For 12-year-old Ashley Whitney, riding a bicycle wasn’t something she ever expected to be able to do with a disability that leaves her without the balance or strength necessary.
Her sixth-grade Oak Heights teacher Kathy Ives set a plan into motion to change that.
Each year, both sixth-grade classes at Oak Heights travel to Bend to study geology. They brought a wheelchair along for Ashley as they took a mile-long hike through the lava lands near the High Desert Museum.
As they walked, Ives and Ashley talked about how Ashley had always wanted to be able to ride a bike and why she couldn’t.
“I just kind of tucked that away,” Ives said. A few weeks later, “I thought, we need to do something about this.”
She talked to Ashley’s mother then her class about it. The class was enthused about the idea of getting a bike for Ashley and started a series of fund-raising efforts.
Ives contacted Trailmate, a bicycle company, in October. Trailmate offered to give the class the one at cost, about $350. That was about half of the retail price.
The three-wheel cycle is designed for persons with special needs.
The class held pop can drives. Some of the Oak Heights staff donated money, and the Oregon Education Association donated $100.
Ives held contests in the class, and the boys were quick to point out that they won. They were able to skip three English assignments for winning change jar contests.
“Ashley knew it was coming,” Ives said. “And she was pretty anxious.”
The trike arrived just before Spring Break. Classmate Ashley O’Donnell’s father, Sean O’Donnell, works for a bike shop in Corvallis, and he put the trike together over Spring Break. Ashley has had it for about a month.
“She started out by practicing up and down the halls,” Ives said. She graduated to the playground and is using it to meet her PE requirement, building riding skills she’ll need as she rides this summer.
“I like it,” Ashley said. “I’m very happy. I think they (those who donated) are pretty nice.”
Ashley had never ridden a bike before, but she’s doing “really good. I only crashed once so far. I was riding too fast.”
She ran into the gym wall and, like most youths, “part of it was (fun).”
“I like it because it’s exercise, and it’s really fun,” Ashley said. “This is my dream.”
Ashley had believed she would never be able to ride a bike. She was surprised “when I found a bike I could use. With my legs, it’s hard to get a bike. Knowing this was out there, I thought it was pretty cool. I’d see my family riding bikes, and, I guess, before, I wished I could ride a bike.”
“I just think it’s great that the community pulled together like that,” Ashley’s mother, Tami Whitney, said appreciatively.
This summer, she plans to do a lot of riding with her family.