Commentary: Seacoast Pedal It Forward: Breathing new life into old bikes
Portsmouth people mostly get around by car. We only begin to notice how much we depend on vehicles when, for whatever reason, we find ourselves without one. It’s easy to take our mobility for granted; it’s also easy to forget what life is like for the members of our community who don’t have personal transportation, usually because they can’t afford it. A new alliance in the Seacoast – including Seacoast Area Bicycle Riders (SABR), Port City Makerspace, and community members who see a problem affecting their neighbors and have resolved to do something about it – has sparked an initiative to partly ease the challenge of mobility without a vehicle. We’d like to tell you our story.
For the people in our community who live at or below the poverty line owning a vehicle can be out of reach. In fact, the average annual cost of car ownership is now over $10,000. When you don’t have a car, the trips most of us make easily become a real challenge: think about getting to your job, the store, a medical appointment, or visiting a friend across town. Without a car, getting to those ordinary destinations can be time-consuming and complicated. Without a car, a resident has only limited options. There are the COAST bus routes, walking when it’s possible and safe, and riding a bike. Bikes have the advantage of being inexpensive to maintain and often the fastest way to reach many Seacoast destinations.
In the summer of 2023 an 11-year-old boy living in a Portsmouth Authority home told Andrea he wished he had a bike so he could ride to school. She told him “No promises!” but her own wheels started turning. It didn’t take long for lots of other kids and their parents to let Andrea know they were interested in getting bikes too. During visits to the City yard run by the Department of Public Works (DPW) Andrea had noticed a number of bikes that had been discarded as trash and collected by the City. After she reached out to the City, she learned that staffer Steve DeTrolio had for ten years already been diverting these abandoned bikes from a fate in the metal dumpster and to interested nonprofits in Boston and central New Hampshire. All agreed that it made more sense to keep the bikes local if there was a way to do it. Andrea and her friend Jason Blades began identifying bikes worth keeping. In late August that year, a small group of volunteers distributed over 50 tuned-up and safety-checked bikes to kids living in PHA housing. Because there was a steady flow of discarded bikes, Andrea decided to reach out for help in continuing and expanding what she had started, which is where SABR comes in.
Since 1992, SABR – representing bike riders of all kinds and ages – has advocated for better routes, organized rides, and brought together the cycling community. Our goal is to help make bikes part of our way of life in the Seacoast, an alternative way of getting around that brings with it so many community benefits. So when Andrea approached SABR with her idea, we listened carefully. Repairing bikes and getting them into the hands of people in need of transportation is clearly a worthy cause that fits well with our mission. SABR president Matt Glenn (you might also have seen him captaining the Gundalow) and the nonprofit’s board acknowledged that at first it seemed like a daunting undertaking for a volunteer-run nonprofit already stretched thin by existing programs. As it turns out though, there was a small army of people ready and waiting to help!
At the SABR Annual Meeting in January, Andrea and Jason were keynote speakers. They asked interested people to stay for a “small” group discussion about a possible program to get discarded bikes into the hands of people who could really use them. That initial discussion quickly morphed into a group of 45 people with a broad range of skills and all interested in helping. Local bike shops and similar programs across the state advised and encouraged us. So Seacoast Pedal It Forward (SPIF) was born. Take old bikes and “SPIF” them up for others to use! Our insurance carrier added “bicycle refurbishment” to our coverage and we began applying for grants. Critically, Port City Makerspace stepped up to offer work space. Makerspace is another community nonprofit with a variety of workshops, including a fully equipped bike area. They have opened the doors to our volunteers and even offered us a grant to cover the initial storage costs. Starting this month, SPIF will have bike drop-offs and evening work sessions.
At this stage, SPIF is collecting mostly adult bikes, ideally practical bikes that can carry racks or baskets. We are also raising funds for parts and helmets, locks, and lights to include with each bike that goes out the door. And we are keeping our ears open for any opportunities for additional storage space. The icing on the cake of community collaboration has been the willingness of Dawn Przychodzien, owner of Port City Bike Tours, to act as co-leader for SPIF. Check out the webpage she has created at seacoastbikes.org/SPIF. If you’d like to help us get these wheels rolling, please consider making a donation on our webpage. If you have questions or comments, please send them to SPIF@seacoastbikes.org.
We believe that access to transportation can be life-changing, and with continued community support we hope to keep bikes out of the waste stream and put them back in people’s hands for many years to come. We hope you’ll support this effort in any way you can. In the bigger picture, when the City shortly begins to revise its Bicycle-Pedestrian Master Plan, we hope you’ll find time to let the City know you support designs for more protected bike lanes and infrastructure so that Portsmouth citizens of all ages can, when they need or choose to, ride safely around our beautiful community.
Andrea Pickett is Director of Outreach and Engagement at the Portsmouth Housing Authority where the seed for this program was started. Matt Glenn is president of Seacoast Area Bicycle Riders.
