HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Spots are still available for Marshall University’s Lose the Training Wheels Camp, a bike riding camp for people with disabilities. For the 5th year, Marshall’s School of Kinesiology is hosting the camp, the only of its kind in West Virginia, in cooperation with the nonprofit charity iCanShine.
“If you’ve seen just one of these kids and the joy on their faces and the self confidence boosts they get, it seems a shame to have any spots go unused,” said Dr. Gregg Twietmeyer, camp director and an associate professor in Marshall’s College of Health Professions.
This year’s camp will be held from from July 20-24 at Huntington High School.
Twietmeyer said the camp is focused on teaching people with disabilities, kids and adults, how to ride a two-wheel bicycle independently using a multi-phase program that begins with specially modified bikes equipped with large rollers.
“It really helps with the fear factor which is the big inhibition at the beginning for most of these riders, most of them are children, but it doesn’t do the same thing as training wheels — which sort of teaches you the wrong thing, it gives you bad lessons,” Twietmeyer said.
With this system, the balance point is kept in the middle because the bike rollers are tapered on each end, according to Twietmeyer.
“There’s basically about six stages of those rollers and then they go to a tandem bike where they’re riding with one of the staff members, so they get the feel of a regular bike, but they have power and balance and experience of the other rider helping them along,” he explained.
The next step is a bike that’s only modification is a pole so spotters can grab the bike if a rider loses his or her balance.
For five days, participants attend one, 75-minute bike riding session each day.
Nationally, the average success rate of the program is more than 80 percent, according to those with iCanShine.
When someone gets it, “I think it’s smiles of joy and smiles of relief at the same time,” Twietmeyer said.
“Kids aren’t stupid and they know when something’s excluding them from their peer group and, obviously, certainly from the age of six to 12, one of the things that includes you in your peer group is riding a bike.”
Potential campers must be at least eight years old with a disability, be ambulatory without an assistive device, able to sidestep quickly to both sides, able to wear a properly fitted bike helmet, have a minimum inseam measurement of 20″ and weigh less than 220 pounds.
Organizers said behavioral issues must also be considered.
Volunteers are needed as well.
For more information, on registration or volunteering, click here. The registration fee is $100, but scholarships are available.