Jon Walpole
For the past several years Team Oregon has been collecting
used bikes, frames and equipment to loan to new riders. The
program is aimed mostly at making it easy for new junior riders
to get started with club rides and eventually races. This
program has proved to be very successful. Lots of people have
contributed bikes, frames and components and lots of new riders
have entered the racing scene this way. Riders such as David
Johnson, Graham Hill, Larssyn Staley, Nathan Coffey, Luke
Pennington etc are prime recent examples, and there are many more.
Recently, we have had a large influx of new riders, including
lots of juniors (Yahoo!). Virtually all of our equipment is out
on loan and we are running out of bikes in certain sizes. In fact
we currently have a couple of new juniors on bikes that are the
wrong size.
If you have an old race bike, frame, wheelset, or other bike
components please consider donating to our program. This is one
easy way you can have a direct impact on getting junior riders
into our sport. We all worry about the decline in junior riders,
but not many people actually do anything about it. This is your
chance ;-) We will take care of building up the bikes, assigning
them to new riders, doing the bike fits, getting the juniors out
on team rides, and coaching them until they are ready to race. All
you need to do is donate some equipment.
Equipment must be safe, well-maintained and in good working order, but
it doesn't have to be anything fancy. It doesn't have to be lightweight,
aero or new etc. For example, a ten year old bike with a steel frame and
downtube 7 speed shifting is just fine. Obviously, there is a burden
involved in building and maintaining these bikes, so really obscure
items are often more trouble than they are worth. We are primarily
interested in road, track and cross bikes.
If you have something you want to donate please let me know by e-mail
or phone (748 1161) and I'll make sure it ends up in the right hands.
Thanks!
-- Jon
-----------------
Jonathan Walpole
E-mail: walp-@cse.ogi.edu
Phone: (503) 579 3142