During the spring and fall, one of the physical education teachers from my junior high school, organizes a series of Friday mountain bike rides. The teachers name is Reid Anderson. What makes these rides special is the opportunity is open to all students regardless of experience level or even if the student owns a bike or not. If a student does not have a bike one is provided by the Salt Lake Bicycle Collective.
Normally after school on Fridays a bus takes all the students up to Red Butte Gardens and we ride the shoreline trail . This provides plenty of options so we can split up and ride different trails, based on ability level. My best riding buddy, Christian Wilson and I, convinced Mr. Anderson to try a different launch point for one of the rides, I Street.
On the day we were supposed to go to I Street it rained and the contact from the bike collective canceled the ride due to the possibility of mud. No worries though, my dad came through and we loaded up our bikes into the back of the pickup and headed off to I Street with Mr. Anderson.
While Christian and I went straight to the jumps, my dad and Mr. Anderson did a quick trail ride over to the bobsled. Mr. Anderson had never had the opportunity to ride the bobsled before and my dad decided that showing him one of the best trails in Utah was a high priority.
When they returned to I Street we showed Mr. Anderson around all the different jump lines and he was impressed by all the different lines and the work that had gone into making the place. He had his camera with him and below is a short edit of the clips he filmed.
Mr. Anderson is an example of an outstanding educator and community servant. He dedicates hundreds of hours of his own time every year expanding opportunities for kids. In the winter he runs a cross country ski program similar to the bike program. Our community is lucky to have people like Mr. Anderson and I am grateful for his efforts as well.
