Anthony Scott

A group of St. Louis city kids are in training to take part in a five-day bike ride in June.

The kids are in the BicycleWORKS program in the city of St. Louis. They began road training in April to build their stamina for the 242-mile Katy Trail Ride June 18-22.

They started with a series of 10-mile rides. But, this month, they'll move up to an weekend overnight trip to Babler State Park in west St. Louis County. That round-trip will be over 50 miles.

On the Katy Trail Ride, that's about an average one-day ride for the bikers. The ride starts June 18 from St. Charles and runs along the old Katy railroad right-of-way. The riders will camp out four nights and then end at Clinton, Mo.

The one-day legs are 61, 43, 53, 47 and 38 miles.

Eleven-year-old Anthony Scott is a sixth grader at the AAA Busch Middle School in the city. He thinks he's already in pretty good shape. He said, "I've ridden my bike on 20- and 30-mile trips by myself to visit friends in other parts of the city."

This is Anthony's first year in the BicycleWORKS program. He had an older brother in the program last year. "I helped around but I didn't ride last year," he said.

BicycleWORKS was started in 1988 in the Shaw Neighborhood. The goal was to use bicycle riding and maintenance as a way to challenge kids to develop their talents.

Aimee Blust

Twelve-year-old Aimee Blust also started in the BicycleWORKS program this year. She also had an older brother in the program. She's a student at St. Anthony Padua School in the Dutchtown area.

Asked about the Katy Trail Ride, Aimee said, "I'm going to try."

When Aimee joined BicycleWORKS, she brought something unusual with her--25 old bikes that had been dumped in her family's front yard last year.

For several months, the family didn't know where the bikes came from. The story finally came out much later.

A couple years ago, Aimee's father had been a Scout leader. That group had collected old bikes, repaired them and then gave them away. Aimee's mother took over the scouting group when her younger brother got involved.

But, Mrs. Blust didn't continue the bike repair program. However, that message didn't get around. The father of one of the scouts collected 25 bikes. Then, one night, he left them in the Blust's front yard but didn't tell anyone.

Now, Aimee has found a home for most of the old bikes at BicycleWORKS.

Manager Cindy Brown came over, striped off usable parts and disposed of the rest. One thing the kids in the BicycleWORKS program do is repair bikes. Then, the bikes are put on sale at the group's store. The proceeds are put back into the non-profit organization.

Shaun Lane

Fourteen-year-old Shaun Lane has been in the program for three years. The eighth grader lives in the city of St. Louis. But he goes to Hoech Middle School in the Ritenour School District in St. Louis County.

Shaun said he joined a month ago "to make new friends and for the exercise." He said he thinks the cycling will help develop his legs. "I want to run track and field when I get to high school," he said.

The current group of kids started in the BicycleWORKS program during the winter. They meet every Saturday at the group's storefront near Tower Grove Park. In the beginning, they worked mostly on learning bike safety and how to repair and maintain bikes.

But, as soon as the weather got better, they started their longer rides to build up their stamina. Their first 10-mile ride was April 8. The overnight ride to Babler State Park will be the weekend of May 19-20.

The big Katy Trail Ride is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The ride is for adults as well as kids. Most of the riders will pay fees that range up to $190.

However, for kids in the BicycleWORKS program, there are special scholarships.

For details about all aspects of the Katy Trail, log on at: www.katytrailstatepark.com.