The West Hill neighborhood in Albany, New York is a difficult place for a child to grow up. High crime rates and a lack of green space keep most of its youth indoors, robbing them of the joys of being outdoors. But one program is seeking to change that and give area children the opportunity to discover the joy of riding bikes.
To find out more, we spoke to Gregory Sheldon, the program director of WheelsUp, Valerie Johnson, the Albany County Youth Bureau Director, and Skye van der Laan, a local mountain biker and volunteer trail steward for WheelsUp.
The progression of a great idea
WheelsUp’s origins can be traced back to the work the Eden’s Rose Foundation started doing in Albany, New York in 2016 when it created the Albany Victory Gardens with the goal of teaching residents how to grow their own food. That project made a big impact on the area’s youth.
Shortly thereafter, the foundation started a youth development program that gave area kids jobs working in nature. The children the foundation worked with did not have much access to green spaces.
Then, in 2021, the foundation put on an Earth Day event where youth could complete different tasks, such as weeding a garden or painting a beehive. For every task they completed, the youth were given a sticker to put on a scorecard. At the end of the day, they could turn in a full card in exchange for a free bike. Sheldon said the bikes were donated by a local recycling program and members of the foundation had tuned them up.
Upon seeing the joy in their faces and noticing how much they started riding them after that day, Sheldon said the idea for WheelsUp was born. “It was an easy way to make a positive effect in these kids’ lives. It gave them wings.”
Local businesses and the county helped the program take shape
After the bikes were given out, Sheldon saw there was a need to teach the youth how to maintain and repair the bikes they had received. “We created community pop-up events where we teach kids how to work on bikes. That was the second piece of the project.”
He also recognized that the youth needed riding gear too. “We had a local law firm donate helmets and lots of other local partners have come in and helped as well.”
Then, the county provided financial assistance to the program. Valerie Johnson heard about the WheelsUp program during a stakeholder meeting. The Albany County Youth Bureau, which funds youth development programs in the county, had received money from the state to create programming to help deter gun violence. She was looking for programming that met the gun violence prevention criteria and WheelsUp did. “The program has a positive effect on the neighborhood. It gave out bikes to kids who could never afford a bike.”
The program also acquired property that was perfect for mountain biking
The Albany County Land Bank Corporation helped the Eden’s Rose Foundation purchase a 50-acre parcel of land at the north end of the West Hill neighborhood. The foundation wasn’t the only one who had been interested in the property. Skye van der Laan, a local mountain biker, had been eyeing the property for a few years. He had tried to find out who owned it, but the title records were murky, and it appeared the property was abandoned.
Van der Laan had built 3 miles of “modern old school” singletrack on the property. “It’s narrow and has lots of exposure, but I built it in a way that’s both sustainable and fun.” The property has great topography for mountain biking, he says.
While building trails on the property, van der Laan ran into Sheldon. Sheldon asked him where the trails had come from and van der Laan admitted he was the builder. The two then started talking about Sheldon’s ideas for the WheelsUp program.
Van der Laan had been inspired by Eliot Jackson’s Grow Cycling Foundation and wanted to get local kids out into the woods to build trails for themselves.
“The local kids have mad bike skills, but they have never been on dirt.” He volunteered to be the trail steward for the property and teach local youth about trail building.
Sheldon was glad to have Van der Laan onboard because he felt it was important to give neighborhood youth access to the outdoors. “I spent my youth riding in the woods, building jumps, and racing with friends.” In contrast, most of the youth in the West Hill neighborhood had spent very little time in nature.
“Our kids are largely afraid of the wood,” he said. “It takes a bit for them to adjust to it.”
Building a team atmosphere to all of mountain biking
According to Sheldon, the motto of the WheelsUp program is Learning, Working, Riding. The program has developed a training process for the youth who participate in the program.
Young riders get the opportunity to ride the trails with adult chaperones who teach them the basic skills. As they get older, these riders are then taught how to work on the trails. Adult members of the program will walk with the youth on the trails, showing them how to build and maintain them. And, starting this year, Sheldon said that youth in the program will also have the opportunity to race. WheelsUp is forming a team to compete in the New York Interscholastic Cycling League, which is affiliated with the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA). Sheldon said the program recognized the importance of developing a competitive model where kids could participate in outdoor sports.
A breath of fresh air
Sheldon said that WheelsUp has given out 450 bikes to youth since its first bike giveaway. All the youth who received them earned the bikes by doing community service.
But giving kids bikes is only part of the program. WheelsUp is also teaching neighborhood youth how to maintain and repair their bikes, giving them an opportunity to enjoy the wonders of mountain biking, and showing them how to build and maintain sustainable trails. It also provides the youth with an opportunity to be in a safe space away from the violence that negatively impacts their lives.
In Sheldon’s view, WheelsUp can make a big impact on the neighborhood youth. “Although it might seem like a small, mundane thing to get kids together on bikes and out into the woods, it provides real solutions for the unprecedented problems the youth in our neighborhood are facing.”
