’s Step Up program, will hit the pavement early Friday to begin the seventh annual 140-mile coast ride from Coos Bay to the redwoods.
Of the kids attending, three are returning riders, two have something to prove after quitting mid-ride last year and the remaining two-thirds have no clue what they’re in for.
Teacher Ted Wilton said the kids, who logged a total of 1,200 miles this year in training, will ride from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday over hills and stretches of highway that will test their limits.
“They’re really looking to push themselves,” he said.
Step Up is part of the school’s alternative education program, which provides high need, at-risk students with ways to integrate and get involved with the community through service projects and activities such as the bike team.
Eighteen-year-old Nick Vonseggern is one of this year’s three returning cyclists who completed the journey.
“It’s a really nice ride,” he said, decked out in bike shorts and shoes with helmet in hand. “It’s nice and scenic and we really have to work as a team.”
Vonseggern explained that during the year’s many short rides, students can break off from the group, speed to the end point and wait.
“On this ride, we all stick together,” he said.
Peter Herd, 16, is one of the two cyclists who “bombed” the ride last year and gave up.
“I wasn’t willing to push myself,” he said. Since then he’s been training for this year with participation in several shorter rides.
“The by-product of this whole deal is to get the community to get involved with the kids,” Wilton said.
The Step Up bike team has been training with Dave MacFarlane, president of the local Umpqua Velo Club.
MacFarlane sets the pace at the lead position and said he’s been pushing the group.
Despite the “hard-knock” reputation the kids are saddled with, MacFarlane said he’s never gotten any lip and has been impressed with the respect and responsibility he’s seen from team members.
The club has helped Step Up build its fleet of 25 bikes through yearly donations of about $1,500 for repair and maintenance. Members also help the school buy the expensive road bikes, which can cost as much as $600.
Wednesday, MacFarlane and club treasurer presented the student team, which considers itself the “Junior Velos,” with $1,000 to match the $1,500 students raised for the cost of the trip.
Wilton said students will build memories, discipline, character, teamwork and camaraderie through the long journey.
The team is primarily made up of boys, but the lone female cyclist, 17-year-old Susan Norris, doesn’t let that intimidate or slow her down.
“It’s great — it makes me push myself even harder,” the first-year rider said.
Step Up teacher Ken Fazio said the students will average about 15-18 mph on the ride as he and two other drivers set up break stations about every 10 miles and offer support to repair any maintenance hiccups or pick up tired or injured bikers.
“This is a lifetime accomplishment,” he said of the three-day adventure. “Most of these kids have never been on any type of team before.”
Before taking off on their short training trip Wednesday morning, riders stowed away earphones and one student was sent back to get his helmet.
“Stay on your toes,” Wilton warned the pack. “Dave’s going to take us a different way.”
• You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.
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