Readying the bikes for Togo.

 Over the last few weeks, I have purchased  or been given 26 bikes ranging in size from toddlers, through children's and youths to adult size. These purchases were made as part of Glen Cairn United Church's support of Abdou Amidou's campaign to take children's materials to the impoverished villages in his native Togo in West Africa. Two members of the Church donated $500.00 towards the purchase of these bikes. Most came from the six Value Village stores located in the Ottawa area. This will be the third year of the Church's support for that campaign.

In the photograph above, there is a small cluster of bikes by the railing. These were the bikes that did not have flat tires. The larger cluster in the foreground had, on an initial inspection, no serious defects other than flat tires. A friend, Robert Tate, and I spent 90 minutes last night sorting out the bikes for obvious defects and pumping up flat tires. By Saturday, the date of a work party to fix and repair the bikes, we will know which bikes retained their air  and which have become flat once more.

 This cluster of bikes had some more obvious problems. In one a brake was jammed. In another, a brake lever was broken. In other tires and inner tubes needed to be replaced. Today, I will vista a local bike shop for tire and tube replacements and other needed items.

This last bike has tires and tubes that do not appear to match the wheel size. I will take it to the bike shop and find the right sizes there.

The Saturday work shop will be a chance for members of "The Wheels of Fortune" to make use of their bike fixing skills. That group is the recreational cycling group of Glen Cairn United Church that since spring has gone on recreational cycling trips most Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. This will be the last formal  Saturday gathering this season, with a wrap-up excursion planned for after church on Sunday for a picnic at a local park (Andrew Haydon) on the shores of the Ottawa River.