This morning Westchester Cycling Club member Steve Carre and I met at The Journal News to borrow a delivery van which my employer was good enough to loan me for this charity pick-up. WCC Club President, David Wilson had set up with Jose Gonzolez, the superintendent at the Beacon Hill Estates in Dobbs Ferry for us to pick-up their abandoned bikes.

While Jose and Bob Robertson gathered up the bikes Steve and I loosened handlebars and loaded the 23 bikes and one unicycle into the cargo van. The bikes were of all types and vintages. Most of the bikes were inexpensive children’s bikes with pink and blue accents. The next batch was a number of mid-sized pre-teen mountain bikes. Last were the adult 3-speed cruisers and a few ten and 12 speed 1970’s racing bikes. In this batch there were a few J.C Higgins bikes sold by Sears in the 60’s and they would be sweet own and beach cruisers with some grease and new tires. The racing bike that jumped out was a classic white Peugeot A0-8. The leather saddle was still beautiful and the Simplex Prestige derailleur ready to roll. The Mafac breaks brought back memories as well, never liked them on my Peugeot PX 10 and switched them to Weinmann centerpulls instead. But the frame is a work of massed produced art. The log work is stylish but not over the top. While my PX 10 had Reynolds 531, this was lower grade steel, but I’m sure road nearly as nice, just a little heavier. The detail on the frame still stood out, the one nice touch is the peg to hold a frame pump to the downtube.

Enough about old bikes, the mission of mercy these bikes have just become part of is Westchester Cycling Club’s charity effort for the Pedals for Progress campaign. These 24 bikes are the first contributions for this year goal of 300. WCC has been collecting bikes since 2006 with a total of 900 bikes donated. The bikes will be shipped to Nicaragua where they will really have a positive impact on their new owners. With each donated bike a ten dollar donation is also needed for shipping.

The big day for donations is May 23, 2009 and the drop off point is Trinity Lutheran Church in Brewster.

Rockland Bicycling Club is also running a bike donation drive, here is Rita Joachim’s write up about their upcoming program.

For the last six years, thanks to the tremendous generosity of our members and our community, we’ve brought holiday fun and shiny-new-bike happiness to many children who were selected for People To People’s Santa Project. Earlier this year, we helped People To People and a group of elementary school students make the first Spring Bike Bonanza a hit, rehabbing donated bikes for 80 adults and kids. Fueled by both the success of the Bike Bonanza and the mad scale of the Santa Project, People To People is bringing some great changes to its annual holiday program.

This year, our RBC Bikes For Kids Program will be transformed, too. We love the looks on the kids’ faces when they see their new bikes! But we’ve always believed getting bikes would be more fun for kids in the spring, when they can get right on and learn to ride, undeterred by cold, snow and mittens. So, our Bikes For Kids program is moving to milder climes. Besides helping rehab bikes, we can be there to help fit helmets, teach bike safety skills, conduct a fun bike rodeo, and introduce the joys of cycling to a new generation. The Spring Bike Bonanza is slated for Saturday, May 16th, 2009, so now is the time to start lining up serviceable bikes for kids and adults. Clean out your garage, your neighbor’s garage, hit up your in-laws and your colleagues. Together, we can produce a crop of safe cyclists, make the Bike Bonanza a great success, and have a load of fun!

And there’ll still be plenty of opportunity to bring holiday joy to our Rockland neighbors through People to People’s renamed holiday program. Everyone’s invited to adopt a letter for Project Joy, and to volunteer in the multi-day effort, which will be held this year in a more central spot in the county. Stay tuned here and to the local news for more on Project Joy.

If you have a bike to donate or would like to help cover the shipping costs of these 23 bikes we picked up today please contact me. I’ll find away to pick up the bike or bikes. If you’re bike is in Rockland it will stay in Rockland with the People to People program. If it’s in Westchester or Putnam we’ll put it with the Pedals for Progress group.