It was the downtime of the COVID-19 pandemic that Kendel Ross says got her into cycling.
“I was asked by a good friend to bike to Tobermory and, at the tim,e I had a bike with a basket and a back-pedal brake,” laughed the Lambton College instructor and former basketball pro in Spain and Portugal.
She borrowed a better bike, and she and two friends trained for about a month before making the 10-day round trip from Sarnia, camping as they went, she said.
“And I was hooked.”
Ross is one of an expected half-dozen local athletes, educators and cycling enthusiasts joining up with the Bluewater International Granfondo – an annual big bike race in Sarnia-Lambton that fundraises for local palliative care – to offer a new Youth Spokes cycling training program for 11- to 14-year-olds, said granfondo spokesperson Ken MacAlpine.
The June 19 to July 24 free Sunday training sessions are based out of the Lochiel Kiwanis Community Centre. The program will focus on getting youngsters comfortable riding on the road while teaching them how to do so safely, as well as bike handling and maintenance. THe prgoram will also promote cycling as a way to keep healthy, reduce stress, “and to be more communal,” said Ross.
“At a time when it’s a very digital age and we’re tied to devices, sometimes you can miss that great, big world out there.”
Registration at bigf.ca was expected to open Thursday, she said.
Other instructors include Holy Trinity teacher Pat St. Amand, former NCAA baseball player Julian Service and track and field athlete Cormac Brown.
“We have a really cool range of leaders,” Ross said. “I think it’s going to add a lot of energy and fun for those who are involved.”
Granfondo organizers have also purchased 20 bikes that can be used by registrants if they don’t have their own, MacAlpine said. About $15,000 in funding to support that part of the initiative came through a private donation and the New Sarnia Foundation, a group that has been involved in helping create bike paths in the city, he said.
A news release from organizers says the idea came out of a virtual cycling information program Bluewater International Granfondo held with thousands of public school students in 2021.
Ross said MacAlpine’s son, Ian, was “somewhat of a mentor” for her in basketball as she was going into high school.
“One of the reasons I wanted to return to Sarnia after playing overseas is to give back to the community that supported me growing up,” she said.
“So, to collaborate with Ken MacAlpine and to support youth in the city is literally exactly why I wanted to be here.”