Intro Lesson
Today, the Jump Streeters started the day talking about what community means to them. Saije said she thinks about her neighbors and their shared neighborhood; we all agreed that sharing constitutes a big part of what unites a community. Cyclopedia is one community–united by a love for biking!
Not only does it unite us, but it expands our horizons by visiting other communities and seeing what makes them unique. Today’s visit was to the community around the Bronx River. Before heading out, we talked about our destination and its ties to the community we were visiting: Starlight Park. Starlight Park used to be an amusement park where everyone could come for free music and performances. Unfortunately, it fell into disrepair. Thankfully, the community decided something had to be done, and so the Bronx River Alliance was born. This alliance is united by their mission to clean up the area and make the park a hub once again.
Word of the Day: Community
(from communis- common, public, general, shared by all or many)
Starlight Park
We started out on the East River path (which the Jump Streeters are old pros at by now), and headed north. We crossed over the Pedestrian Bridge to Randall’s Island, and coasted around Randall’s Island towards the Triborough Bridge. This wasn’t the Jump Streeters’ first encounter with the bridge, but this time we were headed to the Bronx instead of Queens. You know what that means…everyone got their Bronx badges today! Suddenly, as we were so close to getting off the bridge….stairs! Not just stairs, but stairs without a bike ramp. This was no problem for the oh-so-strong Jump Streeters. Cappy showed us how to safely and carefully walk our bikes down the stairs, and, alas, we were in the Bronx!
There was a lot of riding on the street today. This can be very daunting for kids and adults a like, but armed with our hand signals, everyone was super cautious and did a great job.
We took a bit of a long route to the park, but we got to compare the different communities we rode through. Some were more industrial, some had more trees, some had houses, and others smelled like fresh-baked cookies. It was a tiring ride, but the park was definitely worth it! We sat right down at great little picnic benches, and gobbled our healthy lunches…well, almost all of us. Stephen, Savanna, and Saije couldn’t contain their excitement for the swings and made that their first stop. Before heading out, we gathered by the river, and Cappy showed us what a Mugwort is. Most of us tried this bitter, minty plant…and by try, I don’t necessarily mean swallowing but A for open-mindedness!
Unfortunately, our time in the Bronx had to come to an end, so we headed back to the Stanley Isaacs Center. Only once we were back did we realize that Steven had been riding on a flat tire! Its hard enough to ride with a fully-functioning bike, but I could only imagine how hard that must have been for him. Good work pushing through, Steven!
The weather was beautiful, and we had a great day overall!
This trip was on July 29, 2013
Programming time: 5.5 hours
Ride time: 4.5 hours
Ride Distance: 13.56 mi.
Walk Distance: 0.49 mi.
Calories Burned: 1089
Participants
Savanna Rhodes
Kayelah Brown
Cicara Shaw
Steven Henriquez
Princess Delgado
Gabriella Maldonado
Saije Ferrer
Priscilla Adopo
Co-Leaders: Emily Bai, Cappy Collins, Justin Downs, Janet Lee, Dani Niderman, Juleon Robinson, Abi Rosenberger
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